Whilst there have been talks about bringing F1 to new venues – including more American races – Liberty want the more traditional circuits like Silverstone and the Hockenheimring to stay on the calendar.
“There are always tracks that go in and out,” said Liberty President and CEO Greg Maffei. “It is most negative when you have some of our traditional Western European tracks which are at the heart of the fan base, like in Germany, go out.
“But there’s already progress to bring them back, and if you recall we added the Ricard track in France, another place where we’ve been gone for some years.
“The origin of F1 is in France and England, so we’re big believers in making sure places like Silverstone and the French track and the German are on the race calendars and are exciting events, which are beneficial to all players.”
“But there’s already progress to bring them back, and if you recall we added the Ricard track in France, another place where we’ve been gone for some years.
“The origin of F1 is in France and England, so we’re big believers in making sure places like Silverstone and the French track and the German are on the race calendars and are exciting events, which are beneficial to all players.”
We will see the return of Paul Ricard in 2018, and Liberty hope a German GP will be on the calendar next season too, but nothing is certain.
Getting people through the door to European races doesn’t really seem to be the problem, but the tracks don’t earn enough money to make hosting the event a viable option for some, including Silverstone.
BRDC chairman John Grant said in a letter to members at the end of last year:
“Although, even in a good year, the BGP does not generate enough cash to cover its share of the site overheads, our major concern has always been the risk of a bad year. We see the arrival of Liberty Media as having the potential to bring changes which could enhance F1 in a number of ways and, over time, could maybe lead to a more equitable balance for promoters such as ourselves.”
Liberty want to make F1 races an “event”. That might not mean bringing something totally new to races, though. Maffei believes traditional circuits can learn from the successes of new venues and implement the “best practices”.
“One of the things we need to do is make the races more compelling and exciting, and more beneficial to promoters,” he said.
“Take best practices, what worked in exciting races like Mexico City, like Singapore, like Abu Dhabi, bring those best practices across the globe to traditional tracks, which may not have had either as much financial capability, but also just don’t have as exciting a product at the moment.”
“Take best practices, what worked in exciting races like Mexico City, like Singapore, like Abu Dhabi, bring those best practices across the globe to traditional tracks, which may not have had either as much financial capability, but also just don’t have as exciting a product at the moment.”
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Do you think traditional races need to learn to be exciting from the newer venues? How do you think circuits can make their products more exciting? Let us know in the comments below!
