It seems as though Rome’s bid to host a Formula 1 street race has taken a turn for the worse
after Bernie Ecclestone has withdrawn his support for it based on the grounds that Italy already has Monza, which he has said is ‘Untouchable’. The plans have been in the making for a few years according some sources and have been mainly driven by Maurizio Flammini, who whas previously a Formula 2 front-runner and World Superbike-Championship promoter. The plans were due to be unveiled next Friday and the proposed date for this street race had been pencilled in for 2015. Howeve, it looks like the Rome GP will have to be put off indefinitely considering the new additions to the Formula 1 world Championships. After having added USA and Russia to the Formula 1 circuit in 2012 and 2014 it would have left very little room for any other races.
Good Idea, logistical nightmare?
While we all enjoy the Monaco GP as a change from the norm I can’t safely say it’s the best track out there. It’s very pretty and provides for some excellent race viewing but would we be so marvelled if every race was in a city, haring through the streets at breakneck speeds, making right-angled corners and generally not having enough space to make for entertaining overtaking and position defending. Not to mention health and safety and sound like an old bore, but the hazards are far in excess of those of a normal track, there’s nothing to prevent human error and Formula 1 crashes can cause some significant damage to buildings or the surrounding area. The logistics involved with having an inner city race would also be troublesome, shutting down the track and its encapsulated area for the span of a weekend would be highly unproductive. Can they not just have a race around the M25? That would be an interesting race and everyone travelling on it would become a participant whether an obstacle or casual spectator. This sounds a lot safer and the dynamics would provide us all with a more enjoyable racing experience.
What do you think?
I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say on the matter, does Formula 1 need to stick to bespoke tracks only for racing? Or should we start backing those that would like to see this type of racing evolve into something more accessible in the cities. Everyone with an apartment along the track would have front row seats to something pretty spectacular. Let me know your thoughts on the matter and tell me which cities you’d most like to see host a race, there has to be some pretty fantastic street layouts which would make this superbly fun.