GPWizard F1 Forum
F1 News & Discussions => General F1 Discussion => Topic started by: Robem64 on May 23, 2018, 12:02:14 PM
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https://www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/238678/chase-carey-eyes-berlin-to-host-german-grand-prix (https://www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/238678/chase-carey-eyes-berlin-to-host-german-grand-prix)
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Yet another flaming street circuit.
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This approach to F1 venues isn't new to Liberty. Bernie pulled the same stunts, pretending there was a queue of tracks ready to take over if promoters wouldn't meet his
extortion fees.
Of course, Carey is no Bernie. I'd like to see him bringing other ideas to the table. It really is going to take years for Liberty to have the pulse of the sport the way Bernie did.
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It's been done. The 1959 German G. P. on the Avus circuit. It ran down one side of an arrow-straight highway and back the other. There was a flat hairpin curve at the south end. The north end had a sweeping, 43 degree high bank. By comparison, Daytona is 31 degrees and Indy is 11.
In the F1 Fan Voice survey, there was a question about what cities to have F1 races in. Berlin was on the list. It's sadly typical that Liberty wants to take a country that has two fantastic F1 circuits and replace them with another street parade snooze fest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5gjp94UMYw
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It's been done. The 1959 German G. P. on the Avus circuit. It ran down one side of an arrow-straight highway and back the other. There was a flat hairpin curve at the south end. The north end had a sweeping, 43 degree high bank. By comparison, Daytona is 31 degrees and Indy is 11.
In the F1 Fan Voice survey, there was a question about what cities to have F1 races in. Berlin was on the list. It's sadly typical that Liberty wants to take a country that has two fantastic F1 circuits and replace them with another street parade snooze fest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5gjp94UMYw
I always did like seeing video of the cars on that insane banking though.
I don't know why F1 can't get better traction in Germany. Germans have won half of the past 24 driver's championships. 4 consecutive constructor's championships. As you point out they have two fantastic tracks to race at, and I'm sure others that could be F1 ready within a year.
I'm all for bringing city races to people who wouldn't go out of their way to watch a race, but Germans will watch races, just not F1. If they're not interested in Hockenheim or Nurburgring, why would they want to block traffic in Berlin for a month?
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The main reason is that the German government has never been enthusiastic about funding motorsport, the manufacturers prefer to fund DTM (their national touring car series) and various other racing series that are less expensive than F1, and the Nurburgring fell into the hands of a clueless business at one point and landed in administration. Hockenheim used to do better, before the price hikes associated with the stadium redesign in 2002 and the retirement of Michael Schumacher in 2006 (his return was too underwhelming in German eyes to help the situation in any significant way).
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I would go to Berlin for a street race. It's a great city, with fantastic food and lots to do (aside from the race).