Hamilton cool on expansion to new countries
World champion Lewis Hamilton has questioned Formula One’s policy of organizing races in new countries after this month’s announcement of the Vietnam Grand Prix.
Hamilton told the BBC that he would prefer to see more stops in countries with a genuine racing tradition, rather than expanding to new markets.
“On the racing side, I don’t know how important it is to go to new countries as such,” said Hamilton who sealed his fifth world title last month.
“If you had the Silverstone Grand Prix and a London Grand Prix, it would be pretty cool.”
The Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, will hold a F1 street race from 2020 after signing a 10year deal.
F1 has steadily expanded beyond its traditional heartlands, adding races in China, India, South Korea, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Russia, Azerbaijan and Turkey, with mixed results.
At the same time, historic European races in England, Germany and Italy have come under threat, while France dropped off the circuit for 10 years before returning this season.
“We’ve got a lot of real racing history in England, Germany, Italy, and now in the States it is starting to grow,” said Hamilton.
“But you only have one event per year in those places. If it was my business, I’d be trying to do more events in those countries.
“I’ve been to Vietnam before and it is beautiful. I’ve been to India before to a race which was strange because India was such a poor place, yet we had this massive, beautiful Grand Prix track made in the middle of nowhere. I felt very conflicted when I went to that Grand Prix.
“We had a Grand Prix in Turkey and hardly anyone came. Cool track, cool weekend but poor audience.”
F1 has thrived in Singapore, but it didn’t last long in India and South Korea. Vietnam also has scant racing tradition.
Hamilton said, “If you have the German Grand Prix and you’ve got a Grand Prix in Berlin, I think connecting to cities where a lot of people are is probably a good thing, not necessarily going to countries where they don’t know so much about F1.”