F1 chiefs look at demo run on streets of London

Formula One cars could take to the streets of London later this summer after the sport’s new owners held talks with Westminster City Council over a demonstration run ahead of the British Grand Prix.

It is understood the proposed event, which could see Britain’s triple world champion Lewis Hamilton speed past Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament, would take place four days before the Silverstone race on 12 July.

The demonstration would be the first of its sort in the English capital in more than a decade, and will renew hope that a Formula One race could yet be staged in London.

A new law was passed last month allowing motorsports to take place on public roads across England for the first time.

A Westminster City Council spokesperson said: “Officers from the Greater London Authority and Westminster City Council have met with event organisers about a potential showcase event in central London, not a race. Discussions are at a very early stage and as such nothing has been agreed.”

The proposed London demo fits with new Formula One chairman Chase Carey’s mantra of turning each grand prix into a week-long event, emulating the Super Bowl.

Indeed Valtteri Bottas, winner of the Russian Grand Prix joined Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo for a demonstration run through Budapest’s city centre on Monday ahead of their race later in the year.

Liberty Media – the American giants who took control of the sport in January – are keen to see grands prix staged in a number of major cities across the world.

Carey, the American who now lives in the capital following Liberty’s £6.4 billion acquisition of Formula One, said in January: “London is a great city, and there is no question [you think of it] when you think where are the cities you want to be in.

“Realistically I have got a page-long list of places that would like to have races.”