Wolff wants China to host 3 F1 races in a season
Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff wants the sport to have a “strong footprint” in China and eventually host three races a season as is the case in the United States.
The team principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, speaking in Monaco during the Formula E Championship, called China “an important market” for F1.
And while the country’s coronavirus pandemic approach has prevented the Shanghai Grand Prix from taking place for the past two years, Wolff said he was keen to see the sport grow when it eventually returned to the mainland.
“I’d like to not only race in Shanghai, I’d also like to race in Beijing,” he told Xinhua. “It’s a fantastic market for us as Mercedes, and I believe we should be embedded there with a strong footprint. We have three races in the US now, Las Vegas, Miami and Austin, and if we can do the same in China, that would be great.”
Wolff is far from alone in recognising the potential of developing the Chinese market for the sport and its teams.
When Alfa Romeo signed Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu last November, team principal Frederic Vasseur called the decision “crucial for the future of the company”.
“It was not only based on the fact that he is Chinese, but it will be a mega-push for the company, for sponsors and I think also for F1 in general,” he said.
Zhou, China’s first full time driver in F1, has done his part in raising the sport’s profile in his home country, putting in a string of impressive performances in the first four races of his rookie season. After finishing 10th and earning a point in his debut in Bahrain, he followed it up with 11th-place finishes in Saudi Arabia and Australia, and a 15th place in Italy last time out.
While Zhou and teammate Valtteri Bottas have enjoyed a solid start to the season, things have been different for Mercedes, who have gone from dominating the sport to not even having the third fastest car.
In the latest grand prix in Emilia Romagna, the team’s George Russell finished fourth with seven-time world champion and star driver Lewis Hamilton ending the race nine spots behind him.
Red Bull, with world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez took maximum points and finished 1-2, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr have all made multiple trips to the podium.
“From our own perspective at Mercedes, we have won eight consecutive world championships in a row and there’s a new generation of cars now. We’ve come out of the blocks a little bit slow,” Wolff said. “We are the third quickest, but we will find our way back. But you need to be humble about it and accept somebody has done a good job.”