The center of media coverage of F1 resides mostly in Europe, and in England to be specific. As a result, we have up to the second coverage of anything remotely related to the British Grand Prix. We’ve all heard the annual calls for Silverstone to be fully revamped and secure a long term contract. Personally, I couldn’t care less if the race was at Silverstone. The track bores me, frankly. Some of my British comrades feel the GP needs to go somewhere else. The thinking probably goes something like this, “Well A1GP has Brands Hatch. BTCC has Thuxton. MotoGP and LMS have Donnington. I know! We’ll have it in London!” No. No. No. That will never happen.
That kind of optimism is fueled by open-ended comments made by the likes of Ecclestone and London mayor Ken Livingstone. After some F1 teams did a demonstration in July of 2004, he said that the success of the showcase proved London could stage a fully fledged Grand Prix very soon. Neehhhh! Wrong answer. Setting up water-filled plastic barriers on a street doesn’t mean you can host a GP. You need to: A) Get permits to close the streets (and that’s no small feat in London), B) Assemble and construct the circuit out of concrete blocks and fencing, and C) Set up stands. As a result, people probably won’t be able to go to local businesses. You think they’re gonna like that? Dream on.
Think if NASCAR wanted a street race through Times Square. Traffic is already a nightmare. Think what it would be like with a couple extra miles of closed streets. Then think of the stores. They’re gonna fight hard to make sure they don’t lose business. The amount of legal and political hurdles wouldn’t be worth it. That is why I want the British media to shut the hell up. Unless the race is held in the subway, there is never going to be a GP in London. Never. Put your efforts into something more constructive, like trying to get an overhaul for Silverstone. That’d be a start.
