Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo warns Formula 1 not to forsake Europe – Formula 1 news
Luca di Montezemolo has strongly opposed the idea of more Grand Prix events to be held outside of Europe.
Montezemolo has been very vocal over his views and believes in them passionately. He has been with the Ferrari team for the last two decades celebrating his 20 years recently. He warned that the heritage of Formula 1 remains in Europe and taking more and
more events outside of Europe is like forsaking the sport itself.
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone had earlier stated that he plans to only have 5 races within Europe. It makes sense to the F1 Supremo as the market with in Europe has become very saturated and the growth of the sport is also very necessary. The 2012 season will
feature 8 races in Europe, and shortening that list to a maximum of 5 for the season does not seem farfetched.
Montezemolo says that not maintaining the number of races in Europe will weaken F1
“It's good to see F1 in India, in Russia, in Korea, in the Middle East and of course in the United States, but we must not lose our tradition and history in Europe, particularly when we see that some of the new circuits are not as good as Spa, for example,”
Montezemolo explained.
“We have to be careful not to dilute the image of Formula 1. I'm very happy about the possibility of going to the United States finally,” he said. “It was strange that F1 went to many countries, but not to the largest car market in the world.”
Ecclestone though while admitting that the United States is a huge market, said that it is going to take several years to actually break into it. The coverage would need to be on much larger scale to lure the American investors, he said.
Austin will host a Grand Prix in 2012 and in 2013 New Jersey street circuit will be making its debut. While Mexico and Argentina have also shown interest because of the geographical feasibility now that F1 has returned to the United States. It would be interesting
to how the sport grows in the coming years.
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