Former driver Damon Hill calls for more support at Formula 1 circuits – Formula 1 news
Former Formula 1 driver, Damon Hill claims that the International Automobile Federation (FIA) needs to focus its attention on the existing racetracks.
Circuits all around Europe need to be refurbished with more advanced facilities and technical upgrades. This means the FIA needs to take steps to meet the increasing demands from all quarters.
Hill believes that new initiatives should be taken that should serve the best interest of all the stakeholders of Formula 1 sport.
Being a Formula driver for most of his life, Hill is well accustomed with the hurdles that the race promoters have had to face and hence he is bent on improving the infrastructure of the current racetracks rather than focusing on building new ones.
He says it is more important to work for the survival of the ones that have existed for decades and have witnessed some of the most memorable races in the history.
While speaking to Autosport.com, the 51-year-old former Formula 1 world champion said, “I am concerned how promoted events survive with the demands of F1,” Hill further added. “I think F1 would do itself a lot of good if it thought about how circuits survive,
and how promoted events survive, in what is really an important place in the world for this sport.”
Hill further said the ticket fee that fans have to pay to watch this sport needs to be cut down so that it gets accessible to the maximum number of fans. He said more facilities should be provided to fans at the grandstand and proper safety measures need
to be taken.
Hill said, “There is a balance to find between the VIP level, the people who pay for the sport, the sponsors, but there is a point where you have to give the ordinary fan access to the sport and a feeling of getting repaid for their devotion.”
Already the decision by the FIA on giving broadcasting rights to Sky Sports was not a big hit amongst avid Formula 1 viewers who would now have to pay a subscription fee of 45 pounds to watch their favourite sport live on television in the United Kingdom.
Hill is worried that if effective and timely measures are not taken, the sport in Europe might eventually start losing its charm and gradually its fan following.
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