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News of another proposal for a Formula 1 grand prix circuit in London emerged this week.
The Race columnist Jim Wright has helped steer the ambitious consortium behind the project, and can reveal more about the background and grand intentions of this new bid to get a second British race on the F1 calendar in the future.
The UK mainstream press excitedly broke a story this week about the proposal for a London Grand Prix which would be intended to augment the present British Grand Prix event at Silverstone as an addition to the ever-expanding Formula 1 race schedule.
Cards on the table, I’ve been privy to this project for nearly three years and as a non-executive director of one of the companies invested in it, I’ve been closely involved in helping to steer a course of financial viability, sustainability and credibility.
As I’m also a BRDC member, I’ve been clear that any race in London should be in addition to the wonderful grand prix that is staged by Silverstone annually. The COVID enforced challenges of the last few seasons have shown that mature motorsport markets can more than justify two grands prix per season.
When Liberty Media first wrested control of Formula 1 from CVC Capital and Bernie Ecclestone in January 2017, one of its first statements was to declare that it wanted Formula 1 to race in “destination cities” and by any measurement London will always be one of the first on that list.
The challenge for a London GP is always going to be vista versus pragmatism. By that I mean, the romantic vision of F1 cars tackling a section of Admiralty Arch and Buckingham Palace needs to be balanced with the realism and pain of multiple road closures in one of the world’s busiest cities.
Now we’ve been here before of course, back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Bernie Ecclestone mischievously floated the concept of a London GP, usually as he was about to go into bat against the BRDC on the subject of a new contract for Silverstone.
But this project is different and this is why.
The London Grand Prix vision of US investment firm 777 Partners, Redstrike Group and London Mayor Sadiq Khan is built upon a platform of significant commercial and retail development of an area known as The Royals which is at the heart of the redevelopment of the eastern districts of the City of London and which is most widely known as the adjacent location for the London City Airport.
So, from the get-go, there is a very sound, strategic vision for this project which will develop an area of the city which is ripe for redevelopment and which will create a number of new businesses and permanent jobs – lots of them.
The fact that this consortium of businesses has elected to build their redevelopment vision around a state-of-the-art grand prix racetrack shows the pulling power of a now Netflix-influenced sport that has always led the way commercially.
The money is in place to create a permanent London home for F1 which will only be limited by imagination.
A permanent museum of grand prix racing and a display home to over 70 years of wonderful grand prix machinery? Why not?
An F1 inspired theme-park as a 365 day attraction? Yes please!
A technology centre for the best in composite and lightweight material design? That sounds like a good fit.
A world-class educational centre for STEM based subjects to find the next generation of F1 engineers? Bring it on!
What I know is that some very high level, knowledgeable and skilful people from the worlds of finance, politics, real estate, planning and sports marketing have come together to create a vision that is everything that you could wish for if you were creating an F1 race event for a “destination city”.
Pay no heed at this stage to the media’s representation of the circuit design, it is far more interesting and complex than the cartoonish version you might have seen accompanying newspaper articles.
The circuit will offer breathtaking views of 21st century London landmarks which will undoubtedly reinforce the appeal of this great city both nationally and internationally.
Ever since the wonderful Regent Street F1 Carnival of 2004, it’s been clear that there is a sizeable, knowledgeable and hungry audience for Formula 1 in the English capital and the London Grand Prix project is not only aware of this interest, but is putting in place extremely interesting and ambitious plans to engage with that audience from the get-go.
Furthermore, there are clear plans to ensure that the venue is visited by indigenous and travelling folk interested in F1 and the technology that it develops to attract their attention over the remaining 51 weeks of each year.
So, piece-by-piece this project has been built up carefully, strategically, tastefully and with great care and commitment.
This approach has yet to be appreciated by a number of newspaper readers judging by comments made by those who want to make scathing comparisons with COP26 political pledges but fail to grasp that by the time of a first London GP (2024 is the aim of the event’s creators) F1 cars will be running on fully sustainable fuels developed by Formula 1 and its energy company partners to lead the way for future road car fuels.
Those commenters are also unaware of the plan to make the race the first to be held where every spectator, official, marshal, driver and team principal accesses the venue by means of sustainable transport.
I will leave you with a vision of Toto Wolff and Christian Horner racing to see who can be first off the Uber Boat Taxi and through the paddock gates!
