UK: MOTOR RACING: World champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button welcome the idea of a London Formula One Grand Prix

Record ID: 831155

  • Title: UK: MOTOR RACING: World champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button welcome the idea of a London Formula One Grand Prix
  • Date: 29th June 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, UK (JUNE 28, 2012) (REUTERS) ( ** BEWARE FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **) VARIOUS OF MCLAREN DRIVERS JENSON BUTTON AND LEWIS HAMILTON POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS A 3D SCALE MODEL OF WHAT THE LONDON GRAND PRIX WOULD LOOK LIKE PAN FROM PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THE TRACK TO THE SCALE MODEL VARIOUS OF HAMILTON TEACHING MANCHESTER UNITED DEFENDER RIO FERDINAND HOW TO DRIVE A SIMULATOR
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAC0J3WMIOCBKTRP8OGM4BWVS8C
  • Story Text: World champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button welcomed the concept of a London Formula One Grand Prix on Thursday (June 28) even if there were plenty of reasons to doubt it would ever pick up speed and become real.
    With next week's British Grand Prix at Silverstone fast approaching, as well as the focus on next month's London Olympics, race sponsors Santander presented a computer-generated impression of how a circuit in the capital might look around familiar locations under floodlights.
    The idea, at this stage no more than a bit of fun to create some headlines and buzz ahead of the country's annual race in the rural heart of England, won the support of Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
    The 81-year-old British billionaire has long backed a street race in the capital although money, political and environmental concerns have all proved insuperable obstacles in the past.
    A model of the track, designed by leading architects Populous, made light of an obvious problem as it threaded through the monumental Admiralty Arch off Trafalgar Square.
    That would be very much an accident waiting to happen, given that ordinary traffic goes through its three narrow arches in single file on the way to the Mall and Buckingham Palace. There is no way around it.
    McLaren's Button, the 2009 champion, said he loved the idea of racing around monuments and landmarks.
    "I think we all as drivers love racing in our home grand prix because we get so much support here from the British fans," Button told Reuters TV. "Silverstone for me is a fantastic circuit, a great layout but I think having a race in London would be even more special because racing around the streets of London, for me being very patriotic I think we're going to get a lot of fans out, a lot of British fans out to watch the grand prix.
    "And also the route; go past Buckingham Palace, past Big Ben, Nelson's Column. It would be spectacular.
    "It's exciting and it's also going to be, you know, the idea would be it being a night race which is very exciting. You know we have Singapore at the moment and it's a spectacular race and I'm sure London could be the same if not better."
    Bookmakers William Hill were sceptical. They offered odds of 1/33 that there would be no race in London until at least 2016.
    But Hamilton was confident Ecclestone and the other relevant officials would make it happen.
    "I think it's incredible the fact that they've now started to come up with ideas of how the track could look and kind of get the word," Hamilton said. "People starting to talk about it now and obviously they've got this presentation on it so hopefully this will ignite fans' interests in it. The most important people will make the decisions and make it happen."
    Ecclestone's previous discussions were with the city's former left-wing mayor Ken Livingstone but it came to nothing.
    The current rightist incumbent Boris Johnson, a famously keen cycling fan who has also penned the occasional car review in his journalistic career, has expressed his support.
    As some critics have observed, London is not a city in need of more congestion and road closures with public transport already creaking and crowded.
    The possibility of using the area around the new Olympic stadium in east London has been mooted, with one of the companies on a shortlist to take over the facility after the Games talking of putting on a grand prix there.
    Hamilton believes any London GP would be worth it and would even be a bigger event than the Monaco GP.
    "I think it will blow away Monaco, personally," Hamilton added. "You've got to make sure the track can live up to Monaco because the Monaco track is pretty cool but I think because it (London) can be a lot bigger, it's a much bigger city, you should be able to provide a lot more overtaking here than you can in Monaco on a street circuit and turnout should be way, way more.
    "You could imagine for a grand prix you have just British people alone come and watch the race and have all the tourists as well; I'm sure you could go to the million mark maybe. I mean we've never had that."
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