Motor racing-F1 cars burn rubber in London, reviving talk of street race

Record ID: 899408

  • Title: Motor racing-F1 cars burn rubber in London, reviving talk of street race
  • Date: 12th July 2017
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (JULY 12, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIAN VETTEL, FERRARI, SAYING: "Obviously we have got the highlight of the week coming. Silverstone is a great track which I think we all enjoy so looking forward, the car should be alright, let's see you can never predict but it should be a good weekend." (Reporter: And what would it mean if you win against Lewis Hamilton on his home turf, would that be good for you?) "I think it's a great honour or pleasure to be able to race in your home country. Unfortunately this year I won't be because we are not racing in Germany but for sure, for him, for Jolyon (Palmer) I think it's great to race at home. But yes, for sure we will try to make the weekend very hard for him and hopefully finish ahead of him." (Reporter: You said you like Silverstone but people are talking about maybe one day a city race through London. What would you think of that idea?) "Why not. I don't know if it's possible to shut down a city for an entire weekend, like London. We do it in other places so it's not impossible. But yes for sure it would be great to be closer to the people even, but certainly we'd miss some of the corners we have in Silverstone which are unique and very enjoyable as a driver. But maybe we can have a change every year, who knows." FERNANDO ALONSO WALKING TOWARDS CAMERA (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELIPE MASSA, WILLIAMS, SAYING: "Why not, I mean we race in Singapore, we race in Monaco, why not a race here in London? It would be fantastic. You see that people is very interesting so definitely Silvertone is a fantastic place, I really hope Silverstone stays but if not, why not?" DRIVER DANIEL RICCIARDO BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHASE CAREY, F1 CEO, SAYING: "First - we have a race for three more years. There's a lot of time. We're talking about a race in 2020, we're not talking about a race in the next three months. To some degree it's a little frustrating that they (Silverstone) chose a week when both we and Silverstone should be celebrating the sport, to decide they're going to use it for posturing and to negotiate, but so be it. We're gonna still try to engage with Silverstone. You know, it has great history and we value the history in this sport. The U.K. is tremendously important to us and we will have a race in the U.K." (SOUNDBITE) (English) SADIQ KHAN, LONDON MAYOR, SAYING: "If F1 want to talk to us about bringing F1 to London, I'm happy to listen. There's some hurdles we'd have to overcome, but always happy to listen to great sporting events coming to London." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JENSON BUTTON, RACING DRIVER, SAYING: "I think we all love racing in the streets, especially in a city like London. You know, it's a very different type of driving, I think it definitely adds to the excitement of us racing around streets that London busses are driving on, London taxis, and you can drive on them in your road car. It could be a lot of fun, especially for the fans." VARIOUS OF CARS SETTING OFF DRIVER KIMI RAIKKONEN, FERRARI, WAVING AT FANS AND WALKING UP WHITEHALL ALONSO WAVING AT FANS AND WALKING UP WHITEHALL
  • Embargoed: 26th July 2017 23:37
  • Keywords: F1 Live London cars racing
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINDGOM
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINDGOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Motor Racing,Sport
  • Reuters ID: LVA0026PEYRZZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With the U.K.'s Silverstone racetrack exercising a break clause in its contract to host the British Grand Prix, a Formula One event that saw cars race through the capital's streets revived the prospect of a long-touted London race becoming a reality on Wednesday (July 12).
    F1 boss Chase Carey told Reuters that Liberty Media were interested in bringing Formula One to more city-based street races, an idea that piqued the interest of some of the sport's top drivers and even London's Mayor.
    "Why not? Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel told Reuters, of the idea of a London street race. "We do it in other places so it's not impossible."
    Britain's Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula One world champion echoed the sentiment, as did Williams's driver Felipe Massa
    London Mayor Sadiq Kahn told Reuters that while there would be hurdles to overcome, he would be "happy to listen" to Formula One bosses if they proposed bringing a race to the city.
    Meanwhile, Carey expressed frustration with Silverstone's decision to call the race's future into question.
    Carey and the drivers were speaking at the F1 Live event in London, which saw classic and modern Formula One cars roar down Whitehall in front of cheering fans, with music performances from Little Mix and the Kaiser Chiefs.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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