Interlagos the "Worst Circuit" in F1

[Tim Ling]

Interlagos, the scene of many skin-of-the-teeth championship wins over recent years, is under threat as Bernie Ecclestone finally criticises the facilities.

Ecclestone told the newspaper Estada de São Paulo "I can no longer be questioned by the teams about the worst circuit in the championship. The future depends on significant improvements.”



With many new countries around the world willing to pour cash into the FOM coffers, and offering brand new, state of the art facilities, previously secure F1 venues need to improve to keep their races.

Let's hope this fantastic circuit can make the improvements demanded.

 

[Rhys Gardiner]

Very risky situation. Interlagos is certainly not the best venue when it comes to facilities, but it has a great layout that never fails to provide good racing. I hope they can provide better facilities in the near future to ensure their place on the calendar.

 

[Tim Ling]

I agree Rhys. Interlagos is one of my favourite circuits, and moving F1 away will be a tough thing to do.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Look at the picture Not sure if this track is located in a poor or rich area. If the latter I would not hesitate to sell it as track owner. Land prizes can be huge (Real Madris anybody ) in some cities. With the money they collect they might be able to realize a more modern track somewhere else and continue the GP.

Would be a shame if Brazil was taken off the F1 calendar :frown:

 

[Steven Palmer]

Your confussing Sport with Buisness..........Bernie is one shrewed operator. F.O.M do not care what the track is like.....only the corporate hospitality matters.

 

[Kevin Watts]

Sentimentality should not get in the way of progress, this is not just about hospitality boxes, thats a narrow minded view. Its about facilities being updated as technology marches on and F1 requires more space. That is true of any sport. A lot of tracks around the world have moved on from the days drivers would haul their car up in a trailer and race. Its also about making sure the fans get value for money and that includes getting to and from the track which is one of the reasons Silverstone nearly lost its place on the calendar. I don't want to lose these historic tracks but they should not sit back and rely on their history to make it into the calender each year.

 

[Esteban Maurel]

interlagos should get a total remodellation.

 

[Austin Jordan]

it looks like it's in a nice area and look at it on google it's almost an arena. besides brazil is huge in racing and should stay in f1

 

[Rodolfo Rodrigues]

Interlagos is amazing

 

[Steven Palmer]

LOL..........F1 needs more space.........:wink:

Why??? .......to accommodate the ever growing business that IS Formula 1. Where do you think all those corporate quests get entertained over the weekends.....they don't mix with the great unwashed do they. No they spend their time in the ever growing "Motorhomes" that the teams can't seem to do without these days ....each year competing against the other in size, cost and height (It's almost as exciting as the car launches TBH )

But it's always been that way. When Enzo Ferrari took up racing it was to promote his car business......his philosophy was race Sunday .....sell cars Monday.

Don't get me wrong, I have been a fan of F1 since the early 80's and have had the opportunity to watch it evolve into the business that it is now. I accept what it has become.

Not so much narrow minded, just more of a realist I'd say.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Don't forget that the business also made the sport really big and the drivers the new popstars Sure entry tickets are way too expensive but it takes time to re-settle. I think the FOM knows very well that continueing like a few years back eventually will lead to a worst case scenario: end of the F1 as we know it.

 

[Steven Palmer]

F1 drivers have always had that certain "X factor" to use the pop analogy.......But drivers of yesteryear, like the tracks, had a lot more "character" rather than the ever corporate conscious sound bites we get from their modern day counterparts and the sterile ribbons of concrete designed by Mr Hermann Tilke

There's no denying the HUGE improvement in safety the money in the business has brought about.

 

[JTC_CWB]

Don't forget that the business also made the sport really big and the drivers the new popstars Sure entry tickets are way too expensive but it takes time to re-settle. I think the FOM knows very well that continueing like a few years back eventually will lead to a worst case scenario: end of the F1 as we know it.

http://globoesporte.globo.com/platb/voandobaixo/2010/07/27/hamilton-senna-e-a-mclaren/

 

[Kevin Watts]

Steven you seem to be a little lost in some sort of anti-capitalist rant, of course there is corporate hospitality, without the corporations where would the money come for the teams to operate? F1 costs have increased almost unchecked for years so the technology has marched on that require some of those large motor homes to house the staff and hardware that decipher all that data throughout the whole weekend. Because of that technology teams need more personnel at the track and larger garages as the cars continue to evolve. If the facilities cannot accommodate that then something has to be done.

 

[Steven Palmer]

Far from it Kev...It's just that over the years I feel the whole thing has got a little bit sterile......Drivers all say the same thing, touch their caps a million times every interview just to distract our attention to the sponsor's logo, even the cars all look the same, because of the extreme limits defined in the regulations. There was a time when teams were privately run and owed, all paid for out of their own pockets, like Hesketh, set up by Lord Hesketh and driven by one James Hunt. Then we had Williams, a fantastic privateer team until as you mentioned, more money was required and Frank Williams and Patrick Head correctly embraced the corporate money now flooding into the sport.

It's not that I'm anti capitalist....I just don't like the direction F1 is heading in, and that is being driven by the desire to make money, not sadly, to entertain the paying public.

One point I think highlights that the most is the fact that Monaco is still on the calendar. Teams have been moaning about the cramped facilities for years, and yet try and taking it off the calendar and you'll hear the howling from the corparate sponsors no matter where you live on the planet.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Monaco will never be taken off the calendar....because of corporate deals that are closed there during the weekend. Isn't that ironic :thumbup:

On a serious note. The days that sports were only for amateurs are gone. That's not just in F1 but in every modern sport that involves mass media.

 

[Paul Minnaar]

Ridonculous !!!!!

As many have stated - The modern day F1 driver and their entourage, are too busy worrying about other crap like state of the art facilities and hotles etc. rather than the racing and genuine race tracks.

Leave the place - it provides good racing.

Is the modern type of driver ruining the sport ? Overpaid, overhyped people that change the face of an entire sport ? Could be.

 

[Steven Palmer]

My personal opion is that this track, although unable to currently offer all the Gliz and Glam that some elements in the business crave, would be a real loss to the spectating public as Intelagos offers some entertaining racing on a circuit that offers a great variety of turns, fast straights and elevation changes.

 

[Kevin Watts]

I agree Steven it has become sterile, I'm more interested in watching NASCAR than F1 these days. Lets not have too much of a rose tinted look back at F1 though, neither Lord Hesketh or Sir Frank Willaims would have set up an F1 team to throw away money. F1 has always been about the glitz and the glamour which comes at a price, a price which has dented many an ego - see Eddie Jordan and Paul Stoddart who whined their way out of F1 when they realized that actually they were not quite rich enough to play with the big boys. Unfortunately F1 and money go hand in hand, I don't pretend to have a solution to that but all the players in F1 know that, the team bosses, the drivers, the manufacturers and the track owners who throw money at F1 to keep it at their venue, its dog eat dog and Interlagos would have kept other tracks off the calendar with a multi million dollar deals in the past. To complain now would be like the gambler complaining that he's down to his last chips at the roulette wheel, they know the game they know what it costs. For what its worth I've said for years Monaco should not be on the calendar for years.

 

[JTC_CWB]

Hello everyone!
I am Brazilian, and as everyone here lover of speed and this exciting and wonderful sport that is Formula-1.Really am getting old (50 years), and all this is much like looking at reform of the old house of our fathers , which only have records written in our hearts ... That is, the nostalgia is part of life and gives an immense pain in the chest when she begins to be erased by the evolution of time, only felt by those who "made part" of the story . Remember the conditions of the racetracks of Juan Manuel Fangio, we play without the subject "BOX" ... I believe the time has so far evolved. I'm not against evolution, but I favor the "EMOTION", this but will always vibrate in our hearts ... Please do not let it end!