Paul Jeffrey
Premium
The United States look all but certain to gain another Grand Prix in the near future, and Mercedes 4-time WDC Lewis Hamilton has offered to lend a hand designing the track.
With plans for a new street circuit in Miami thought to be well on the way to securing the required support for a slot on the 2019 Formula One calendar, even going so far as to having released a proposed layout for the round the houses venue, four time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has thrown his hat into the ring with a proposal to help the event organisers create a circuit best suited to producing an interesting racing spectacle.
Although street tracks are great for giving fans a close up view of the cars and drivers in action, often the tight and narrow confines of a circuit threading its way through existing infrastructure leads to races where overtaking is at a premium, leaving many TV spectators struggling to remain interested in the on track product when overtaking is often near impossible (Baku being a notable exception).
Behind the scenes things appear to be moving at quite a pace with the plans for the Miami Grand Prix, and following a recent map reveal of the proposed new circuit layout, Britain's Lewis Hamilton has been left concerned that the new venue could be made more overtaking friendly, even offering to help with the design of the track, much like happens in the world of professional golf;
"I don’t get why, for example, in golf you get all the great golfers who design golf courses, and then you’ve not got any of the top racing drivers ever in history who ever designed a race track,” said the British driver.
“Miami is a super cool place, and I was very, very excited to hear about it, and then I saw the layout. "I think it could be a lot more fun. You’ve got two of the longest straights, but maybe when we drive it, it will be more fun".
“I don’t want to make an assumption before we’ve even driven it, but if there’s time, and anyone wants to approach me or any of the drivers, I’m sure we could give some good insight into what the layout’s like, and how it could be better.
"I know Miami quite well. There’s a few better locations to put the track, for example.”
With the proposals to support a Formula One grade street circuit having been unanimously approved by the city's commission earlier today, Formula One under Liberty Media looks to have taken one step closer to adding a second American venue to the Grand Prix schedule in the very near future.“I don’t want to make an assumption before we’ve even driven it, but if there’s time, and anyone wants to approach me or any of the drivers, I’m sure we could give some good insight into what the layout’s like, and how it could be better.
"I know Miami quite well. There’s a few better locations to put the track, for example.”
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Do you like the look of the proposed Miami layout? Is another street circuit a good idea for Formula One, in your opinion? Let us know in the comments section below!
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