NYAutoRacing.com
SHOULD THEY STAY OR SHOULD THEY GO NOW?
F1 at Indy Under Threat Again
By KEVIN MA
June 19, 2007 - Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton grabbed the headlines once again at the Brickyard by beating his teammate, two time world champion Fernando Alonso for a North America sweep. The question is, are they going to come back to the legendary speedway for another go next year?
FIA supremo Bernie Ecclestone recently showed his displeasure with the Speedway because of lack of promotion for the annual United States Grand Prix, and claimed that F1 doesn't really need to be in the States as the circus continues to add races in the Middle East and Asia. Previously, Ecclestone mentioned that he'd be more interested in hosting the USGP in Las Vegas or New York.
"There are bigger markets for us to be in other parts of the world," Ecclestone said. "We could be in India soon instead of the United States. We don't have a lot of sponsors from the U.S., no American teams and only one driver."
His statement was half right. India? A bigger market? You must be joking Bernie! Though, the USGP doesn't have a lot of sponsors, and we don't have any American teams in the sport. This is a fact. Furthermore, it's true that we have only one driver and Scott Speed is driving for Toro Rosso, where is he going to go?
On the other hand, the city of Indianapolis needs F1. Despite the fact that the U.S. Grand Prix attendance does not match the All State [Brickyard] 400 and the Indianapolis 500, the annual grand prix still draws foreigners to the city itself. We are talking about millions of international dollars pouring into the state of Indiana.
Not to mention the road course at the Speedway was designed for F1, not Indy Pro Series. There were talks about MotoGP+Valentino Rossi coming in to take over the road course, but they don't have four wheels! Having IndyCar to run the road course race at the Speedway doesn't make sense either. IndyCar runs the Indy 500, that's it.
What does it take for Tony George to keep the GP at the Brickyard? And what does he need to do to please the ever demanding Ecclestone?
“Tony has stressed to Bernie in these meetings that we want to continue the event, and we believe he feels the same,” IMS President and COO Joie Chitwood said. “With eight years experience with the USGP, both Tony and Bernie know what the challenges are. They are exploring ways to get to a long-term agreement, and we expect to make an announcement no later than July 12."
Let's face it. Business people from up and down the pit lane all understand the need of F1 making a presence in the U.S. Car manufactures such as Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota all sell their cool cars here and this is the biggest market in the whole wide world. And people make business deals during the grand prix weekend.
This year's race was seen on network TV Fox, so it definitely helped. I was able to pick up a few commercials during Fox Saturday Major League Baseball broadcast, but was that enough? Moreover, the race was being promoted pretty much only in the state of Indiana - you saw billboards of F1 here and there and that was it. As Ecclestone said, he saw Indy 500 billboards as well, no wonder why he was unhappy. And what about other big cities in America? New York, Chicago and Los Angeles? Did we see anything that would market the event? No.
This is the United States Grand Prix and the event needs to be promoted statewide. It's going to take a total marketing effort and it's lacking at the moment.
F1 needs to stay in the U.S. Indianapolis or not, but the most viable option is to have the race ran at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at this juncture. We'll keep our fingers crossed, again.
By KEVIN MA
June 19, 2007 - Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton grabbed the headlines once again at the Brickyard by beating his teammate, two time world champion Fernando Alonso for a North America sweep. The question is, are they going to come back to the legendary speedway for another go next year?
FIA supremo Bernie Ecclestone recently showed his displeasure with the Speedway because of lack of promotion for the annual United States Grand Prix, and claimed that F1 doesn't really need to be in the States as the circus continues to add races in the Middle East and Asia. Previously, Ecclestone mentioned that he'd be more interested in hosting the USGP in Las Vegas or New York.
"There are bigger markets for us to be in other parts of the world," Ecclestone said. "We could be in India soon instead of the United States. We don't have a lot of sponsors from the U.S., no American teams and only one driver."
His statement was half right. India? A bigger market? You must be joking Bernie! Though, the USGP doesn't have a lot of sponsors, and we don't have any American teams in the sport. This is a fact. Furthermore, it's true that we have only one driver and Scott Speed is driving for Toro Rosso, where is he going to go?
On the other hand, the city of Indianapolis needs F1. Despite the fact that the U.S. Grand Prix attendance does not match the All State [Brickyard] 400 and the Indianapolis 500, the annual grand prix still draws foreigners to the city itself. We are talking about millions of international dollars pouring into the state of Indiana.
Not to mention the road course at the Speedway was designed for F1, not Indy Pro Series. There were talks about MotoGP+Valentino Rossi coming in to take over the road course, but they don't have four wheels! Having IndyCar to run the road course race at the Speedway doesn't make sense either. IndyCar runs the Indy 500, that's it.
What does it take for Tony George to keep the GP at the Brickyard? And what does he need to do to please the ever demanding Ecclestone?
“Tony has stressed to Bernie in these meetings that we want to continue the event, and we believe he feels the same,” IMS President and COO Joie Chitwood said. “With eight years experience with the USGP, both Tony and Bernie know what the challenges are. They are exploring ways to get to a long-term agreement, and we expect to make an announcement no later than July 12."
Let's face it. Business people from up and down the pit lane all understand the need of F1 making a presence in the U.S. Car manufactures such as Ferrari, Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota all sell their cool cars here and this is the biggest market in the whole wide world. And people make business deals during the grand prix weekend.
This year's race was seen on network TV Fox, so it definitely helped. I was able to pick up a few commercials during Fox Saturday Major League Baseball broadcast, but was that enough? Moreover, the race was being promoted pretty much only in the state of Indiana - you saw billboards of F1 here and there and that was it. As Ecclestone said, he saw Indy 500 billboards as well, no wonder why he was unhappy. And what about other big cities in America? New York, Chicago and Los Angeles? Did we see anything that would market the event? No.
This is the United States Grand Prix and the event needs to be promoted statewide. It's going to take a total marketing effort and it's lacking at the moment.
F1 needs to stay in the U.S. Indianapolis or not, but the most viable option is to have the race ran at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at this juncture. We'll keep our fingers crossed, again.
