Lewis Hamilton could find himself in trouble with the fans of the largest democracy in the world as he has asked F1 to relook into the criteria of selecting new locations for F1 races.
When F1 came to India, the F1 fraternity in the country rejoiced, as their heroes were coming to their land, and were going to perform their trade right in front of their eyes.
However, Hamilton did not quite see it that way, and faced personal conflict while going out there to race in India.
The Brit pointed out that India was a poor country with no real racing tradition, yet there was this beautiful race track built in the middle of nowhere.
“I’ve been to India before to a race which was strange because India was such a poor place yet we had this massive, beautiful grand prix track made in the middle of nowhere. I felt very conflicted when I went to that grand prix.
“On the racing side, I don’t know how important it is to go to new countries as such.
“If you had the Silverstone Grand Prix and a London Grand Prix, it would be pretty cool.” Hamilton said.
It’s an honour to be on this journey with you. You dream the biggest dreams in the sport and work tirelessly, in the most innovative ways to make them real. This is how legends are born. Let’s hold our hands high as five-time Champions! ✋🏾🏆 @MercedesAMGF1 #Champions #HiFive pic.twitter.com/uiPbXF3RMa
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) November 13, 2018
Hamilton wants F1 to invest more in countries that have a rich racing history, probably add a few grand prix there rather than going into new countries that have next to no knowledge/fandom about the sport.
“We’ve got a lot of real racing history in England, Germany, Italy and now in the States it is starting to grow,” said Hamilton.
“But you only have one event per year in those places. If it was my business, I’d be trying to do more events in those countries.
“We had a grand prix in Turkey and hardly anyone came. Cool track, cool weekend but poor audience.” he added.
All of these comments from Hamilton came in lieu of the recently announced Vietnam Grand Prix from the 2020 season.
“If you have the German Grand Prix and you’ve got a Grand Prix in Berlin, I think connecting to cities where a lot of people are is probably a good thing, not necessarily going to countries where they don’t know so much about Formula One.” the Brit added.
Lewis Hamilton has questioned taking Formula 1 to new countries and would like to see races in places with "real racing history".
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— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 13, 2018
Do you think Hamilton is right to say that F1 shouldn’t really expand or try to hold grand prix in countries with no racing tradition or is that just his short sightedness?
If Liberty Media want the sport to have a global appeal, they need to invest into new venues, venues where a racing culture could be fostered.
Staying put while hoping to build a global brand surely wouldn’t be the way to go about it, would you?
