As if it were a curse, a divine punishment for so abruptly removing Bernie Ecclestone from Formula 1, Liberty Media, which acquired the rights to the category at the end of 2016, cannot carry out any of its projects.
One after another, all his great projects to take Formula 1 to new places, have fallen before they were born, keeping an Ecclestone calendar practically identical.
No new events
Miami was the first. Bring Formula 1 to the center of one of the great cities of the United States, innovating in the canon, which now would not be directly supported by the promoter but would be a percentage of the collection, which could be the future for the most classic circuits that are overflowing with fans but cannot compete with other venues without so much consideration when it comes to raising funding.
Liberty Media hit on a simple neighborhood association that has repeatedly thrown all the proposals and alternatives given to the ground. In 2021, no sign of Miami and less and less hope that the urban event will make its appearance and even more strange, that it will come to stay.
Vietnam was next. Although not entirely original, since Ecclestone had already set his eyes on Hanoi, the truth is that it was negotiated and closed by the Liberty Media team. Again, a street circuit, which seems to be the best solution that the Formula 1 world has found to facilitate access to fans who today are more reticent than in the past when it comes to making transfers to the outskirts for this type of event. events.
To be fair, only the global coronavirus pandemic prevented the holding of the Vietnam Grand Prix in the first place. And it will not be that F1 was not willing to go to a city closer to the epicenter of Wuhan than that of the canceled Chinese Grand Prix. But one thing is the wishes of Formula 1, and another what the teams were willing to do. Vietnam was postponed indefinitely so that finally in November, with the calendar more than closed for months, they publicly affirmed that the Grand Prix was canceled.
Well … his turn would come in 2021, absolutely everyone thought. But not all was said yet. The links between the promoter, the government and Formula 1 were embroiled in a scandal worthy of a James Bond movie that included the theft of state secrets, corruption, influence peddling … When Liberty Media asked who to speak to now, the Hanoi government replied that they were not for these things. The route was composed and without a boyfriend. As the grandstands were set up, they began to be dismantled and their F1 debut is more than likely not to come for many years.
And then came Brazil. In a communication that the fans did not like at all, who have Interlagos as one of the best circuits of the season for its ability to produce unpredictable or at least exciting races, Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, affirmed that Formula 1 should go to Rio de Janeiro, and that a circuit was going to be built for it.
Liberty Media closed an agreement with the promoter and the first steps were started for the new Brazilian Grand Prix. A fenced forest was chosen in the middle of the city, in a practically uninhabited neighborhood, old military installations full of no-entry signs, a minefield, whose last useful use was in the Rio Olympic Games, creating a circuit for mountain bikes in the surroundings. No one thought then that they were going to face environmental restrictions, which has rejected all proposals, including the most common of replanting each tree that has to be cut down precisely in a place where they are not lacking.
All or nothing in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is Liberty Media’s next big project. The thing would have to happen very badly so that a country governed by an absolute monarchy with the money for punishment would not be able to carry out the circuit, not least true that we still do not know absolutely anything about the urban layout that should be ready for the month of December.
Until the celebration of the Grand Prix, everything remains in the air, that seeing the recent history it is better not to take anything for granted. On the implications of Liberty Media’s first major project having been in a place surrounded by controversy and boycott attempts, we will talk another day.
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