The 2012 Formula One calender is scheduled to have 20 races, a record number of world championship events in one season. The differences in the schedule between 2011 and 2012 are the dropping of the Turkish event, the reintroduction of the Bahrain GP and the inaugural running of the Austin GP at the currently under development, Circuit Of The Americas in Texas.
In recent days there has been speculation that all is not well with the American event and we may well only be having 19 races again next season. I'm not going to go into all the technicalities regarding why or why not we will be having a race in the US next season. I think the real reason is the general mindset regarding Formula One that you find in the States.
We've seen, in the last dozen or so years, Formula One steadily move away from it's traditional base of mainly European circuits to a spread of venues more widely scattered around the globe. In 1998 eleven out of sixteen events were held in Europe. In 2012 only eight out of the twenty races will be on European soil, the same number that will be taking part on the Asian continent. In 1998 there was only one race in Asia, the Japanese GP.
I think the reason we are seeing so many races in Asia now is their hunger to have a top international sporting event. Though not being cheap, a Grand Prix is far simpler to host then a big competition like the Olympics or World Cup and it is part of a World Championship. It's one of the few sports where you get all the top players in the World competing against each other all at once. Because it's one single event and it is most probably of a much higher profile than other regular sports fixtures in these countries, more effort is focused on ensuring that the race goes ahead no matter what. Whatever resources that are necessary will be poured into securing a place on the F1 calender because there is nothing else directly competing for those resources, particularly in motor sport.
In the US and Europe, motor racing is more mature and there are, especially in the US, many other series and formula that have a lots of fans. In the States there is NASCAR and Indy Car which both have a huge following. Formula One has a fan base there but it's not like every American racing fan will be disappointed if there is no Austin Grand Prix because most of them would rather be watching NASCAR anyway. This lack of enthusiasm I can see being echoed by the people writing the cheques. They're probably thinking why are we going to all this trouble and financial expense when we could spend a lot less on a NASCAR or Indy Car event and get far more local interest from fans.
I hope the Texans do get it together and we do have a Grand Prix in the United States next year, I just get the sad feeling the Texans don't want it enough.
In recent days there has been speculation that all is not well with the American event and we may well only be having 19 races again next season. I'm not going to go into all the technicalities regarding why or why not we will be having a race in the US next season. I think the real reason is the general mindset regarding Formula One that you find in the States.
We've seen, in the last dozen or so years, Formula One steadily move away from it's traditional base of mainly European circuits to a spread of venues more widely scattered around the globe. In 1998 eleven out of sixteen events were held in Europe. In 2012 only eight out of the twenty races will be on European soil, the same number that will be taking part on the Asian continent. In 1998 there was only one race in Asia, the Japanese GP.
I think the reason we are seeing so many races in Asia now is their hunger to have a top international sporting event. Though not being cheap, a Grand Prix is far simpler to host then a big competition like the Olympics or World Cup and it is part of a World Championship. It's one of the few sports where you get all the top players in the World competing against each other all at once. Because it's one single event and it is most probably of a much higher profile than other regular sports fixtures in these countries, more effort is focused on ensuring that the race goes ahead no matter what. Whatever resources that are necessary will be poured into securing a place on the F1 calender because there is nothing else directly competing for those resources, particularly in motor sport.
In the US and Europe, motor racing is more mature and there are, especially in the US, many other series and formula that have a lots of fans. In the States there is NASCAR and Indy Car which both have a huge following. Formula One has a fan base there but it's not like every American racing fan will be disappointed if there is no Austin Grand Prix because most of them would rather be watching NASCAR anyway. This lack of enthusiasm I can see being echoed by the people writing the cheques. They're probably thinking why are we going to all this trouble and financial expense when we could spend a lot less on a NASCAR or Indy Car event and get far more local interest from fans.
I hope the Texans do get it together and we do have a Grand Prix in the United States next year, I just get the sad feeling the Texans don't want it enough.
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