Jenson Button has sent a warning to F1 bosses against favouring street circuit races over "old school" tracks.
Formula 1’s owners Liberty Media are desperate to capitalise on the increased popularity and visibility of the sport by taking grand prixs to new locations. Las Vegas will be hosting a race in 2023 on the iconic Strip but, with new tracks, other old favourites look set to drop off the calendar.
One increasingly real possibility is that Spa-Francorchamps, home of the Belgian Grand Prix, could be one of those casualties as reports continue to suggest it might well stop being a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar. The current contract between Spa and F1 is set to expire at the end of the 2022 campaign and there has been talk it could rotate with other races year by year.
Button, who famously won the World Championship in 2009, has admitted he would be “very upset” should Spa cease to be a permanent event every season. The former Brawn and McLaren racer won there back in 2012 and he has warned the current crop of drivers could be left upset should the track be taken off the calendar.
“If Spa isn’t there I’ll be very upset,” Button told the WTF1 podcast . “Monaco is a tricky one because there’s lots going on behind the scenes.
“But if you take away Spa, it’s for other reasons, not because it’s not a good circuit. It’s one of the best in the world, the racing’s amazing, the drivers love it and the teams love going there. We have to be a little bit careful. We know Formula 1 is entertainment and a certain TV show [Netflix ’s Drive to Survive] has made it very famous in America, which is great for the sport.
“But we need to make sure we keep the racing exciting and going to circuits that give us great racing because you’re going to see happy drivers. You’re going to get a lot more out of them if they’re in a good place, not thinking ‘why are we at this track? It’s not fun, we can’t overtake, it’s too narrow’.
“I like the mix of having street circuits and old school tracks, but we can’t be going to all city centres, and just going there because of the location. It needs to be because of the track itself and the country it’s in too because that’s how you get the fanbase. And having a fun race to watch on TV, with lots of fighting, is important too.”
The Belgian Grand Prix is the next race on the calendar this season after the summer break with Max Verstappen looking to increase his lead and maintain his stunning form at the top of the title championship. However, while much of the talk will be on the racing action the internal decision making on the future of Spa is sure to also be at the forefront of the minds within Formula 1.
The Belgian Grand Prix takes place on August 28 after the Formula 1 summer break.
