08/05/2014
NEWS STORY
Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he does not want Formula One to race in South Korea again and it does not need to as he has replaced the race there with one which will launch next year in the oil-rich country of Azerbaijan according to an article in the Independent by Christian Sylt.
South Korea was dropped this year after repeated complaints about poor facilities and low attendance at the track in Jeollanam-do which is 200 miles from the country's capital Seoul. Azerbaijan is another far-flung country and sits at the crossroads of western Asia and eastern Europe. However, unlike South Korea, its race will be in the heart of the action on the streets of its capital city Baku.
"Baku has been signed. It will start in 2015 and will replace Korea. I don't want to go back there," says Ecclestone. "They did a good job with the track but what they forgot to do was build all the things they wanted to build."
A 3.5-mile track was built alongside a harbour promenade which was expected to be lined with shops, restaurants, cafés and exhibition facilities. However, many of them have not materialised since the inaugural race in 2010 as organisers struggled with the £160m estimated construction cost of the track and the £13m annual fee for the race.
The race in Baku will bring F1 around £24m every year and, unlike the track in South Korea, it has some motorsport heritage. Sports cars have raced on the streets of Baku since 2012 and the city now hosts the final of the Blancpain Sprint Series, the premier championship in the category which features cars from Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche.
The deal to host an F1 race in Baku was brokered by former Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore who is one of Ecclestone's closest confidantes. "It is absolutely true that Briatore was the guy who approached the president of Azerbijan," says a source close to the project. "There is no question that Briatore put the idea in the mind of the president of the country and that got things going."
Baku isn't the only new race which is expected to join the F1 calendar next year. It is understood that the return of the Mexican Grand Prix is due to be announced for 2015 in the coming weeks. The country last hosted an F1 race in 1992 and if it joins the calendar next year it will take the calendar to a record 21 Grands Prix.
The number of races was limited to 20 in the Concorde Agreement, the contract which committed the teams to F1. The reason for restricting the calendar is that the greater the number of races, the higher the teams' travel costs and the longer they spend away from their families.
The Concorde expired at the end of 2012 and, in its place, the teams have signed separate agreements which state that majority consent from Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing is required to increase the calendar beyond 20 races. Ecclestone is confident that they will agree and his plans to boost the calendar depend on it.