Formula One news
Webber hopes Aussie GP stays at Albert Park
13 November 2007Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber hopes Formula 1 won't switch from Albert Park to Surfers Paradise. The organisers of the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park signed a contract with Bernie Ecclestone to host the event until 2010. As the state government saw it lost a lot of money with the event they might not want to extend its contract.
Tracks such as Phillip Island and Surfers Paradise already said it would be keen on hosting the Australian F1 Grand Prix in the future. According to F1's only Australian driver though F1 should stay at Albert Park. "There would be absolutely massive costs to get Flemington underway to hold a motor race," Webber told Australian newsagent AAP. "The other suggestions are also out of the question. I don't see how anywhere else would be anywhere near as good.
"I just can't see how moving it somewhere else gets away from the problem they're talking about. We need to make Albert Park work, that's what we have to do. I'm not saying Albert Park is the only place ever in Australia you could race a Formula One car, I'm just saying if you needed to get it to that level somewhere else the amount of cash to be spent would be staggering."
But most important is to keep Formula 1 in Australia Webber believes. "First of all it's a national event - it's the Australian Grand Prix and the whole country should be proud of having a round of the world Formula One championship," he said. "A lot of other countries are screaming for it because they see it's a very prestigious thing to have. Formula One is massive in Europe and Asia, it's not massive in Australia and we know that. But we have an event here in the Southern Hemisphere and we need to fly the flag for this part of the world."
Webber believes the organisers at Albert Park are in the best position to use its experience to keep organising the Australian Grand Prix. "The energy and effort that has gone in since day one to make Albert Park a venue to race at has constantly gained two or three per cent as a venue for us as an industry to go to whether you're a driver, journalist, mechanic or team boss.
"From logistics from the time the cars get off the planes to spectators to get to and from there, it is brilliant. You talk to all the European spectators who come to the Melbourne Grand Prix and they say, my God, we can stay in the city, enjoy the city and go straight to the track," Webber said.
more news
- 09 Jan.
- 08 Jan.
- 07 Jan.
- 06 Jan.
- 05 Jan.
- 04 Jan.
- 03 Jan.
- 02 Jan.
- 01 Jan.
- 31 Dec. '08
- 30 Dec. '08
- 29 Dec. '08
- 28 Dec. '08
- 27 Dec. '08
Homepage
Autodromo Internacional do Algarve 