F1: Ecclestone?s London GP Claim Excites Media

The British media has been alive Thursday with talk of a possible future London GP on a track that would run past major tourist sites in the very heart of the city.

Bernie Ecclestone has indicated that he is behind the plans, but it remains to be seen whether he is serious or is helping to promote a PR stunt by Ferrari and McLaren sponsor Santander.

A month ago, Santander invited the media to an event in London Thursday with the premise: "Ever imagined what a London Grand Prix might look like? Jenson (Button) and Lewis (Hamilton) have."

The company followed up with the promise of a CGI video, with the explanation: ?This summer, London is undeniably the focus of the world?s attention. During the preamble to July?s British Grand Prix, Santander, the title sponsor of the UK?s legendary race at Silverstone, has prompted consideration of how this season of international events in London might be augmented by a Formula One race ? and how a spectacular metropolitan street race past London?s iconic landmarks, might look.?

It seemed like a clever PR stunt ? hook up F1 with a bit of Olympic 2012 fervor and some harmless speculation about how a race in London might look ? but on the very day of the event, Ecclestone is claiming that there are serious plans in place.

Ecclestone?s desire for a GP in the city is no secret, and he was hugely encouraged by the interest in the Regent Street F1 demonstration of 2004.

The successful London Olympic bid of 2005 and later the long-term deal with Silverstone appeared to put a stop to any plans, with the likelihood of the UK ever getting a second race receding as more and more countries applied for races.

However, with economic problems making some current events less than viable, it seems that Ecclestone has revived the idea of London as a second UK event, and reportedly he is prepared to promote it himself, to the tune of ?35m.

He told The Times: "With the way things are, maybe we would front it and put the money up for it. If we got the OK and everything was fine, I think we could do that. Think what it would do for tourism. It would be fantastic, good for London, good for England ? a lot better than the Olympics."

The logistical problems of closing a large part of central London for several days would seem to be insurmountable, never mind any consideration of noise.

Ecclestone claims no connection with proposals for a race at the Olympic site, although that would seem to be a rather more realistic option than the proposed 3.2-mile route involving Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus. Perhaps that is Ecclestone's end game, having drummed up some initial interest.

A similar thing happened with Valencia, where Ecclestone backed the street demo for the 2007 McLaren launch (backed by Santander), and we ended up with a track around the rundown old dock area.

It remains to be seen how serious he really is and whether this is really just a clever bit of PR kite flying drummed up by Ecclestone and Santander, a regular F1 race sponsor and thus in effect a partner of his.

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/f1-bernie-ecclestones-london-gp-claim-excites-media/

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