Formula 1 is enjoying a boom in international interest. But could that popularity transfer to another racing series?
One set of investors certainly thinks so — and they’re trying to raise the funds to revive a once nascent but now collapsed open-wheel category to prove it.
A1 Grand Prix existed for a brief few years late in the 2000s and pitted teams and drivers against each other on national lines.
On paper it sounded like a good idea. And with single-seater motorsport in a new golden age, some think it could be a good idea again.
Starting a racing series is a difficult and expensive business, but the wheels are reportedly already in motion. Whatever happens, the outcome will be interesting.
Meanwhile F1 has confirmed its critical broadcast equipment has escaped from the flooded Emilia-Romagna region unscathed — just.
And there are plans to salvage the qualifying tweaks planned for Imola at future rounds on the calendar.
F1 RIVAL MOTORSPORT WORLD CUP SERIES COULD BE REVIVED
Formula 1 could have a new rival category to worry about, with a group of wealthy investors attempting to raise money to revive the defunct A1 Grand Prix series.
A1GP was a short-live single-seater racing series comprising teams that represented their home countries rather than conventional constructors to form a sort of world cup of motorsport.
Nations were represented by one car but could field several different drivers over a season and even during a weekend. All cars were identical-specification Lola-designed chassis.
The series lasted four seasons between 2005 and 2009 but collapsed in part due to the global financial crisis.
But a group of investors spearheaded by Keith Mills, who helmed London’s bid for the 2012 Olympics, is attempting to find finance to fund a revival, according to report by Sky Sports UK.
The report says the bid already involves “heavyweight names from the sporting and business arenas” and that “a number of deep-pocketed investment funds and individuals had already expressed interest in financing the project”.
Former Alpine executive director and FIA sporting coordinator Marcin Budkowski and former Jordan, Benetton, Renault, Toyota, Force India and Caterham technical director Mike Gascoyne are reportedly involved in the project.
A prototype car has already been built and is reportedly capable of near F1-level performance.
Early plans outline that the series would start after the conclusion of the Formula 1 season but run until the middle of the following year. In a departure from the original A1GP series, each country would field two cars and two permanent drivers comprising a young rising star and an experienced talent.
The original A1GP series attracted 29 national teams over the course of its short life and featured several known F1 identities.
Australia’s team was led by principal Alan Jones and fielded current DJR ace Will Davison and two-time IndyCar champion Will Power along with Karl Reindler, Ryan Briscoe, Ian Dyk, Marcus Marshall and John Martin.
Among the international field were current F1 drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Pérez.
F1 TV COMPOUND JUST MILLIMETRES FROM DISASTER AFTER IMOLA FLOOD
The Monaco Grand Prix is in the clear after F1 confirmed its critical broadcast equipment was spared by a matter of millimetres from the floodwater that cancelled last weekend’s race in Imola.
Much of the paddock was already in the process of being set up when personnel were evacuated from the track last Tuesday night. By Wednesday flood waters has set into the paddock area, threatening the equipment left behind.
While much of F1’s broadcast work takes place remotely in the UK, critical infrastructure remains on site and moves from race to race.
There was concern on Wednesday, when staff were still banned from the circuit, that the broadcast tent had been damaged.
But the managing director of F1’s media and technology centre confirmed to the Italian edition of Motorsport that the broadcast are had escaped disaster by just 300 millimetres.
“Our structure was mounted on a 700-millimetre-high platform and the water, fortunately, it did not exceed 400 millimetres,” he said.
“Being raised allowed us to avoid the systems necessary for broadcasting suffering any damage, so they will be transferred to Monte Carlo.
“Otherwise we would not have had Imola but perhaps not even the Monaco GP, because it is true that we manage a large part of the broadcasting from Biggin Hill, the permanent structure which is based in the UK, and we have a lot of back up equipment, but the damage we would have done would have been important.”
The last time the F1 broadcast centre was threatened was at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix, when the approaching Typhoon Hagibis forced the cancellation of Saturday running.
Broadcast staff had to completely pack up the broadcast centre on Friday night and rebuild it again for Sunday to ensure qualifying and the race on Sunday could be televised.
F1 TO TRIAL IMOLA QUALIFYING FORMAT IN HUNGARY
Formula 1 will use a tweaked qualifying format at the Hungarian Grand Prix and at one other race after plans to use the modified rules were thwarted by the cancellation of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
F1 had hoped to trial a new format that would require all drivers in Q1 to use the hard compound followed by the medium compound in Q2 and then the soft compound in Q3.
The sport had hoped the enforced use of the harder compounds early in the hour could jumble up the middle of the grid by creating unpredictable results.
It was also hoped that Sunday might feature greater strategic variability because teams wouldn’t be able to freely choose which tyre compounds they carried through to the race.
But Austrian publication Motorsport Magazin has reported Pirelli is in talks with F1 and the FIA to find a replacement date to complement a pre-planned trial at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July.
The Monaco Grand Prix is not an option considering the supremacy of qualifying in the principality and the potential risk of forcing drivers to use harder compounds for a single flying lap when tyre warm-up is already difficult on the low-energy circuit.
Pirelli will also need more advanced notice for the trial given tyre allocations will be reduced from 13 sets to 11 under the tweaked rules.
