News of the Greek government allocating nearly €30 million, pending Parliament ratification, to build a track that will comply with Formula 1 standards were quite a surprise, given the country’s current financial state.
If the Greek Parliament gives the green light, the new track will be built in Halandritsa, near the port of Patras in the Peloponnese.
When questioned by Carscoop, president of the Patras Autodrome consortium Evangelos Floratos said that, even though securing a Formula 1 Grand Prix is very difficult, there are many other forms of racing that could be hosted on the track.
Recently, however, we were contacted by Athanassios Papatheodorou, an architect and project manager of the 'DielpisFormula1' project that also wants to host the Greek Formula 1 Grand Prix at the port of Pireaus, and specifically the municipality of Drapetsona.
Papatheodorou said that, while the construction of the Halandritsa circuit was more than welcome and it actually meets F1 specifications, it doesn’t fulfill other conditions such as access, accommodation, services etc.
Moreover, it has never requested to host a Formula 1 race. On the other hand, the DielpisFormula1 project, which in Papatheodorou’s words is a private initiative “that not only does not burden the Greek citizens but also creates benefits for them”, has already filled a request with FIA and Bernie Ecclestone on November 23, 2011.
The statement adds that, three days later, Ecclestone met with the head of DielpisFormula1 and agreed, in principle, with its proposal, noting that the next step is to find an investor.
Apparently, two cities in Greece are arguing about which one has the right to host the country’s NON EXISTENT Formula 1 Grand Prix in one of two NON EXISTENT tracks. Too bad Aristophanes is long dead, because he'd have a ball with this situation…
Don't get us wrong: it would certainly be nice to see the Greek GP join the F1 calendar. It would probably be even better if dear old Bernie could accommodate both cities and, like Italy, have Greece host not just one, but two F1 races each year.
Our take, though, is that the country faces a plethora of other, much more serious issues that must be resolved before even thinking about investing in a track that may never host an F1 race.
And even if it did, this wouldn’t mean that it would make sense from a financial point of view. If in doubt, just look to the east, in Istanbul and what happened to the Turkish Grand Prix…
By Andrew Tsaousis
5 Comments:
Italy no longer host two F1 GPs a year... San Marino GP has been dropped since 2006. Spain is hosting two races currently...
You're absolutely right; thanks for pointing that out. Spain is currently holding two GPs like Italy and Germany used to in the past, with the "European" tag being used to justify their existence in the F1 calendar.
Italy was mentioned because a. it held two F1 races for a very long
time and b. in my opinion, it made for a better reference to Greece because it is its closest neighbor to the West, just like Turkey is to the East.
Ecclestone though has found his promised land in the East and, since the F1 calendar is already full, Europe is bound to lose some of its own except maybe for those deemed too historic/famous/important to manufacturers from a commercial viewpoint (e.g. Monaco, Germany, UK, Italy and probably Spa) to axe.
The track in Patra has been an on-again off-again project for years. Its located in the middle of nowhere and they have a point in saying it doesnt meet f1 requirements.
I was initially very very very very sceptical of the Drapetsona bid, but having followed the story for a while ive changed my opinion to cautious optimism. It has some hefty backers and has had a lot of momentum since the initial bid with followup meetings with Bernie Ecclestone etc. Half the track is actually a section of existing public road which is due for renewal anyway, and the rest of the track and planned hotel/shopping/entertainment complex is in a piece of prime real estate on the coast which has been in need of redevelopment for decades since heavy industry left. The plan is for a track, marina and associated support infrastructure like shops, hotels etc. Currently the marinas in athens are pretty full in summer and don't have facilities to cater to a lot of the "big spender" types who are likely to drop in. The country lives on tourism at the moment. Yes this is a problem and the economy needs to diversify, but this is a truly proven winner and investing further in facilities that cater to much more than just an f1 race can only be good.
The Greeks have to ride bikes to work (the ones that still have work) and these guys want to invest millions in a new race track. I'm sorry. I'm a great Formula 1 fan but making this investment in this country is just dumb.
To be exact there was only one Italian GP and the other whilst raced on a track in Italian territory at Imola, it was in fact San Marino GP a seperate country.
The logic for two in Germany then in Spain etc is simple, the largest fan base is Ferrari, Italy their home, then whilst Schumacher was leading driver for them Bernie capitalised by holding two in his homeland, then Spain for Alonso etc.all the time knowing without Ferrari fans there would be only 30-40% interest both in track attendance and TV ratings.
But this proposal to hold a GP in Greece is crazy in so many ways and without a single justification. Indeed apart from the politicians that would entertain the thought being jailed for stupidity, the countries external debt holders should call in their money and bankrupt the country.
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