Hamburg, Germany - Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone says he wants to see the sport debut in Africa.
In an interview with Hamburg-based newspaper Handelsblatt Ecclestone said he’d had conversations about taking Formula One to Africa and was also toying with holding a second Grand Prix in America with Austin, Texas, hosting the US Grand Prix on 23 October.
“I would like to see a race in Africa, where we so far have never raced,” he said. “The first conversations have already taken place and perhaps one more race in the US, let's see.”
Bernie wants more American F1 races
Ecclestone was wrong about that, of course. Since the inception of the modern-era Formula One world championship in 1950 there have been a number of Grands Prix in Africa, including three South African GPs - in 1962, 1963 and 1965 - at the Prince George circuit in East London, 20 more between 1967 and 1993 at Kyalami in Midrand, and one, the 1958 Morocco Grand Prix, on the Ain Diab street circuit in Casablanca.
It was the final round of the 1958 F1 world championship, with two drivers still in the running for the title - Mike Hawthorn of Ferrari and Vanwall’s Stirling Moss. On the day, however, Moss was unbeatable, winning by more than 90 seconds and clinching the Constructor’s title for team principal Tony Vandervell, but Hawthorn’s second place was enough to secure him the Drivers’ title.
FIERY CRASH
On lap 41, however, the engine of Stuart Lewis-Evans’ Vanwall blew up in a corner, sending the car hurtling off the track, where it burst into flames. Lewis-Evans got out but was very badly burned and, despite being airlifted back to Britain by Vandervell, died of his injuries six days later.
Vandervell was so upset by this that he later left Vanwall, and the young owner of the Connaught team, a close friend of Lewis-Evans, shut it down, sold the cars and announced his retirement from motorsport.
His name: Bernie Ecclestone. Nodody knows whether to be glad or sorry that he changed his mind seven years later.
UNDER PRESSURE
After a one-year absence, Formula One racing will return to Germany in 2016 when Hockenheim hosts a Grand Prix on 31 July, but Ecclestone says the Germans have ground to make up.
Last year's race at the Nurburgring, which is scheduled to host again in 2017, was cancelled due to contractual problems and Ecclestone says Hockenheim, which could not host the 2015 race at short notice, has much to live up to.
“We wanted Hockenheim to wake up a little last year,” said Ecclestone, who says the circuit has a contract for 2016 and 2018 which is “not an especially good one”.
“They are still living 20 years behind the times when I compare it to other events.”
The new season will start in Australia on 20 March with Ecclestone breaking new ground by holding a Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the first time on 20 June.
AFP