Whitmarsh: F1 needs America, not Korea
Discussion
Interesting comments from Martin Whitmarsh and i wonder what Bernie will make of them
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has questioned the wisdom of including a Korean GP on next year's F1 calendar, underlining he feels the sport should instead be focusing on re-establishing a foothold in North America.
October 17 in Yeongnam has been pencilled in as a provisional date for next season, bringing the 2010 calendar to 19 races with Montreal also set to be reinstated provided they can work out a deal with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
But Whitmarsh revealed that the Formula One Teams Association has reservations about adding a sixth race in Asia following reports there could be a shortage of facilities.
"We hear stories it's four or five hours from anywhere, there's no infrastructure, no hotels, no-one can get there... It's going to make it difficult for fans and difficult for media," he said.
"We're meant to be doing it for the fans and other people. My personal opinion is that we've got other priorities, we've go to act in North America.
"There shouldn't be question marks over Montreal, we should be prepared to sacrifice a normal week and get to Montreal.
"We want to make sure we crack North America. It's got a big market.
"I don't think we should be so arrogant as to expect them to pay us good money to go there.
"I think we messed it up so badly in the past we should be saying 'if necessary we'll come there for free and we'll work with you to develop the North American audience'."
McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has questioned the wisdom of including a Korean GP on next year's F1 calendar, underlining he feels the sport should instead be focusing on re-establishing a foothold in North America.
October 17 in Yeongnam has been pencilled in as a provisional date for next season, bringing the 2010 calendar to 19 races with Montreal also set to be reinstated provided they can work out a deal with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
But Whitmarsh revealed that the Formula One Teams Association has reservations about adding a sixth race in Asia following reports there could be a shortage of facilities.
"We hear stories it's four or five hours from anywhere, there's no infrastructure, no hotels, no-one can get there... It's going to make it difficult for fans and difficult for media," he said.
"We're meant to be doing it for the fans and other people. My personal opinion is that we've got other priorities, we've go to act in North America.
"There shouldn't be question marks over Montreal, we should be prepared to sacrifice a normal week and get to Montreal.
"We want to make sure we crack North America. It's got a big market.
"I don't think we should be so arrogant as to expect them to pay us good money to go there.
"I think we messed it up so badly in the past we should be saying 'if necessary we'll come there for free and we'll work with you to develop the North American audience'."
TonyHetherington said:
Of course he's saying that! McLaren have a new sports car coming out next year that they want to sell in North America 
And one of Mercedes largest markets is in North America.Get the cars on a decent track, not that Indy rubbish, and let's see some proper action. Not in some tinpot track in the middle of nowhere in a country which has the class to employ Tilke to design their track.
Whitmarsh is talking a lot of sense there. Maybe part of the reason is the McLaren MP4-12C, but the logic of being in North America also applies to Ferrari, Mercedes and Toyota, and would have done for Honda and BMW. The only current team who have little presence (if any, I'm not sure) is Renault, but I doubt they would object as it may give them opportunities which they might take advantage of later.
Having a race in the middle of nowhere in Korea, especially if there is no other infrastructure around, has to be crazy. Interesting that he suggests they should do it for free, Bernie never does anything for free, but he has become very short sighted in not considering the reason people has little control over, but on whom he depends, are in the sport - meaning the sponsors and to a lesser extend the teams.
Having a race in the middle of nowhere in Korea, especially if there is no other infrastructure around, has to be crazy. Interesting that he suggests they should do it for free, Bernie never does anything for free, but he has become very short sighted in not considering the reason people has little control over, but on whom he depends, are in the sport - meaning the sponsors and to a lesser extend the teams.
andyps said:
Whitmarsh is talking a lot of sense there. Maybe part of the reason is the McLaren MP4-12C, but the logic of being in North America also applies to Ferrari, Mercedes and Toyota, and would have done for Honda and BMW. The only current team who have little presence (if any, I'm not sure) is Renault, but I doubt they would object as it may give them opportunities which they might take advantage of later.
Having a race in the middle of nowhere in Korea, especially if there is no other infrastructure around, has to be crazy. Interesting that he suggests they should do it for free, Bernie never does anything for free, but he has become very short sighted in not considering the reason people has little control over, but on whom he depends, are in the sport - meaning the sponsors and to a lesser extend the teams.
+1 Having a race in the middle of nowhere in Korea, especially if there is no other infrastructure around, has to be crazy. Interesting that he suggests they should do it for free, Bernie never does anything for free, but he has become very short sighted in not considering the reason people has little control over, but on whom he depends, are in the sport - meaning the sponsors and to a lesser extend the teams.
well said, Been thinking the exact same thing for along time Myself! 
Project 644 said:
Well said that man.
Moscow? India? Korea? Even Turkey. FFS. Yes, they might be emerging markets but NO-ONE IS GOING OR WILL GO TO THE F'ING RACE!
Gillet said:
Finally someone in F1 realises its about the fans, shock horror!
Personally i don't care if they have a GP in America or not, but they definately need to bring more races back to where the fans are.
Rubbish,Personally i don't care if they have a GP in America or not, but they definately need to bring more races back to where the fans are.
Whitmarsh wants to go to the US to sell more road cars, not for the fans.
I suspect F1 is more popular in Korea than it is in the US.
MartG said:
Well said MW - F1 should go to countries because the fans want them there, not because the government of that country pumps millions into a circuit for political propaganda
Funny that, I've never quite understood the logic of The Spank demanding that teams cut costs from $100's millions a year to just $50 or 60 million, yet his old friend The Midget keeps increasing the cost for a country to host the event.I guess The Midget needs to raise more funds for his trust and to help keep The Spank in a style of living he's used to...
I wish people would understand that there is one simple way to solve all the problems with F1 right now, and yes we do have the power over The Midget and The Spank to do it.
Quite simply, we all stop watching it on TV, we all stop buying tickets to the race and we stop buying all the over priced merchansise, be it clothing, models and everything else they sell us! If everyone stop spending just watch how quick that F1 would change...
Power to the people
Trouble is we live in a world were people couldn't give a s
t anymore about working together to make change - we all live in a self-centre world where we only worry about ourselves, yet we still continue to moan, its pathetic...Edited by motormania on Tuesday 6th October 12:48
anonymousposter said:
Gillet said:
Finally someone in F1 realises its about the fans, shock horror!
Personally i don't care if they have a GP in America or not, but they definately need to bring more races back to where the fans are.
Rubbish,Personally i don't care if they have a GP in America or not, but they definately need to bring more races back to where the fans are.
Whitmarsh wants to go to the US to sell more road cars, not for the fans.
I suspect F1 is more popular in Korea than it is in the US.
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