the "europe" race in F1 seasons

[DannyVTS]

I got a bit confused last night.. So if someone could just confirm

Catalunya in Barcelona is Spain's F1 circuit

Valencia was the venue for the "Europe" race

Why is there a Europe race?

Sorry for being thick

Danny

[TheArchitect]

my understanding is the idea of the european GP is it moves around to different circuits but doesnt seem to happen as much now.

[Eric Mc]

The notion of a European Grand Prix has been around for a while and allows a country to host more than one GP if Bernie thinks that there is commercial mileage to be had on doing so. It is quite a flexible system and has changed over the years.

Another strategy is to find a country that does not or cannot host a GP within its national boundaries and have a GP called after that country. As a result we have had the San Marino GP in Italy, the Swiss GP in France (Dijon) and the Luxemburg GP in Germany (Nurburgring). With the increase in Far Eastern and Middle Eastern GP venues, Bernie has been seeking to DECREASE the number of European races, not increase them.

[Cragglea1]

Ahhhh! I get this now. Is that why there was a Pacific GP in Japan as a second race?? I always thought the 'europen' gp was to be held as a tribute to the reigning F1 champion and was at a track of his choice.

[Eric Mc]

Cragglea1 said:

Ahhhh! I get this now. Is that why there was a Pacific GP in Japan as a second race?? I always thought the 'europen' gp was to be held as a tribute to the reigning F1 champion and was at a track of his choice.

No. Often Bernie would pick a venue if there was a perceived commercial gain. When Schumacher was dominating and there was big interest in Germany, thats why we had two German races for a number of years.

We have two races on Spain at the moment due to the Alonso Effect.

[CanAm]

Back in the 1960s, each year one of the National World Championship Grands Prix was given the 'honour' of also being known as the European Grand Prix, eg in 1964 the British GP at Brands was known as the European GP.
Later on, as Eric siad, it became one of Bernie's marketing ploys.