Spain has enjoyed much international sporting success of late with the victory in the recent World Cup soccer competition, Rafael Nadal’s second Wimbledon title and the country’s fifth consecutive win on the Tour de France, thanks to Alberto Contador (who follows in the footsteps of Oscar Pereiro and Carlos Sastre. In motorcycle racing Spaniards have done well in 250cc and 125cc racing with Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, Álvaro Bautista and Julián Simón. In Formula 1, of course, there is Fernando Alonso, the World Champion of 2005 and 2006, although he needs to reassert himself as a force to be reckoned with after a couple of poor years. While Spaniards love to cheer their sporting heroes, they also retain a strong sense of regional identity. The nationalist sentiments in the Basque Country and Catalonia are widely known, but there is also healthy competition between the other regions. This is highlighted by the rush of construction in recent years in the sphere of racing circuits, with Barcelona’s dominant position perhaps facing long-term challenges from new regional facilities. Valencia has landed itself a Grand Prix, albeit not a very successful one thus far, and already the folk from Mallorca are talking about challenging for that race in 2015. It is an interesting idea to build a circuit on the island which is famous for its holiday business. It would need investment of around $250 million to build a track and pay the required F1 fees. A site has been picked out on a huge old estate called Son Granada, which is across the main Autovía de Levante motorway from the only existing racing circuit on the island, which is called the Circuito Mallorca RennArena. It remains to be seen whether this will ever become a reality, but elsewhere in Spain there are new tracks that have been funded with regional government money, notably Motorland Aragón at Alcaniz; and the Circuito de Navarra, near Pamplona. There are believed to be others in the pipeline, including one near Madrid, where the regional government has plans to build a major new airport between the towns of Alamo and Navalcarnero. This project will apparently include a Formula 1 track, hotels and a golf course. The aim is to complete all the work by 2016. This is all part of a bid by Madrid for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Regional government money is also useful for motor racing operations such as HRT and Epsilon Euskadi. The former has substantial backing from the Murcia region, while the latter has had help building its F1-spec factory from the Basque government. HRT is struggling to survive in F1 and Epsilon Euskadi is having trouble finding the money to start its own project. It is not surprising, therefore, that Joan Villadelprat of Epsilon is trying to convince José Ramon Carabante, the boss of HRT, to form some kind of alliance that will give HRT a proper base, and Epsilon a chance to be in the sport. It all makes a lot of sense, despite the fact that the two regions involved are at opposite ends of the country.
We believe that there is a deal in place for HRT to use the Toyota TF110 as the basis of its 2011 car – which is why Pirelli had to use a 2009 car for its tyre testing – but this arrangement requires Jose Ramon Carabante to come up with a large amount of money. Epsilon Euskadi has the facilities to design and build a car and it might end up being a cheaper route for Carabante, although he would doubtless lose his funding from Murcia if he were to base the team in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Logic is not always used when it comes to decision-making in F1, but it is not a bad idea for Carabante to consider a merger.
I would guess these tracks would only make a profit if they get used more than once a year, i.e. for other motorsport events. I remember Alonso once said the motorsport industry in Spain isn’t/wasn’t very well developed, with no programmes for kids. Do you know how it is now Joe, with his successes? I guess it isn’t a vital industry for a country, but I suppose there’s the entertainment value. Then again, with EU nations facing big monetary crises, can they afford to spend money on “non-essential” things?
Joe,
It’s important that F1 maintains a strong presence in Spain although I don’t really understand why it should have two races (money aside).
Which of the other circuits would be best suited for F1? It’s clear that Whilst Barcelona is a great city to host a GP the circuit itself has not created a great race for years.
Tilke comes in for a lot of criticism but his circuits are vastly superior to those that were built in the 80s/90s:-
Hungaroring
Jerez
Barcelona and so on.
It strikes me that motorsport in Spain is still in its infancy. Having tested at Guadix, near Grenada earlier this year, it slightly reminded me of Snetterton in the 1960′s, other than the actual circuit, which had been updated recently with good surface and run off area’s. The temperature in mid May of 5º C did not help with getting tyre temperatures. The problem is that is something breaks (and testing 4 historic racers, it inevitably did), if you don’t have the spare with you, you are stuffed. In the UK, we could always source pretty much anything within a day.
Wilson
No less than ten brand new circuits have opened in Spain over the last decade.
At present there are at least six Spanish circuits which have a Grade T1 license or higher: Valencia (Ricardo Tormo), Valencia (street circuit), Barcelona, Jerez, Monteblanco, Aragon, and Navarra.
Oh, and lest we forget: Spain hosts no less than four, yes four, motorcycle Grand Prix this year! One of the reasons why I can’t take MotoGP seriously anymore.
Joe,
With Epsilon and HRT rumours, is Vlleneuve/Durango the favourite to be the 13th team?
I thought that Pirelli finally chose to use a 2009 Toyota because data exist for that car, that will allow comparaisons when trying their new tyres, as opposed to a 2010 model that wouldn’t be able to provide them with that kind of feed back.
[...] Merging Spanish teams Spain has enjoyed much international sporting success of late with the victory in the recent World Cup soccer [...] [...]
An Epsilon/Hispania merger makes a certain amount of sense for Epsilon in that it means a guaranteed entry and a technical base to build on rather than walking the plank of the FIA selection process (aka “You win — you have four months to produce a car — you lose.”)
But can Villeneuve-Durango realistically produce a viable car by next season if they get the entry now? Unless they have a secret Lola or Dallara chassis in their back pocket, it would seem impossible.
My guess is that the FIA will either award an entry for 2012 or do nothing at all.
Hi Joe ! Glad to see you are back!
For the record how could you forget Angel Nieto who won 13 world titles in 50cc and 125cc between 1969 and 1984.
13 titles, 90 victories he is a FIM’s GP Legend….
Ago,
It was not meant as a list of all the Spanish achievements ever in sport, just the recent ones…
JW1980
Which of Tilke’s circuits are better than those? Please don’tsay Turkey.It has one good corner. Estoril which was first used for F1 in the early mid 80s was better than anything Tilke has done. Who can forget Senna’s first win in the biblical rain in 1985 or JV going round the outside of Schumacher at the final corner after telling Jock Clear that he could overtake Schumacher there.
Then you can look at street tracks. 1980s gave us Adelaide where Tilke gave us Singapore and Valencia where there are 23-25 corners in 3 miles.
“…although he needs to re-assert himself after a couple of poor years”. Whilst you will no doubt roll your eyes at yet another Alonso ‘apologist’, your flippant remarks about his talents really do belay your impartiality.
He was driving for a largely uncompetitive team for the past two years! And you can hardly call his efforts poor this year, when by and large he has destroyed a very highly-rated team – mate (and please no harking back to Hockenheim).
Perhaps you need to re-assert yourself after a couple of poor blogs. Who knows?
MEF,
I am so bored with all this Alonso worship. Fernando had a couple of poor years because he was in the wrong team. It has got nothing to do with impartiality. It is a fact. I did not say his efforts were poor. His results were. End of story. The problem of impartiality is in your head. Not in mine.