The future of the Korean Grand Prix, which only debuted in 2010, is in doubt after organisers warned they could not continue to sustain substantial losses on an event which so far has failed to enthuse the local community.
It is believed that the 2011 grand prix resulted in a deficit of around US$56 million, almost exactly the amount of the hosting fee paid to Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder. The overall cost of the event was around US$80 million.
Speaking to
Autosport, Park Won Hwa, the race promoter, warned that the event could be scrapped unless Ecclestone renegotiated the fee, which is due to rise annually by 10%.
The organisers are under increasing political pressure from those who argue the money would be better spent in helping the local economy. The Yeongam circuit is situated in a largely agricultural region of low income communities.
"Some people in this region are against the race because of a big financial loss," Hwa explained. "Those citizens, who have a background as farmers and are normally poor, want to have the funds distributed for other purposes rather than be used for this so far unpopular event."
Dump it.
[h1]
'I feel safer in F1' - Webber[/h1]
I've never raced on an oval track but I've spoken to a lot of the guys who have," Webber said. "One thing they don't like is the element of pack racing, especially on a short oval such as Las Vegas. Running three wide on a track like that is not really racing. You're just getting a slipstream. Drivers look to move into a different lane - from the top to the bottom of the track, say - and things can happen.
"At certain speeds, that is fine and no-one gets badly injured. But when you're doing 220mph in an open-wheeler, the cars can leave the ground by five or six metres and someone's going to get seriously hurt. To have 30-odd single-seaters, nose to tail, with cold brakes; it's too much. Drivers feel this needs looking at. In the accident that killed Dan, nearly half the field were running together and half of them ended up in the air. That's not right."
"I'm sure you will have seen my accident in Valencia last year, too, when I took off after hitting the back of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus. The car landed upside down before skidding into the barriers the right way up. But safety has come on a long way in F1 and it's a different type of racing to IndyCars anyway. Don't get me wrong, I know there are risks. Valencia could have gone either way for me, that's completely clear. But I feel it's safer than IndyCars. Or rallying or MotoGP, for that matter. That gives me confidence to race."
