Formula 1 needs to stop street racing and go back to basics!

One of those stories pops up once every few months: 'Formula One is interested in a Grand Prix in New York'. An Italian website came up with it again on Monday. It is a story full of assumptions and without further confirmation. But it is an established fact: when Formula 1 looks at further expansion of the calendar, the focus is always on races through world cities. And that has to stop!

Has anyone ever attended a Formula 1 race on a street circuit? No fun, right? First, entry tickets are extremely expensive, and you hardly ever get value for money. Sit in Monaco for two days for 1,000 euros per person, and you really don't see anything. Three seconds a lap, you'll see Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton whiz by. Or take Singapore: a few seconds - say five - and then the drivers are out of the picture again. If you are lucky, you may have seen that because the grandstands are not exactly set up for the best view.

Old school tracks are the best!

It's all about the experience, is the counter-argument. The fastest cars in the world, with the best drivers racing down the Las Vegas Strip or the bridge in Singapore. And yes, on television, that looks great. For the doubters: not in real life. If you want to visit a Grand Prix for once, choose an old-school track above all. Go for Hungary, where, in some places, you can see the F1 cars for 30 seconds a lap. Or at Austria's Red Bull Ring, where an affordable seat on the Red Bull grandstand gives you an overview of almost the entire track.

If Formula One considers expanding the calendar to include a street race, Formula One Management (FOM) is certainly not thinking about the fans who want to attend the race. If those want to be able to follow the race a bit, they would be wise to mainly stay at home in front of the TV - or, as mentioned, visit a traditional circuit. So why is FOM still considering, say, New York? Quite simply: prestige.

Back to the old Formula 1

How nice it is to welcome your sponsors to a metropolis like New York, fêt them in the most expensive restaurants and hotels. But Formula 1 would be wise to go back to basics, to the circuits that made the sport great. Silverstone, Monza, and Zandvoort are places where you can really soak up the F1 atmosphere. Circuits where the whole family has a great day out.

If Formula 1 only cares about sponsors and racing through the streets of big cities, there is a danger that the real fans will drop out. They - and not least the drivers themselves too - will (rightly) miss what Formula 1 once stood for: a love of motor racing on the world's most historic tracks.

Perhaps the F1 purist speaks here. But if there is one sport in which 'feeling' is important, it is Formula 1.