Madrid goes all out: 'Residents to be temporarily moved amid race's noise concerns'
A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
F1 racing is not as loud as it used to be, but it's still quite a ruckus, and according to El Pais, Madrid's government experts agree that it may cause problems for residents who live adjacent to the street track's layout. Although several options have been studied to try and diminish people's discomfort, the city's leadership have even discussed temporarily moving residents, playing down the Madrid Grand Prix's inconvenience on locals as it will only be a 13 hour long event.
However, an F1 Grand Prix weekend does not only affect the region where it takes place for mere hours, due to the amount of people that follows the travelling circus, and the number of activations and promotional events which occur throughout the weekend. As such, with several housing areas being located as near as 40 meters and as far as 500 meters from the expected Madrid Grand Prix's layout, noise concerns have been raised amongst the locals.
Talks of changing the street circuit's layout have been held. Installing sound proof screens was another alternative, but ultimately, an exemption to the 80 decibels limit on sound intensity has also been discussed.
Outline changes, and temporary relocation of locals among the alternative explored
The General Subdirectorate for Strategy and Air Quality of the City Council "proposes a temporary suspension of said limits". The Community, in turn, adds that prior to the aforementioned exemption, the noise levels shoud be issued by the Madrid Governement. The document also makes clear that a layout change, particularly to the main straight of the street circuit, "rectifying it towards the interior and moving it away from the homes to the northwest," is in order as well.
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In addition any potentail 'harmful effects' on the locals caused by the noise of the F1 sessions must also be disclosed by the promotor, with the government report issuing a recommendation to explore 'alternative measures.' "Given the relatively short time frame of motor events, such as temporary relocation of the affected population or strict restriction of potential influx traffic attending the events."
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