Valencia F1 track a "plundered wasteland".

[el romeral]

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/12/18/inenglish/1450...

Hopefully it never sees the light of day again. Always thought it was the worst circuit.

[VolvoT5]

It was a terrible race track IMO.

[Eric Mc]

The article says "It is a wasteland these days".

It always was.

[rdjohn]

I went there in March to see the legacy of both the Americas Cup and F1.

Never in the history of man has a wasteland been so ravaged to line the pockets of so few.

It is the same dream that Bernie pedals round to any region in desperate need of redevelopment. It could have worked so well for Valencia. True it would never have been a great venue, but then only COTA looked likely to have that potential and that is equally down the pan now.

Stuff like this just makes F1 look very dirty. Bring on Azerbajan.

[Roo]

I thought it had been like that since about ten minutes after the last race finished.

[suffolk009]

Just read the article in full. It's merely typical of the shameful way the sport is run.

[confucuis]

suffolk009 said:

Just read the article in full. It's merely typical of the shameful way the sport is run.

I think this is what people should be concentrating on, not whether the track was good or bad. Why would any city want to get involved in F1 if this is what is most likely going to happen?

[cogitoergozoomo]

What was wrong with the circuit they test at? I get they wanted a second GP for Alonso but to create a brand new track when there was a good one there seemed baffling. I know it comes down to lining pockets with a lot of GPs but how the hell did this one make it with a perfectly serviceable track a few km away?

[egomeister]

cogitoergozoomo said:

What was wrong with the circuit they test at? I get they wanted a second GP for Alonso but to create a brand new track when there was a good one there seemed baffling. I know it comes down to lining pockets with a lot of GPs but how the hell did this one make it with a perfectly serviceable track a few km away?

As with many construction projects on Spain it was created to allow the local administration to get kickbacks. See also pointless airports and motorways

[ma9mwah]

cogitoergozoomo said:

What was wrong with the circuit they test at? I get they wanted a second GP for Alonso but to create a brand new track when there was a good one there seemed baffling. I know it comes down to lining pockets with a lot of GPs but how the hell did this one make it with a perfectly serviceable track a few km away?

Jerez? wasn't there some issue with the Mayor gate crashing the podium celebration one year, and Burnie then vowed never to let the race go back there or something like that.

[ukaskew]

India, South Korea, Turkey, Valencia...and I'm sure we can sadly add COTA to that list soon, hopefully Azerbaijan in the not too distant future as well.

[joema]

No. there is another Valencia track up the road in Cheste. Home of the final round of the Moto GP championship. also used for F1 testing in the past.

Circuit is possibly too tight for F1 racing having been designed for 250cc GP bikes

[Otispunkmeyer]

el romeral said:

http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/12/18/inenglish/1450...

Hopefully it never sees the light of day again. Always thought it was the worst circuit.

This seems to happen in all med countries.... they build stuff (probably with EU money), then it doesn't get the visitor numbers they wildly estimated and then they bin it off altogether as a bad job and just leave it to rack and ruin.

Valencia does live on though.... they basically rebuilt it in Sochi.

[BBS-LM]

Cannot believe this place has just been abandoned, what a waste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQTjf6E25KA

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I went to the race twice & it was fantastic. Alonso had a crap quali & came through the field to win the last time I went. The atmosphere was electric (although the Spaniards do need a few lessons in the concept of being sporting )

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Article was so sad!

For the race you could stay in the city, walk through the weird buildings



Get quite close to the action



Sit in the sun, admire the setting, relish the race!

[LaurasOtherHalf]

confucuis said:

suffolk009 said:

Just read the article in full. It's merely typical of the shameful way the sport is run.

I think this is what people should be concentrating on, not whether the track was good or bad. Why would any city want to get involved in F1 if this is what is most likely going to happen?

To be honest, if that's what you get from the article I'd question your sanity! Its like blaming the casino for the man who rips off old grannies to go gambling there.

The problems at Valencia are nothing to do with F1 and everything to do with council corruption and governmental ineptitude. Pretty much repeatable throughout the country (I speak as an ex-resident!).