Bernie wants a race in Argentina

[SiLo]

Well that's a race I wouldn't want to risk travelling to as an Englishman.

[Just_a_fan]

"British" rather than "Englishman", really. If F1 went to Argentina you could effectively have a rerun of Indianapolis 2005 as the majority of the grid is British...

[OneAlex]

...WHY?!

...[entire first post, and Ray's response]

6 years on, it's amazing how relevant this post still is.

An enduring testament to Bernie's inability to move with the times (or if you're being generous, mastery in holding it back).

[FW17]

"British" rather than "Englishman", really. If F1 went to Argentina you could effectively have a rerun of Indianapolis 2005 as the majority of the grid is British...

Why?

Was there another war after 1998?

Risks are high if your name is Jeremy Clarkson and have a special commemorative number plate bolted to your A**

[Just_a_fan]

The Argentinians have been making lots of anti-UK noise in the last few years - they want the oil in the Falkland Islands. Oh and any excuse to distract the Argentinian population from their country's real issues is taken by their government.

Maybe the new government will be different...

[ESPImperium]

I agree with the sentiments with The Falklands/Malvinas and the Argentine economy, as there is lots of cloak and dagger from the Government there to distract the population from the real socio-economic issues in Argentina. Not to mention the Argentine general anti UK bias that would raise my suspicions on such a large group of UK based parties going there.

However...

There are other places F1 goes that has more issues, like the human rights issues in many other countries, not to mention other countries with economic issues as well. F1 did postpone a year in Bahrain, and does go to China, Malaysia and dare i even mention Russia. All of those countries have human rights issues, USA has a gun control issue. Im not saying my own country is perfect, its far form being perfect, the Government needs to solve lots of issues from a economic issue and a social side as well and needs to rebalance the books to save money.

On this I am believe it or not in favour of a race in Argentina. The reason being, that i am not a firm believer that F1 can sustain 3 GP in the USA, so id rather have 6 GP that are in the same time zone as the USA. Id say that Canada/USA 1 when its Le Mans time in Europe, then have a 4 or 5 GP swing in the Americas at the end of the year with USA 2/Mexico in a double header, a couple of weeks off, then Argentina/Brazil for the final double header. That would quite nicely make the calendar to look quite decent. However, if Argentina can raise the $300m for the track renovations (Tilke has designed a new layout, new pit/paddock facilities and new grandstand facilities) and if the Argentine government can afford the $75m a year (plus 8% to 12% year on year) for the hosting fees for a 5 to 8 year deal, it would be a fine use of one fifth of the $5billion that the IMF say that is left in the public purse of the Argentine economy. Who am I to tell another country to spend its money, my own country i have a right to in the ballot box. If the Argentine authorities can guarantee the safety of the UK personnel/journalists/fans who travel and make sure there is no Top Gear style lynch mobs I'm happy to go there, if there is no guarantee, forget about it.

If not just send a Daring Class destroyer down to The Falklands, oh wait...

[FW17]

$300 million for track renovation is grossly overestimated. All facilities within the track like pit building, track and barriers with exception of infrastructure developments to and around the track would not cost more than $60 million.

[Facts Only]

There are other places F1 goes that has more issues, like the human rights issues in many other countries, not to mention other countries with economic issues as well. F1 did postpone a year in Bahrain, and does go to China, Malaysia and dare i even mention Russia. All of those countries have human rights issues, USA has a gun control issue. Im not saying my own country is perfect, its far form being perfect, the Government needs to solve lots of issues from a economic issue and a social side as well and needs to rebalance the books to save money.

I think that the probelm is very specific to Argentina, in that most of the teams and personel are British. China/Bahrain etc may have human rights issue but they dont have a specific axe to grind with the UK.

But on the other hand I dont think they would be so stupid to cut off their own nose to spite their face, hwo stupid would they look at home and abroad if they spents tens of millions bringing a race to their country and then ruined it.

Radio 4 reports tend to suggest that the previous leftist government just banged the Falklands drum to deflect attention from their piss-poor economic governace and now the public have finally seen through and voted in a government to concentrate on the real issues, who have stated that they are aiming for a more conciliatory and engaged way of dealing with the UK.

[ESPImperium]

$300m for a renovation of the track will be the budget, yes Mexico has a budget of $220m but it was largely in a state of good repair, the Mexico track didn't need too much to bring it back, however their budget is $160m on the 18 months to the GP and the rest will be eaten into this coming year, about $15m is being used for the ePrix there.

The Argentine track needs a full resurface and remodel, a new pit lane, new main grandstand, it needs better access routes into the track for teams and fans and not to mention a full infrastructure network put in place. Who would want to go to a track and there is no or not enough toilets there?

However, the next 6 months will see how they decide to take the UK issue, I know that they need to back down on the Falkland issues as they lost that one. However i will admit to having a family interest in the Falkland issue. However, i will see how they interact with the UK as the ball is in their court.

[FW17]

Mexico has the one of the most unstable sub bases for the track. The sub bases were of such a bad nature because of location near a fault that the racing surface was very bumpy.

Form known data

Pit building, new pit lane and 1.5 km loop circuit - Silverstone - $40 million this was for a 250,000 sft facility, while the actual requirement would be only 160,000 sft
Main Grandstand is optional, not a requirement from FOM, anyway spending more than $1000 a seat will be ludicrous.
All other grandstands and facilities will be temporary on hire for the GP weekend
Fencing costs about $100 a foot, Safety barrier required for third of the length will cost about $500 per foot
Track sub bases are already existing and does not need to be disturbed
New track surface would be required $20 a sqft

The complete Aragon circuit cost was $65 million and that was a greenfield project
Las Termas de Rio Hondo was built at $10 million in 2008 and modernzied for about the same amount for MotoGP