Cost could put the brakes on a London Grand Prix

(theguardian.com)

Formula One Supremo Bernie Ecclestone has welcomed the news that legislation to make it easier to stage motor racing on public roads is to be introduced however he has admitted that it is unlikely to result in the staging of a London Grand Prix in the near future. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced earlier this week that he would be making it easier for road race's to be held in the UK.

As it stands an act of parliament must be enacted to allow road closures to facilitate these kind of event's and while Mr Ecclestone welcomed the news the 83 year old believes that unless the UK government were to step in to help fund the staging of a London Grand Prix then it is unlikely to happen.

Ecclestone also stated that unless a Grand Prix on the streets of London made commercial sense then he couldn't see it happening. The idea to stage a Grand Prix in London had been brought up previously as in 2012, Ferrari sponsor Santander with the help of McLaren conducted a feasibility study by putting together a CGI video of the possible route for a London Grand Prix.

The idea of a London Grand Prix was also backed by mayor Boris Johnson and with London's transport links in place like the tube it would certainly be feasible for the capital to stage a Grand Prix event, after all if London can host the Olympic games then they can certainly host a Grand Prix event.

In relation to the financial side of staging a Grand Prix in the capital the benefits certainly outweigh the negative impact. Team's could come together and work with their sponsors to provide financial support to cover the cost of staging the event. 

The 2014 Tour De France went through London and was a huge success story for the capital and if it can be in  London and the Olympics can be such a huge success then there is absolutely no reason why a Formula One street race can't happen in London.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens in the future. Mr Ecclestone also praised David Cameron's decision as he believes it is great that Formula One is being recolonized by the UK government and not just as a sport. 

The benefit to the UK economy would be absolutely huge so we'll just see what happens.

© Ben Johnston 2014