Bahrain
In the 10
years that the Bahrain GP has been on the calendar (exclude 2011 when the race
was cancelled), I can genuinely not remember one entertaining or exciting race
here. It held its first race in 2004 and was the first Middle Eastern country
to hold an F1 race. Possibly the first mistake with Bahrain is that the track
was designed by Hermann Tike, who has designed countless boring F1 tracks. Its
long straights and slow twisty corners mean there is little over taking or
excitement. The circuit is located in the middle of the desert causing a
logistical problem for the teams and making it difficult for any fans actually
turn up. All of this begs the question: why is the race still there? The answer
is simple. Money. The amount of revenue that this race builds for F1 is so
vast, that Bernie wouldn’t dream of dropping the race. The 2010 race was so
dull; it was nick-named by many as the “Bore-rain Grand Prix”. If a race is
deemed that uneventful, I personally wouldn’t want this race on the calendar.
However the sport is channelled by money and Bahrain gives a lot of money. Even
severe political unrest in the kingdom leading to the cancellation of the grand
prix didn’t stop the race from coming back in 2012. It is one of the races that
I actually find hard to watch because, I know unless something extreme happens;
which is unlikely due to the massive run off areas (making it the safest racing
circuit in the world) it will ultimately be a dull 90 minutes.
Korea
The Korean GP
can be described in one word: ridiculous. A track designed, again, by Hermann
Tike, built three hours away from the nearest major city was a recipe for
disaster. In my opinion that is exactly what the whole Korean GP experiment is,
a disaster. When the inaugural event only gets the go ahead two weeks before it’s
scheduled, something isn’t right. I remember getting up early on race day and
waiting hours for the race to start because of rain. I have seen races go ahead
with a lot more rain on the circuit, yet Korea was different. Apparently the
concrete was only laid a few short days before F1 arrived in Korea meaning when
the rain came down, it just rested on the circuit instead of seeping into
track, leaving the circuit like an ice rink. At least the rain made the race
exciting to watch, but it was the only reason. To add to the fact that it is in
the middle of nowhere, the race looked like it was being staged around a
construction site.
None of the
hospitality facilities or road links were there and it looked horrendous on the
television. When the race came round in 2011 I thought it would be a different
story. How wrong I was. The place still looked like a building site with barely
any grand stands or anything. Without the rain, it was a shockingly boring race as was the one in 2012. On a positive note, Korea
is still subject to approval for 2014, so fingers crossed!
Abu Dhabi
In superficial
terms, the grand prix in Abu Dhabi is absolutely fantastic. The facilities
around the track are to be envied by any other country who builds a grand prix
circuit. It made history by becoming the first twilight race in F1. Sounds
fantastic right? The problem with the circuit is yet again Hermann Tike. The
mixture of long straights and tight intersections make for tedious viewing. In
its debut season, it was given the honour of hosting the final race. 2009 was
personally my favourite season that I have ever witnessed. Each race had something going on
to keep you on the edge of your seat. Fair enough, the title was already
wrapped up so there wasn’t much to play for. This was obvious in the way the
race panned out. However, 2010 should have been different. It was the last race
of the season again and four drivers could have taken the title. A crash on lap
1 involving Michael Schumacher and Tonio Liuzzi meant a safety car was needed.
After this, there was no major drama in what should have been an action packed
race for the title. Instead, Vettel ran away with the race and secured the
title. Fernando Alonso, who probably should have won the title, languished in
seventh as there are no proper overtaking opportunities on the track. Yes, if
you are going for a world title, you make the overtakes, regardless what track
you are on. However if a driver of Alonso's quality and skill can’t put an
overtake on Vitaly Petrov, who had an awful debut season for Renault, then what
does that say about the track? It lost its honour of holding the last race in
2011 where Lewis Hamilton won and last year where a few crashes and some famous
Kimi phrases made for good viewing. Despite last year’s race, I still think
that this is a race on the calendar purely for financial reasons. The big
Ferrari world theme park next door and the massive off track entertainment
ensure lots of revenue. This is another race however that, despite its faults
will be on the calendar for a few years yet.
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