F1 circus moves to South Korea (Feature)

By Ahn Mi-Young Mar 3, 2010, 4:04 GMT

Seoul, dpa - During the Depression, Americans took to moving away from their troubles, looking for food and jobs.

One could argue that Formula One has been struck by their own Depression - albeit on a much smaller scale and with far less important consequences.

Tobacco advertising has been banned in Europe and television ratings have been dropping, which would automatically lead to less revenues for the powers that be.

Faced with this situation, Grand Prix supremo Bernie Ecclestone has responded by searching for new markets for his product and he has found them in the Middle East and in Asia.

In 2004, the Bahrain and Chinese Grand Prix races were added to the calendar. Two years ago it was the Singapore GP in Marina Bay and last year the Abu Dhabi GP became the second Middle Eastern race.

This year a Grand Prix will be held for the first time in South Korea.

German architect Hermann Tilke, who has designed most of the new circuits that are being used, had always wanted to build a race track that combined racing on public roads and an official circuit.

His first attempt to achieve this in Abu Dhabi failed when security concerns prevented him from putting his idea into practise and he had to make do with an entirely new circuit, which broke just about all records.

When he was given the opportunity to build the Korean International Circuit, Tilke realized that he could finally build a circuit as he envisaged it.

However, although the first F1 race will be held there in October, the office blocks and apartments which his plans foresee, will only be built at a later stage.

'The Koreans had enough work to build the circuit. The city around it will come later,' Tilke, who was restricted in what he could build by regulations from the sports' governing body the FIA, said.

Some critics have questioned why Ecclestone seems to be so determined to see the Grand Prix taking place in October, when the circuit is only to be finished midway through the year.

For a country that has an extensive pedigree in car manufacturing, motorsport has played a remarkably insignificant role and is far from being recognised as a mass sport. This has also led to the Grand Prix struggling to attract local sponsors, with Hanjin Shipping the only corporate sponsor believed to have signed.

South Koreans are now hoping to use the race for a 'motor sports renaissance,' which will benefit the sport per se as much as motorsport in South Korea.

'South Korea may provide a much-needed boost to Formula One that is losing steam in Europe (due to the cash-short carmakers who can ill afford to sponsor F1),' said Shim Jeong-Taek, a motorist expert in Seoul.

The circuit was built some 400 kilometres south of Seoul in Yeongam County in South Jeolla province on the Pacific Coast and a contract guaranteeing seven races was signed between Ecclestone and the local promoters.

It is now up to motorsport fans in South Korea to show that a Grand Prix race can sustain itself in the country for seven years.