Hong Kong eyes hosting F1 race

McLaren upbeat after Button’s Montreal win.

HONG KONG:

Hong Kong is keen on hosting a Formula One race “one day”, its industry groups reportedly said Saturday, as the city staged its first F1 exhibition run by world champion constructor Red Bull.

More than 40,000 spectators were expected to turn up to see a Red Bull F1 car run on a 600-metre stretch in central Hong Kong, raising calls for the southern Chinese city to host its own grand prix.

“This is the first step in gaining the support of the people,” the city’s Automobile Association president Wesley Wan said, according to the South China Morning Post.

“We want to raise the exposure of Formula One by staging this live show, and I hope it will lead to Hong Kong hosting a grand prix race one day.”

“My dream is that Hong Kong, like Singapore, Malaysia and China, will be a stop on the grand prix circuit,” Wan said, saying the show run would expose the locals to the “noise of Formula One engine and its speed”.

McLaren optimistic

Team chief Martin Whitmarsh believes Jenson Button’s sensational drive to victory in last Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix delivered proof that McLaren are now ready to make winning a habit.

“Jenson’s fantastic last-to-first result in Canada last weekend proved beyond doubt that, as a team, we never give up,” he said.

Button said: “We’ve proved we can challenge and beat Sebastian [Vettel], and we know we can fight for this world championship.”

McLaren are the only team to have won races this year apart from defending champion Vettel’s Red Bull outfit.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2011.