There are many rumours flying round the Formula One scene that a Grand Prix will be run on the streets of London. Farfetched as this might seem, the Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has added weight to the speculation saying that he is very much in favour of it happening; he has even offered to pay for it.
Certainly the sight of Formula One cars racing around Trafalgar Square would be very exciting but how realistic is it that a London Grand Prix will be part of the Formula One Championship?
To get a flavour for this let’s talk to Boris Johnson, Lord Mayor of London. After all, he does seem to have a knack of making things happen and with a hugely successful Olympics behind him the wind would seem to be blowing very much in his direction.
Well, he does seem to be in favour of it. He said that he was always interested in projects the attracted jobs and growth to the city, which would appear to bode well for those in favour of such an event, but the added later that he was broadly positive as long as that air quality and noise issues could be dealt with.
The first of those is a red herring; the amount of pollution that a few hours of racing cars driving around London would contribute to overall pollution levels is negligible, but noise is an altogether different issue. One wonders if Boris has ever heard a Formula One car accelerating up to 200 mph let alone twenty four of them; they are noisy, in fact extremely noisy; in terms of decibels a single car creates 148 of them, so a full field of racing cars could create sound levels as high as 160 decibels, which is about as loud as a gun being fired about 10 cm away from your ear. Perhaps Boris could persuade the Formula One teams to fit silencers to their cars.
That said, Monaco manages to deal with the noise without too many problems. And although the proposed track would run in Front of Buckingham palace the Queen could always go to Windsor for the day, though the Duke of Edinburgh would likely enjoy the spectacle, and surely Kate and William would be happy to meet the drivers.
British Formula One Champion Jenson Button relishes the idea of a London Grand Prix; he says that he would love to drive in one before he retires. Let’s hope his wishes come true.