Damon Hill makes Formula E comparison following Madrid GP announcement
Is F1 doing the right thing by moving towards street venues? Damon Hill gives his view.
1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill has questioned F1’s trend towards street circuits.
F1 recently announced that a new street race in Madrid will be added to the calendar from 2026.
While F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali hasn’t officially confirmed it’s not the end of Barcelona, it’s unlikely there will be two Spanish races on the calendar.
Madrid’s addition continues a growing trend towards street races with Saudi Arabia, Miami and Las Vegas added in recent seasons.
Formula E - the FIA’s all-electric motorsport championship - predominately races on street tracks rather than conventional circuits.
"This kind of move towards a tighter, twisty circuit, it is going in the direction of Formula E, which has chosen to have its races in city centres and also on very restricted circuits," said Hill on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
"I hope that is not an indication of a concession made towards the fact that these cars are going to be down on performance compared to now.”
Max Verstappen has voiced his discontent about there being less ‘traditional’ tracks on the calendar.
"With the race in Las Vegas, we had a very annoyed Max Verstappen talking about the nature of circuits and the kind of circuits he'd like to race on,” Hill added.
"The fact is that Formula 1 has to adapt to new demands made on it from the car manufacturing point of view as well as governments imposing environmental questions, so it is challenged in that direction.
"But I hope it will be an exciting circuit, the most important thing is that the racing is exciting and that the cars can race on there."
