Interview with Lewis Hamilton

[StellenboschStudent]

Q: Just 19 of the world’s motor racing circuits feature on the current Formula One calendar. You can add one more. Which circuit do you pick and why?
LH: I would say Kyalami in South Africa. Somehow this part of the world is missing from the calendar.

http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2011/5/12029.html

Interesting, a while back Sebastian Vettel said the same thing.
Hopefully we can get F1 back!

 

[Kompete]

damn you beat me too it. I think its just a matter of time - however I would rather replace Kyalami with a CT street race (you know the proposed one that winds thru the CT stadium) - we would have our own little Monaco, but better!

another question to Lewis...

Q: You are having a dinner party and can invite four people from the world of motorsport, past or present. Who do you invite?
LH: I wouldn’t. Who to invite? Nobody. I would want to invite girls!

 

[Viper25]

One of my favorite drivers at the moment.
I hope we get a F1 race here soon.

 

[HapticSimian]

The idea of a street circuit in CT is the suck. Monaco is only on the calendar because of its history and glamour. I will grant that it's an opportunity for the truly great to shine, but it makes for atrocious, and dangerous, racing. It's slow and there's just about zero chance for overtaking.

 

[killadoob]

The idea of a street circuit in CT is the suck. Monaco is only on the calendar because of its history and glamour. I will grant that it's an opportunity for the truly great to shine, but it makes for atrocious, and dangerous, racing. It's slow and there's just about zero chance for overtaking.

Danger is the name of the game, going into a corner at 250+km's an hour is dangerous. I doubt monaco is anymore dangerous than the other circuits. I think we will see plenty more overtaking now. I can just imagine going through the tunnel side by side, drs and speed boost engaged. It is going to be an epic GP this year with far more over taking than we have ever seen.

 

[HapticSimian]

Danger is the name of the game, going into a corner at 250+km's an hour is dangerous. I doubt monaco is anymore dangerous than the other circuits. I think we will see plenty more overtaking now. I can just imagine going through the tunnel side by side, drs and speed boost engaged. It is going to be an epic GP this year with far more over taking than we have ever seen.

Tolly. Modern circuits have substantial run-off areas and sand traps. Monaco has ARMCO.

The decision has already tentatively been made not to use DRS at Monaco.

 

[killadoob]

Massa nearly dying was safe? If that piece had hit him on the visor he would more than likely be dead. Dealing with cm's again.

If your car fails and you fly off the track at 300+ km's an hour i think you could end up dead. F1 is about the danger so i cannot see how a slow track would be any less safe than a high speed track, i recall mark webber flipping upside down not so long ago, i recall kubica a couple seasons back missing his death bed by cm's when he flipped and hit the top of the wall. I cannot recall thinking OMG he could have died during a monaco race.

 

[HapticSimian]

Massa nearly dying was safe? If that piece had hit him on the visor he would more than likely be dead. Dealing with cm's again.

If your car fails and you fly off the track at 300+ km's an hour i think you could end up dead. F1 is about the danger so i cannot see how a slow track would be any less safe than a high speed track, i recall mark webber flipping upside down not so long ago, i recall kubica a couple seasons back missing his death bed by cm's when he flipped and hit the top of the wall. I cannot recall thinking OMG he could have died during a monaco race.

cm's?

Massa being hit by an errant bit of Barrichello's car was a freak occurrence. It has no bearing on what we're discussing.

Regardless, you once again miss the point. There is no space for deceleration before impact at Monaco. If something does go wrong, you're immediately into a wall. Furthermore there is nowhere for smashed cars, and the debris off of them, to go. This results in all the cars behind an incident being in danger as well. All of that is still beside the real point, which is that Monaco is an arena for individuals shining in spite of the fact that it makes for sucky racing.

F1 doesn't need another sucky race through a white elephant of a stadium in Cape Town. We have a perfectly serviceable, formerly FIA certified, circuit in Kyalami. It would be monumentally stupid to hold an F1 race anywhere else in SA.