F1 champion accuses sport of heading in 'direction of Formula E'

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F1 News & Gossip

F1 champion accuses sport of heading in 'direction of Formula E'

Damon Hill is not happy with the hectic schedule

Cal Gaunt

Friday 26 January 2024 15:57 Updated: 17:12

Former Formula 1 world champion Damon Hill has issued a warning about the sport's trajectory, expressing concerns that it is moving towards a Formula E-like direction following the addition of another city-based track to the calendar.

Madrid secured a spot for the 2026 season, but the feedback has not been overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding the inclusion of a street circuit.

While recognising Madrid as a suitable racing location, Hill shares apprehensions about Formula 1 emulating Formula E's emphasis on city races.

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The current trend includes iconic cities like Tokyo, Berlin, and London in Formula E, and now F1 seems to be following suit with city races in Baku, Miami, Vegas, Melbourne and Monaco - something that has left Hill concerned.

Damon Hill is concerned by the number of street tracks on the F1 calendar

Madrid is the latest street circuit to enter F1 from 2026

Street circuits 'restricted'

“I like to watch the sport. I like to watch the developments,” he said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. “The thing that I would just add on the Madrid announcement is that we’ve got new engine regulations coming in and then the talk is of the difficulties they’re going to have in extracting consistent performance from the cars.

“So this move towards a tighter, twistier circuit, you know, it is going in the direction of let’s say Formula E which has chosen to have its races in city centres and also on very, it has to be said, restricted circuits.

“So I hope that’s not an indication of a few concessions made towards the fact that these cars are going to be down on performance compared to where they are now.

“With the race in Vegas, we had a very annoyed Max Verstappen talking about the nature of circuits and the kind of circuits you’d like to race on. But the fact is that Formula 1 has to adapt to new demands placed on it from a car manufacturing point of view as well as a government imposing correct environmental questions.

“I hope it’ll be an exciting circuit and the most important thing is that the racing is exciting and the cars can race there and then we’ll be happy.”

Formula 1 Damon Hill Formula E