Analysis: China Raises F1 to New Heights

Sunday's inaugural Chinese Grand Prix will lift Formula One to new heights, quite literally.

Former World Champion Jackie Stewart, whose three titles between 1969 and 1973 came in the days when tracks were makeshift and spectator facilities rudimentary, could testify to that on Thursday.

Standing by the glass wall of the Shanghai circuit media centre, the Scot stared out for the first time at the main straight and pits a dizzying 40 metres below.

"Just the scale of the operation is so impressive, it's created a whole new dimension," Stewart, looking left at the enormous grandstand with almost 30,000 seats in steeply-raked rows, told Reuters.

Two wing-like structures made of shining aluminium, glass and steel, one housing the media and the other giving thousands of VIP guests a birds-eye view, span the track and provide facilities unlike anything the sport has seen before.

Indianapolis is immense while Malaysia's elegant circuit set a benchmark when it opened in 1999 that was matched only this year by Bahrain's state of the art Sakhir track.

But Shanghai has gone a step further, spending some $325 million on a temple to motor racing that can seat 200,000 and is intended to send a clear message to the sport's vast global television audience.

New Territory

"This is impossible to do on a commercial basis, it clearly has to be a government," said Stewart, a leading light in efforts to keep Silverstone and the troubled British Grand Prix on the calendar at a time when new venues are putting the squeeze on the sport's heartland.

China and Bahrain made their debuts this year and Turkey will follow in 2005 in a Championship set to expand to an unprecedented 19 rounds unless some older races in Europe, where tobacco sponsorship is soon to be outlawed, are dropped.

"China wants to make a statement for the world," added Stewart, chairman of the British Racing Drivers' Club that owns Silverstone. "And this is a fantastic example of China's technology and their commitment.

"They had the second highest number of gold medals at the Olympics, third highest in total medals, from a country that really has not specialised in going into sport in a big way until recent years. It's very clear that when China decides to do something, it does it extremely well.

"This is an investment that I don't believe any other sport could ever see. But clearly they are looking toward the automotive industry in the future and they will be a serious threat to any country that has interests in the automotive industry."

The Shanghai circuit was designed by German Hermann Tilke, the man behind the layouts in Malaysia, Bahrain and Turkey.

Set out in the shape of the Chinese character 'Shang', meaning high or above, it draws on local imagery and traditional points of reference such as the colours red and gold - symbolising luck and power. More importantly, it should also offer good racing.

History Matters

It makes Silverstone, the former World War Two airfield that hosted the first Formula One Grand Prix in 1950 on a course marked out by hay bales, look even more run down. But Stewart said the venerable circuit still had its place.

"Silverstone is a reality that was created in 1950 and by comparison to Spa or Imola or Interlagos or many other circuits, it has held its own at that level. It's only since nations have taken an interest...that the rules have changed," he said.

"We are into a whole new ball game. The reality is that the commercial revenue from Formula One could not ever afford this - but it couldn't afford this in football or horse racing or anything else," added Stewart.

"Gambling maybe. But nothing else.

"The New World is a fantastic world but why do people want to go to London, Paris or Rome? Because there is still something there of the past. You want to come to Shanghai because its a new environment but there's tradition and heritage that goes with all of this (Formula One) as well."