Grapevine: F1 to Take to the Streets of London

Formula One is set to hit the streets of London in July after plans for a parade through the city streets were backed by seven of the ten teams on the Grand Prix grid on Friday.

The event, which will take place on the Tuesday before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, is set to see Briton Jenson Button's BAR-Honda machine driven down Regent Street alongside World Champion Michael Schumacher's Ferrari.

The organisers, Regent Street Association, said that Williams-BMW, McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota, Jordan and Minardi have also pledged their support but Renault, Sauber and Jaguar have not yet been confirmed.

In a statement Regent Street Association confirmed: "The plans for a parade of current Formula One cars along Regent Street are well developed and the event is due to take place prior to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone."

The most recent inner city display by a Formula One car came when Spaniard Fernando Alonso sped his Renault machine through the streets of Madrid before the Spanish Grand Prix. Sauber also ran in the streets of Kuala Lumpur to promote their Malaysian backers and Jordan paraded one of their cars around Manama before the Bahrain Grand Prix.

But if the Regent Street Association can pull off the event it will be the first time such a large number of different Formula One teams have shown off their cars to the public outside a racing circuit.