Buenos Aires F1 Bid Gains Momentum, Argentina Prepares for 2025 Race
Oct.15 - Argentina's bid to join the Formula 1 race calendar is gaining momentum.
Two weeks ago, bolstered by improving economic conditions in the country and Franco Colapinto's meteoric debut, sports minister Daniel Scioli declared that "Argentina is ready for the return of Formula 1".
It wasn't just hot air. Scioli told Buenos Aires radio station LR6 Radio Mitre that he has a meeting lined up with F1 owner Liberty Media and the FIA on the Friday of the Brazilian GP in Sao Paulo early next month.
"We have a meeting scheduled in Brazil on the subject of Formula 1," he said. "On November first, I will be in Sao Paulo with the president of Liberty, who is responsible for organising these events, and with the president of the FIA.
"Argentina is prepared to bring F1 here, with private investments. We are going to explain why they should come to our country.
"We are going to move forward with this project since we have the conditions to host an event of such global impact and job creation," Scioli added.
He admits that Argentinean rookie Colapinto's impressive mid-season debut for Williams has added fuel to the project.
"But for us, Formula 1 goes beyond Colapinto," he said. "The Buenos Aires race track is being modernised. We are already making progress on the necessary works to meet the requirements.
"Private companies want to cover all the expenses so that this event can come to our country. In addition, there is a strong investment from the city government."
The bad news for Argentina is that Sauber does not appear interested in Williams boss James Vowles' suggestion that Colapinto be loaned to the Audi-owned team in 2025 and 2026.
Vowles told Auto Motor und Sport: "If he doesn't get a place there, I'll have the best reserve driver in the sport. And we will continue to train him by testing him in old Formula 1 cars and letting him drive in the simulator."
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Private investment , now where have we heard that before lol
Firstly, next season's race calendar was set in stone back in April, not to mention Argentina isn't in a position to host a Grand Prix for the time being, & certainly not in short term in any case, given the country's present economical situation & here's the reference for it from Joe Saward's most recent Green Notebook post that came just today:
''There have been some stories kicking around in F1 of late with the idea of there being a Grand Prix in Argentina. I’d love to see that because I have fond memories of visits to Buenos Aires between 1995 to 1998. The problem is that the country is in a dire economic situation. More than half of Argentina’s 46 million people are now living in poverty, according to the country’s statistics agency, with the latest figure being 52.9 percent, compared to 41.7 percent in the second half of last year. Some of this hike has been due to the policies of the new president Javier Milei, who has slashed subsidies for transport, fuel and energy and sacked thousands of civil servants, trying to bring down inflation and reduce government expenditure. The country’s inflation rate this summer was still an impressive 230 percent.
Whatever the details Argentina is no state to pay for a Grand Prix.''
Long story short, an Argentine GP return is merely an idea rather than a concrete option.
"I will be in Sao Paulo with the president of Liberty, who is responsible for organising these events" ..... sounds like the FIA is becoming redundant. Maybe unmarked brown envelopes passing under the table to Liberty!
Pipe dreams on the part of the Argentine sports minister. Franco is currently without a drive in F1 next year, so no point in hosting a race without the star local driver competing!
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