Former German Formula 1 driver Christian Danner believes the sport must keep historical venues to set a baseline for future venues.
With F1 growing its calendar every year, and set to return to Las Vegas in 2023, doubts have emerged over the longevity of the sport’s historical venues, such as Spa and Monte Carlo.
“I’m a little bit of a mix between being old style, old fashioned, loving the history of F1, and still being modern and being future-orientated,” Danner exclusively told Total-Motorsport.com.
“If there are more attractive places, fine, let’s have them. However, the backbone of F1 and one of the reasons why the rest of the world wants to have a piece of the spectacle is its history.
“A fundamental part of that history is the Monaco Grand Prix, so whether you like it or not, I hope we keep the original circuits as a kind of a baseline.
“[This] makes F1 as attractive as it is for future venues. If you don’t have a history, you’re just another no-name circuit. I think it’s very important to keep these old circuits.“
Modern F1 cars are still difficult to drive
Modern F1 cars are renowned for being ultra-fast but incredibly stiff and tricky to drive, with drivers making multiple adjustments during a session.
However, the first generation of turbo cars was a completely different animal as an h-speed gearbox, engines which carried over 1000bhp, and limited driver protection tested the driver’s physical and mental strengths.
“The operational part of driving a F1 car [today] is terribly easy,” said Danner. “To go really fast with them is still not so easy.
“If you put one of the guys in a 1980s turbo car, it’ll be a great wake-up call for them and realise s***, it is difficult to drive a F1 car.
“Do I have bad feelings about it? No, that’s alright, that’s the way it is, that’s the technology we have. So we have to live with it.”
