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Formula One chief envisions Chinese team
The head of Formula One would like to have a Chinese-backed team as early as 2005, and he also wants a Chinese driver for the sport.
"From about 1.3 billion people, we've got to find somebody," Bernie Ecclestone told The Associated Press on Saturday, a day before the Monaco Grand Prix.
China is too far from Europe to base an F1 team there, Ecclestone said. But he hopes for "Chinese involvement" with a Europe-based team, suggesting Chinese petroleum and chemical giant Sinopec Corp. as a possible backer.
"It's a little bit difficult to actually have a team based in China for obvious reasons. Imagine them coming here this weekend, then they go back to China, then come back to Germany the week after. Not possible," he said.
"So we're finding a good way to do it," Ecclestone said. "We need input from them, but maybe the team itself — the mechanical part of the team, for want of a better word — needs to be based in Europe."
Ecclestone envisions "a sort of team that's really a little bit under the control of China."
"If we can get them to agree with what I've got in mind it could happen for next year," he said.
Sinopec is sponsoring China's inaugural F1 Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sept. 26 — part of the sport's expansion into new Asian markets.
Sinopec President Wang Jiming told the AP on Friday he had spoken with Ecclestone about how Chinese firms could get involved with F1 teams, but he stopped short of saying Sinopec is ready to be a backer.
"Asia is important for the whole world, not just Formula One," said Ecclestone, contending Europe is never going to be able to compete with Asia in the long term.
"I want to get more single-seater racing in Asia," he said. "If we can get a good single-seater series running there we'll find a driver for sure." |
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