Former
Formula 1 team owner Peter Sauber has suggested it may not be a wise idea to make too many grands prix night-time races a desire expressed by the sport's commercial rights-holding supremo
Bernie Ecclestone.
The inaugural Singapore Grand Prix just over a week ago was adjudged to have been such a success that Ecclestone hinted at more outings under floodlights in years to come, possibly beginning with Japan [see separate story
click here].
Whilst agreeing that the race around the Marina Bay Street Circuit and against the dramatic backdrop of the Far Eastern city-state's downtown skyline had provided an impressive spectacle and likely generated higher European television viewing audiences due to its more attractive time slot, 64-year-old Sauber retained his reservations, not least should the dreaded spectre of heavy rain that threatened to pour down over Singapore materialise in future night-time grands prix.
I would urge caution on this, Sauber now a small shareholder and consultant for BMW-Sauber wrote in his regular column for Swiss newspaper
Blick, states
F1SA.
There are also tracks that would [at night] seem like no-man's land and look like a computer game. That was the impression I got from the pictures I saw of the
MotoGP in Qatar.
An important question remains even after Singapore what effect will the artificial light have when it rains? Change in
F1 is definitely good, but we should not get carried away.
In my opinion, a maximum of two night races per season would be enough.
