Skepticism about a return to Long Beach
The possible return of F1 to Long Beach does not seem to win the support of former F1 drivers currently racing in IndyCar, like Takuma Sato and Justin Wilson, who are rather skeptical.
Mentioned for several months, the possibility of a return of Formula 1 to Long Beach does not seem to be taken seriously by several former drivers of the premier discipline, who are now racing in IndyCar, whose calendar includes the streets of the California coast.
Thus, Takuma Sato, former driver for Jordan, BAR, and Super Aguri, who finished 22nd (after retiring due to a pile-up) in the race held at Long Beach this season in IndyCar, doubts the ability of Formula 1 cars to withstand the impacts imposed by the urban circuit: « I don’t know if the current F1 cars could handle the track surface conditions here. »
« They should resurface it like they do in Monte Carlo: they resurface it every year [one-third of the track each year, ed.]. And the rest of the track is semi-permanent, so they have a very smooth surface. But it’s a real urban race. Even we have a lot of bouncing. So, there would be a lot of work to do, » he told our British colleagues from Autosport.
The sentiment is the same for Justin Wilson, a former driver in the premier category, with Minardi and Jaguar: « We love going there because it’s Long Beach, it’s a lot of fun, and it’s so brutal. But an F1 car couldn’t go there. They would complain about the bumps, they would have to resurface the entire track. »
What was his reaction when he saw that a return of Formula 1 could be considered? « I saw this story and had a little laugh. There is no way an F1 race is happening here again. In the 1980s, you could do that, but today, it makes no sense. It’s a big event: we love it. But Monaco is as smooth as the Indy 500, to give you a point of reference. If they come to Long Beach, they will be shocked. »
Formula 1 indeed came to Long Beach between 1976 and 1983, with the circuit having experienced four different configurations. In its current configuration, it measures 3.167 km, and the pole position was set, in IndyCar, by Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport, at 1:07.821. It is a track mostly composed of fast to very fast sections. Besides being bumpy, the track is not wide and caused, during the second round of the American championship season, a pile-up that almost rendered the track impassable.
