Hopes for Copenhagen GP 'are still alive'

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Plans to hold a street race in the capital of Denmark are still under active discussion, according to the latest media reports.

It was reported in September that a Danish consortium had initiated talks with Formula 1's commercial rights holders.

Danish daily broadsheet Jyllands Posten says that politician Helge Sander is in Abu Dhabi this weekend to hold talks with Liberty Media.

Sander is a former Danish Minister of Science, Technology and Development. She's leading the bid to get a Grand Prix in Copenhagen. Lars Seier Christensen, who is the ex-owner of Saxo Bank, is another key player in the bid.

Along with other Danish officials, Sander has been joined at Yas Marina by Jan Magnussen and Tom Kristensen. Magnussen helped design the potential circuit lay-out in association with Hermann Tilke.

The BT newspaper quotes Sander as referencing Liberty's strategy paper for the future of the sport. "It states that three new races should be launched in New York, London and Copenhagen."

Sander said this week that in order to hold a Grand Prix, the city would need to raise $300 million. However the plans have yet to receive public backing from Copenhagen's mayor.

Copenhagen targeting 2020 Danish Grand Prix

"We need to have a closer look at how a Formula 1 race will affect the everyday lives of those in Copenhagen," Frank Jensen cautioned.

"What matters to me, besides being here to find the many money and private sponsors, is that Copenhagen as a city is not closed completely during the week to arrange Formula 1," he told Fyens.dk.

He pointed out that Copenhagen is also in the running to host the start of the Tour de France in either 2020 or 2012.

"The cycling race is something more important to talk about now. The other with Formula 1 is still on the drawing board."

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen told Ekstra Bladet newspaper that he is "not involved in any way" with the proposal. However, he did voice enthusiastic support for it.

"It would be fantastic and quite surreal to race in Copenhagen," he said this week. "I have not even dreamed about it because it was so unrealistic. But it would be huge for me and for Denmark."

Liberty is hoping to expand the schedule to 25 races in the medium turn. That compares with 19 Grand Prix events in 2017.

Formula 1's new owners are said to be in favour of 'destination races' in the heart of big cities, rather than at custom-built facilities located out of town.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.