Verstappen worried by prevalence of street races in F1

Max Verstappen is worried by the growing number of street tracks on F1's calendar, underscoring the importance for the sport of keeping "really cool" traditional venues such as Spa on its agenda.

Formula 1's Belgian round will take place at the end of August at Spa-Francorchamps, but the event's contract concludes this year and there appears to have been no progress between F1 and the race's promoter on sealing a new deal, despite Spa's recent track and infrastructure upgrade and the organizer's commitment to add more off-track entertainment to its weekend schedule.

Spa is a particularly popular venue for Verstappen's fans who ensure a large part of the race's ticket sales. It's also a favourite on the Dutchman's list of events.

"It is sad. It is my favourite track to drive," Verstappen said ahead of this weekend's French Grand Prix, a race that is also in jeopardy.

"Of course, I understand that to get there compared to other tracks it's probably a little bit more difficult sometimes with the traffic.

"But it's a very iconic track and I don't want to see myself in 2028 or whatever driving only on street circuits close to the city just for the fan engagement or whatever because you need these kinds of iconic tracks on the calendar.

"And of course, I understand everyone wants to make money, but there is also a limit to that, because it's important to keep these really cool circuits on the calendar instead of just driving on street circuits which I think F1 cars are not designed for anyway."

• Read also: Ocon offers lingual reason to keep French GP on F1 calendar

Formula 1's move towards profitable 'destination cities' brought the sport to Miami earlier this year and it will set up shop in Las Vegas in 2023.

The trend, coupled with the potential arrival on the calendar, or return, of venues such as Kyalami does not bode well for Grand Prix racing's core historic events.

In France, Paul Ricard's possible demise might be compensated by a race on the streets of Nice.

But regardless of where F1 race's in France, the country deserves to be part of F1, insists Alpine's Esteban Ocon who suggests that a revised Le Mans layout – upgraded to qualify for a Grade 1 FIA licence - could also represent a viable alternative.

"Of course, the track needs maybe a bit of work for track limits and all these things," said Ocon.

"I mean, a proper Le Mans race with F1, just as a show, it would be quite impressive I think."

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