Will next be the last F1 GP in Valencia?

F1 arrives in Valencia at a decidedly negative time for Spain and for the city. If next year there is no race on this track, after the choice to alternate the race with the one held in Barcelona, ​​the long-term risk is that the protests will lead to the cancellation of the circuit built in the port area.

A group of residents calling themselves 'Circuit Urba No' has published an open letter to Fernando Alonso complaining that the race should be scrapped, in response to Spain's financial crisis. “The Grand Prix creates the illusion of fantasy accessible to very few people,” we read in the letter to the Ferrari driver.
Alonso was urged to “taking off your helmet to discover the humiliation, inconveniences and difficulties that are endured by those who live near the circuit“. And a spokesperson for another opposition group urged the president of the Valencian Community Alberto Fabra to “stop looking the other way” in order to realize that F1 is “a disaster for all Valencians”.

The European GP has been held on this city track since 2008 and the first year more than 110 thousand spectators took part, but this year the organizers are struggling to fill the gaps: it is estimated that less than 45 thousand tickets were sold for the three days. “The city has turned its back on Formula One”, headlined the newspaper El Pais, estimating only 30 thousand spectators. The protests also concern the fact that the road circuit creates decidedly unnecessary inconveniences, given that Valencia has a very modern and well-equipped track, that of Ricardo Tormo, on which the MotoGP races.

Lorena Bianchi