Formula 1: Mercedes boss Toto Wolff wants China to be like US, host 3 races in a season
- Shanghai Grand Prix has been absent from the calendar since 2019 because of Covid-19, but Mercedes F1 boss says China is a ‘fantastic market’
- Mercedes have had a rough start to the 2022 season, but Wolff says his team will ‘eventually find our way back’
Mercedes Formula 1 boss Toto Wolff wants the sport to have a “strong footprint” in China and eventually host three races a season as is the case in the US.
The team principal and CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, speaking in Monaco during the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, called China “an important market” for F1.
And while the country’s coronavirus pandemic approach has prevented the Shanghai Grand Prix from taking place for the past two years, Wolff said he was keen to see the sport grow when it eventually returns to the mainland.
“I’d like to not only race in Shanghai, I’d also like to race in Beijing,” he told Xinhua. “It’s a fantastic market for us as Mercedes, and I believe we should be embedded there with a strong footprint.
“We have three races in the US now, Las Vegas, Miami and Austin and if we can do the same thing in China, that would be great.”
Wolff is far from alone in recognising the potential of developing the Chinese market for the sport and its teams.
