McLaren Exec Dir Zak Brown said that Formula 1 needs two races in China and "one should be on a street circuit to help make the sport more popular," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The American also suggested the calendar should feature an updated "Asian Tour" grouping the "key races in the region -- Japan, Singapore, China and other venues to be determined such as Thailand." Brown wrote on a LinkedIn Pulse blog, "We should explore the possibility of a race in another major city, such as Beijing, or a street race in a city like Wuxi, a place that's growing ambitiously and enormously. ... I feel that a Chinese city race would underscore the new values that we want the sport to inhabit -- that it's for the people, that it has a real energy, that it represents a fantastic way for brands to present themselves." Liberty Media sees China as a "key growth area" and this week announced a partnership with Lagardère to "secure strategic partners." The current calendar features China, Japan and Singapore, "with Malaysia departing after this season." Brown "also suggested the start times of some traditional races could be tweaked for an Asian audience" (REUTERS, 7/6).
SPREADING THE WEALTH: Baldwin also reported Brown said that McLaren is open to restructuring F1's revenue distribution to make payments "less skewed to bigger teams and help smaller ones become more competitive." He said, "We're prepared to make some short-term sacrifices for the long-term gain of the sport. While I don't think we need to go to a flat revenue structure, clearly it is too out of balance compared to other sports and that's why we have this out of balance race results." Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are the only teams to have won F1 races since Lotus triumphed in Australia in March '13. Brown said that he aimed to put F1 first and McLaren a "really close second," and "smiled when asked whether all the other teams shared his view," saying, "I doubt it." F1's "underlying revenues are estimated" at $1.38B, with the teams sharing roughly 68%. Brown: "We've got tracks going bust, we have teams going bust and then some people getting really rich. The poor guys need to at least be able to make a living" (REUTERS, 7/9).
