The abandoned F1 circuit was home to a grand prix just 10 years ago, now it is decaying before its final destruction

The flip side of the glitz of motorsport’s most prestigious discipline can be no less fascinating than the glitz itself. Michael Schumacher raced here 10 years ago, today the same place is a memento of naivety, corruption and stealing money that “doesn’t belong to anyone”.

Formula 1 races are a fascinating theater from many points of view – from the technical excellence of the machines used, to the incredible human and financial potential invested in two cars that circle about twenty times a year for one to two hours on selected circuits, to all the glory associated with it. You won’t find many other sports where you’ll run into every possible celebrity from Sylvester Stallone to Russell Wilson throughout the year.

But this is a tinsel inevitably associated with tragedies of their kind that take place in the same environment. We are not talking about serious accidents, which are a very rare phenomenon especially since the death of Ayrton Senna, as – paradoxically – rather the economic struggles of almost everyone involved. Formula 1 has undoubtedly become a fascinating business for its mastermind Bernie Eccleston and those to whom he later sold it. But for everyone else, it’s a more complicated story.

Basically, only pilots who get a seat in the cockpit thanks to their abilities don’t have to worry about their economic well-being for the duration of their contracts, the same goes for top technicians working for individual teams and the like. Circuit operators, grand prix organizers and, last but not least, the stables themselves are in a much more difficult position. When things are going well, as they have been in recent years, there are no problems because there is enough money for everyone. But once the whole machine starts to falter a bit, it’s difficult to finance any of these components. And the consequences are often truly tragic.

However, just remember how many teams have changed owners in recent decades, how many of them live only thanks to the huge sums poured into them by the companies behind them or otherwise connected with them. How many big prizes have disappeared from the series, how many of them have changed their venue. When they are in the spotlight, everyone sees only the shine, but today we will look at the less visible misery of one of the remarkable grand prix of its time.

Not everyone remembers it, but the so-called European Grand Prix was held between 2008 and 2012 at the then unusual urban circuit in Valencia, Spain. So it was run five times, but originally the contract was negotiated for seven repetitions until 2014. However, despite – or in the end even because of – huge investments from public money two years earlier, the whole enterprise ended in failure, and the organizers were not only able to meet their obligations in in connection with the last two years, no proper race was ever held on the site again.

It reminds you of the attached video by Matt Amys, which not only gives you a closer look at the history described above and below, but also shows the current state of the track. Or what’s left of her. Although the Spaniards invested a whopping 300 million Euros (ie about 7.4 billion crowns) in organizing the European GP at this location, they were not even able to maintain the organization for the agreed time. A few responsible politicians treated public money the way it is usually treated – that is, in the name of the slogan “other people’s blood does not flow”. A number of investments related to the construction and maintenance of the circuit were thus clearly overpriced, and part of the funds paid went back to those who decided on the entrusted money. They ended up in court for that too.

Let’s leave aside the legal consequences today, the factual ones for the circuit itself and the grand prize held on it are worse. Since it is a kind of hybrid, i.e. mainly a newly built track that only partially uses the real streets of the city of Valencia, it could only be used on special occasions, which killed its further usability at the moment when the whole idea was born in the minds of the Spaniards. It was a naive concept, and so the circuit has basically just fallen into disrepair since 2012, and today it’s only a torso remotely reminiscent of the place’s glory days. Locals can walk around the circuit, but it is not very attractive to visit – it is one big abandoned construction site, from which everything that had at least some value has disappeared in the meantime.

The land on which the unused parts of the circuit stand now belong to new investors who want to use it for a quite different purpose. Once that happens, the water will be permanently shut off behind the former city ring road in Valencia. So if you would like to see it with your own eyes, you probably have the last chance in the coming weeks and months. After everything that happened here, we don’t think anyone would think of organizing similar races again in Valencia.

At the 2012 European Grand Prix, the circuit in Valencia witnessed Michael Schumacher’s podium finish at the age of 43 and Fernando Alonso’s victory while still in Ferrari colors. Those times are really gone, what is left of it as a result of a somewhat naive investment in a building with practically only one proper use per year and the related corruption scandal, you can see in the video below. Photo: Fernando Hernandez and Alberto Saiz, AP

Source: Matt Amys@Youtube

Petr Miler

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