Unlucky Past
South Korea has hosted four Formula 1 GPs in its history, from 2010 to 2013, at the Yeongam circuit. Some of these races – for example the first and the last edition – have entered the collective memory of fans, but not for the best reasons: the 2010 edition was affected by heavy rain and especially by a brand new asphalt that was ‘seeping’ large amounts of oils and liquids, turning the circuit into a sort of ice skating rink. In 2013, even worse happened when, following an accident, a small truck entered the track in the middle of the race, without being authorized by anyone, positioning itself in front of the cars that were approaching. Fortunately, no one was hurt on that occasion, but that remains the last image of F1 in Korea, at least until today.
Pros and Cons
The Asian country indeed wants to try again and has presented a very ambitious project to host a Formula 1 GP again as early as 2028. The race venue this time would be the city of Incheon, which is about 40 km from the capital Seoul. On Thursday, April 16, the results of the ‘Basic plan and preliminary feasibility study for the Incheon Formula 1 Grand Prix‘ were published, estimating the expected revenues over a five-year period at about 1.16 trillion won (about 790 million dollars), while the expected costs amount to 802 billion won (about 542 million dollars), thus indicating the apparent economic feasibility of the project.
The circuit would be a 4.960 km long street track with 15 turns. The feasibility study, conducted jointly by the German circuit design company Tilke and the Korean Institute for Industrial Development, forecast a flow of about 120,000 daily visitors over the three race days, which would generate about 580 billion won in tourist revenue creating about 4,800 jobs.
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The problem, however, will be finding space for this event in a calendar that – apart from the cancellation of this year’s Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races due to the war – already includes 24 events, which CEO Stefano Domenicali himself has considered the maximum limit to make the calendar sustainable. In the 2027 season, the return of Portimao to the world championship program is already certain and annual rotations of some European circuits, including Spa-Francorchamps, will begin. It should also be noted from a ‘political’ point of view that the geographical area where South Korea is located already has numerous ‘historic’ races scheduled such as those in Japan, China, and Singapore. An additional event could risk diluting the interest of the public in that part of the world towards F1 too much.
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