Former F1 chief reveals mooted plans for ‘fantastic’ £250m London Grand Prix
A London Grand Prix would be fantastic, but only in the city centre – it wouldn’t be authentic to call it that while racing at Brands Hatch.
That is the view of former Red Bull head of operations, Richard Hopkins, who would love to see cars ripping down Regent Street.
Hopkins, who is now based in Australia after relocating from the UK, came across several proposals for a London GP during his time in F1.
The first of which came in 2012, mere months before the 51-year-old rose from Red Bull’s operations manager to head of the division.
London Grand Prix in 2026
Plans reignited three years ago that would have commissioned a £250million London Grand Prix akin to the circuit in Montreal.
The 5.9km track would have seen cars race along the Royal Albert and Royal Victoria docks in front of 95,000-capacity grandstands.
Dar and LDN Collective, who drafted the project, claimed the London Grand Prix could have been held in August 2026 if it were backed.
Ironically, this summer, there is a fresh need for F1 to plug their calendar after the cancelled Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix.
“There’s always been talk of a London Grand Prix, or maybe a grand prix in New York,” Hopkins told talkSPORT on behalf of Casino Groups.
“Here I am in Australia, and there’s been talk of a Sydney Grand Prix, so there’s been some great events that have been mooted.
“A London Grand Prix would be fantastic.
“There’s been a couple of demonstration events over the years, and that’s certainly attracted the crowd,” he continued to talkSPORT.com.
“Why not have cars ripping down Regent Street?” That’d be amazing!”
He added: “I’m sure there’s gonna be some fundamental reasons [why a London Grand Prix hasn’t happened yet].
“Street races are challenging – the street races we have, like Singapore…Singapore is not like Monaco.
“Monaco is allowed today because it’s Monaco and it’s been around for a long, long time and arguably because the cars, in relative terms, aren’t necessarily as quick as what they could be on other circuits.
“So we kind of get away with Monaco, [but] I think there would be some challenges with London, certainly in the streets of London.
“I jokingly say Regent Street, but there’s no run-off area. Circuits have to be FIA-approved, and of course, the concentration and focus on safety has become ever so more today than it’s ever been.
“So I think London would have its challenges – It would be amazing, and the worst thing to do would be going to Brands Hatch and calling it the London Grand Prix.
“If you’re gonna have a London Grand Prix, it’d have to be in the centre of London.
“So, maybe not the logistics, I think just safety would be one of the biggest concerns, would be with creating the correct run-off areas and everything else that’s required today for a circuit to be FIA-approved, I think that would be the biggest challenge.”
Silverstone boss offers to host second race
The British Grand Prix will be held at the start of July, but Silverstone CEO Stuart Pringle has already publicly said the circuit has offered to host a second race – as it did during the COVID season – to make up for the cancelled Grands Prix in the Middle East.
Hopkins added: “Regardless of what happens with Silverstone, I think there is a desire and contractually with teams to have 24 Grands Prix.
“All their sponsors and partners have signed up for a 24 race championship, so I think Formula 1 will be looking at the opportunity to create a 23rd and 24th race, and why couldn’t it, why shouldn’t it be Silverstone?
“If the calendar allows and everything aligns, then why not?”
Return of Turkish Grand Prix
One race already confirmed to be added to the grid will be the circuit at Istanbul Park – which will return to F1 from the 2027 season.
And ex-Red Bull chief Hopkins has less than fond memories of the logistical challenges involved in staging the Turkish Grand Prix.
“Turkey, logistically and operationally, was a challenging grand prix, and probably is going to be a challenging grand prix again,” he said.
“For all the teams that are European-based, obviously, we have our European races that we can facilitate using trucks and so on.
“For these other, more international races that we call flyways, everything obviously gets packed up into shipping containers and goes on aircraft around the world.
“And Turkey, because of its distance – it’s almost a flyway race, but it’s kinda not, it’s still technically kind of in Europe.
“So it’s just one of those long-distance European races, which is challenging for the teams, it just has some logistical challenges.
“I know when Turkey was on the calendar, we all loved Turkey – it always showed a great grand prix, but for all the backroom staff, it was always, ‘Oh my god, here comes Turkey again!’
“South Korea, as well, had its challenges, getting in and out of the country, so there were those challenges, which were more just operational ones.”
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