Briatore want to bring F1 to streets of Big Apple

Enthused by yesterday’s successful demonstration in Rome, Renault boss Flavio Briatore has floated the idea of running his Formula 1 cars through the streets of New York. An estimated 25,000 Romans braved miserable weather conditions to watch their fellow citizen Giancarlo Fisichella drive his R25 around the Eternal City’s fabled Circus Maximus. It was the latest stop in Renault’s Formula 1 road show, which has already visited Lyon, Moscow and Madrid and is scheduled to visit other European city centre destinations later this season. Now Briatore has set an even more ambitious goal of taking F1 to the Big Apple. “My dream is to have a road show on the streets of New York," he told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. Briatore sees his team’s road show concept, together with similar events like last summer’s Regent Street parade in London, as an important means of F1 teams and drivers reconnecting with the fans, as well as introducing the sport to a wider public. “Formula 1 needs to get closer to the people," he declared. “At the circuits there are barriers and walls which keep spectators away, so days like these are important, besides being very difficult to organize." ITV.com/F1