The best of British automotive engineering was on show this weekend, as Formula One held its 1,000th Grand Prix in Shanghai. 50 years after the first world championship race was held at the Silverstone race track in the UK, it was all eyes on China - in a demonstration of how a sport that was born out racing around disused British airfields after the Second World War, has grown to take on the world! In a further sign of the sport’s growing popularity and potential in the Asia-Pacific, the British Business Group Vietnam announced on Friday that construction had begun on the Hanoi Grand Prix racetrack, scheduled for March 2020.
Formula One has become a key marketing platform for British businesses seeking to appeal to petrol heads. CBI members, BP, ExxonMobil and Shell went head-to-head this weekend in Shanghai, powering the majority of the main competitors in the race, including Aston Martin Red Bull Racing.
Diageo was on hand to ensure that the drinks flowed, and Tata Communications kept track of the position of the cars as they rocketed around the track. Be it big business or small, Formula One provides huge opportunity for exposure on the world stage, and provides a solid customer base for British manufacturing SMEs, such as Shropshire-based ACE Engineering, who use the racing series as a platform to sell their high-performance engine components.
Motorsport is big business for the UK. Eight of the current 11 F1 teams are based in the UK, availing of an expert supply chain, comprising more than 40,000 people, that earns £6 billion in sales a year. Much of the UK’s motorsports expertise is located close to the Silverstone racetrack in Northamptonshire, where it is possible to find a diverse range of specialist suppliers providing a specialist manufacturing capability to the big marques, such as Ferrari and Mercedes-Benz, as part of an intricate international supply chain exporting parts in support of races all around the world.
The majority of Formula One’s logistics is managed by CBI member, DHL who will soon need to add Vietnam to their calendar, following the announcement that ground breaking on the new Hanoi grand prix track took place last Friday. The new racetrack features the longest straight in the F1 calendar and will see cars reach speeds of over 200 mph. The event is due to take place in March 2020, and will be sponsored by HSBC.
To read more about the involvement of British Business in F1 Hanoi, please follow the link.
Recent Comments