Mexican Racing Fans Applaud Formula 1's Launch in Austin Texas Joy Diaz - KUT News
go to original November 19, 2012

Sergio Pérez rounds the F1 track in 2011. (flickr.com/code_martial)

Thousands of Mexican fans flowed into Austin for F1 and the thrill of watching Mexican driver Sergio "Checo" Pérez speed around the track. David Besch was one of them. As he waited in line to get into the Circuit of the Americas stands, Besch said F1 in Austin reminded him of the thrill of his first race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

“I was about eight or nine years old – I think. My uncle took me to the race. From then on, I didn’t stop watching it.”

Many of the fans this weekend said they were ready to see Mexico reopen its F1 track. Recent reports say the country’s leading business owners – among them Carlos Slim Domit, the son of one of the richest men in the world – are talking are talking about getting on the F1 schedule as early as next year.

But it’s been decades since Mexico hosted a Formula 1 race. That would take updating a track that was last used in 1992 to address any safety concerns for drivers. And, reassuring travelers they would be safe from drug cartel violence.

Fan David Rojas, from Mexico City, rushed to reassure them. “In regards to the race – I don’t think there would be any problems – I mean, there’s been tourism all these years, and there’s going to be a major pursue in tourism. So, I don’t expect that to be a huge issue there.”

But until Formula 1 is revived in Mexico, the Circuit of the Americas track here in Central Texas – just 200 miles from the US-Mexico border – will have to do.

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