Ecclestone: « The twilight racing system is here to stay »

While strong concerns from Grand Prix organizers and drivers were voiced at the start of the season regarding the concept of ‘twilight’ races, F1’s commercial rights holder, Bernie Ecclestone, emphasizes the success of the concept.

This season, in Australia and Malaysia, the red lights, signaling the start of the race, went out at 5:00 PM local time to capture more viewers in Europe who previously had to get up very early. With this concept, in France, the race in Melbourne took place at 8:00 AM and the one in Sepang at 11:00 AM.

Precisely at the opposite end, the drivers complained about the brightness with a setting sun, whereas a week later in Malaysia, the torrential late-afternoon rains prevented the race from resuming as night was falling.

But for the newspaper The Independent, the head of the executive declared that the concept of twilight races is made to continue.

« All TV audiences have jumped by 300%. We managed to capture 50% more market share, » said Ecclestone.

This concept was a compromise to the installation of an expensive lighting system in order to become a night race. However, the Briton confirmed that Sepang is considering joining Singapore as a night race.