"It'd be like having the ATP Tour without Wimbledon"- Red Bull boss urges F1 to 'ringfence' and 'protect' 'historic races'

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has come out in support of the F1 Belgian GP amidst rumours that the track might be chucked out of the calendar for the 2023 season.

Talking to Sky Sports F1, Horner said that some of the historic races like Spa, Silverstone, and Monza need to be protected while welcoming the new venues. Not doing so would be akin to the ATP Tour without Wimbledon, he added.

"Spa, for sure ... it's one of those historic races. Monza, Silverstone, Spa, they're the big and historic ones; we should ringfence those and protect those," said Horner. "It's great that there's these new events coming in, and there's interest. But you've got to have that history. It'd be like having the ATP Tour without Wimbledon."

The Red Bull boss added that the aforementioned tracks are a part of the history of the sport and its DNA. Showinh faith in the people running the sport, he said:

"They're part of our history; they're part of our DNA. We'll definitely make our opinion known, but you've got to trust the people who are running the business at the end of the day."

Former world champion Jenson Button also recently weighed in on the topic. He said that he would be very upset if Spa is not on the calendar. He said:

"If Spa isn't there, I'll be very upset. If you take away Spa, it's for other reasons, not because it's not a good circuit. It's one of the best in the world, the racing's amazing, the drivers love it, and the teams love going there."

Button cautioned against the sport's urge to go to new tracks while compromising some classic layouts. He said that there should be a balance of street circuits and 'old school tracks'.

"We have to be a little bit careful," said Button. "We need to make sure we keep the racing exciting and going to circuits that give us great racing because you're going to see happy drivers. I like the mix of having street circuits and old school tracks, but we can't be going to all city centres, and just going there because of the location."

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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and others on Belgian GP

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen doesn't want to lose the Belgian GP. He said that it's his favorite track, so losing it would not make sense. He said:

"It would be a big shame to lose Spa. It's my favourite track in the world. I think it's just an amazing track in a Formula 1 car."

McLaren driver Lando Norris who has a Belgian mother, was not happy either with the possibility of Spa not being there next season. He said:

"I think Spa should always be there as long as Formula 1 exists."

It will be interesting to see if big teams like Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari are able to raise these concerns to the people involved and keep Spa in the F1 calendar next season.