Its official and final, Valencia will be hosting a formula one grand prix. The race will be on a harbour side street circuit which will closely represent that of Monaco. The contract signed by Valencia is a seven year one and now it becomes the second Spanish city to host a race after Barcelona. Barcelona has a contract to hold races till 2016. Bernie Ecclestone had earlier said that the deal was dependant on the current government winning the elections which it did. He has been accused of manipulating the poll in Spain by virtue of that announcement. Later however Bernie clarified that he merely wanted to say that he should know the person he was going to sign a contract with. Valencia as a city will be paying 26m euros for staging each race.

Here is Fernando Alonso’s reaction on the race in Valencia :

“Four years ago, we didn’t have even TV coverage and now we will have two Grands Prix, so that’s very special”

“The direction Formula One has tried to go in the last couple of years is to improve safety,”

“We have changed the last couple of corners here in Barcelona to slow down the cars.

“Now, to have a race on the streets when we have a circuit only 20 or 30km away in Valencia, that is a little bit difficult to understand what the Formula One bosses want.

“But for us, so far as it is safe and they put in what is required to make it safe, we will race anywhere.”