No wonder the region is in debt

With a flourish, Francisco Camps announced that he was bringing Formula 1 racing to Valencia as part of his election campaign. He claimed that it would not cost the region one euro, in fact it could even make a profit.

Well that turned out to be a lie because the cost over the five years between 2008 and 2012 will top 300 million euros. The seven year contract was cancelled in 2012 but Ecclestone still has the option to extend the contract until 2019.  Out of that sum, Ecclestone had the lions share of 115 million euros tax free. The rest was spent on building the track, disassembling it each year, on security and celebrations at the events.

Bear in mind that this was not the only big publicity event that Camps introduced whilst he was President. He also brought Volvo ocean racing and the America’s Cup to Valencia at enormous cost to the region.