Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber believes that Formula One should retain a strong core of European-based races in the future, suggesting that the sport's schedule should not be overrun with "repetitive" new Tilkedromes.
Webber made the comments on the eve of the final Tilkedrome-based race of the 2011 season, at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The Abu Dhabi race is one of eight Hermann Tilke-designed tracks on the 2011 schedule, with further designs from the track-doodler to come in future years in the United States and Russia.
The 'Tilke-ification' of the F1 schedule has been criticised by many F1 fans, and a number of new events have struggled to maintain fan interest.
And Webber has suggested that while F1 should continue to explore new venues, it was important to maintain a strong presence with the sport's core fanbase in Europe.
"We need to keep our roots, which is some beautiful tracks in Europe," he told the Gulf News publication on the eve of the Abu Dhabi race,
"We need to keep the Spas and the tracks all drivers love racing on like Silverstone and Monza. The new tracks are very rewarding to go to but will obviously take time to get established."
He added: "We need to give the new venues a chance but we've had a lot of new tracks crop up in the last three or four years – that's our job to go to different tracks and drive on them.
"The season is extending to India and Russia its clearly a 'world' championship now which is important but we also need to keep some races in Europe."
Webber also criticised the "repetitive" nature of many of the new Tilke circuits, suggesting that the emphasis on long straights and tight corners to encourage overtaking was becoming over-familiar.
"It's repetitive," he said, "The main track [in Abu Dhabi] has got a lot of straights and they're all in favour of these long straights nowadays, like India and Korea...but it hasn't done much for us."
On Abu Dhabi itself, he added: "The twilight aspect is the most exciting starting in the afternoon finishing at night.
"But its not the most challenging, it's reasonably repetitive [but] that's the way they designed it."
Despite the criticisms though, Webber did say that he did get enjoyment from the Yas Marina race.
"In general it's a good atmosphere and people enjoy the race there," he smiled, "I think it looks very good. It's a phenomenal spectacle for TV so that’s something they definitely got right."
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