World champion Fernando Alonso has spoken out against plans for Formula One to race at night on city streets.
The McLaren driver was responding to a question on southeast Asian city state Singapore's bid to stage a Grand Prix under floodlights. A decision is expected after this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard said: 'I think for me, it is impossible. I think there is a huge safety issue racing in the streets. We are trying to develop tracks to make it safer. We are changing corners in Barcelona for safety reasons and now we want to go to the streets. Something is going wrong there.'
Alonso said he was surprised few people had addressed the technical issues concerned with having so many floodlights trying to mimic daylight.
Alonso continued: 'Racing at night requires a huge amount of light,' he said. 'No one has thought that something might happen if the lights go out. It is not a football match. I think there are many, many things to sort out before night racing becomes a reality.'
McLaren team boss Ron Dennis said he was keeping an open mind on the prospect of night racing but advised world governing body, the International Automobile Federation, against making the sport a testing ground.
Dennis said: 'I would hope that any venue considering (night racing) would probably first host a GP2 race or some other race that brings out the validity of that concept. I don't think it should go directly to Formula One. That would be irresponsible.'
