Formula 1 has certainly discussed adding new races in the US for the last year and half and most notably they mentioned what they call “destination” cities as possible locales. Ease of travel, accommodations etc. To those ends, the city of Miami is mulling over the idea of hosting an F1 race.
It will be interesting to see what track they create as races in Miami have tended to be really good circuits and great fun for the drivers as our own Paul Charsley can tell you from experience. I have become less than excited about the trend of adding more and more street circuits to the F1 calendar to be honest.
Some street circuits work and other don’t. I suspect Miami will, though. I’ve read that it costs more to host a temporary street circuit than a purpose-built track and I’ve read that it costs less. I have to go with the latter because if it were more, they would be doing less street circuits, not more.
If Austin cost $350M to build, and you divide that cost by a factor of 10 for each year of the grand prix, maybe it does get close and then you have other racing series that can run year round at a purpose-built track. Still, I think street circuits have to be less investment overall or they wouldn’t be adding all of them. Track economics are a very difficult thing to get on top of with purpose-built circuits.
What would the impact be to the USGP in Austin? Hard to say but I doubt it will be positive nor at the same level of impact the Mexican Grand Prix is and we know folks at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) have already complained about that for good reason I suspect. Regardless, they had to know that competing races in the US was always a reality.
Here is the official statement from F1 regarding the possibility of an October race in Miami in 2019.
Statement from Sean Bratches, Managing Director Commercial Operations, Formula 1:
“Earlier today the City of Miami Commission took an important step by adding an item to their upcoming agenda, that if approved, will make way to bring Formula 1 to downtown Miami next season. We appreciate the community’s interest in hosting a Formula 1 race and look forward to working with local officials and stakeholders to bring this vision to life.
“With over half a billion fans worldwide, Formula 1 is the greatest racing spectacle on the planet, and Miami’s status as one of the world’s most iconic and glamourous cities, combined with its robust tourism infrastructure, makes Miami the perfect destination for Formula 1 and its fans.”
Stephen Ross, US entrepreneur and supporter of the proposed race added:
“Miami is a first-class global city and Formula 1 is a first-class global brand. In cooperation with the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County, I am confident we can deliver yet another global event that will be a destination for people from around the world and drive economic value to South Florida. From football and soccer to tennis and motorsports, Miami deserves only the best in music, food, art, fashion, and sports and entertainment, and that is exactly what we plan on delivering with a Formula 1 race.”
Notes for editors
The exact timing of a Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix would be a matter for further discussion between F1, the FIA and the Miami authorities, but if approved we hope at this stage that the inaugural race would take place in October 2019.
Later this year, as part of a fan experience that has already seen us deliver F1 Live London last season, and the hugely successful fan festival in Shanghai, we will be hosting further fan festivals in Marseilles ahead of the FORMULA 1 PIRELLI GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE 2018, and of course in Miami itself, ahead of the FORMULA 1 2018 PIRELLI UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX in Austin Texas.
We will not be commenting further at this stage.
What a great idea! And then they can try and plan around the LONG hurricane season!
I would imagine a US swing is more a driver than those pesky hurricanes. ;)
Street circuits appeal to local politicians as way to show off their cities and so maybe easier to get approved and funding.
If Miami happens next year it will most probably be at the cost of Azerbaijan.
Why don’t they run it at Daytona? The circuit and stands are already in place to handle the crowd.
Cause it’s Daytona and not Miami…
I do dislike the trend of street circuits too, but I thought the advantage was you could at least put the race where the people are. America is huge, so why are both our races located in the south? Why do they keep putting races so far away from where the populations of the countries actually lives? If you look at a heat map of the U.S. population most people live in the mid-atlantic/north-east corridor and along the west coast. Yes there is a lot of people packed into south Florida, but for anyone else to get there its a… Read more »
and you tell that to the kids today and they won’t believe you….
Tha knows……. ;-)
Will they use Sonny Crockett’s Ferrari Daytona convertible as the pace car?
How’s that for a trip in the wayback machine????? ;-)