“More races in our time zone are good for F1”

Last month, Formula One announced it would travel to Miami for ten years from 2022. There, the premier class will race on a street circuit around the Hard Rock Stadium of the US football team Miami Dolphins. The race will be F1’s second annual meeting in the United States, alongside the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. Bobby Epstein, race promoter and boss of the nearby Austin circuit, is delighted that the sport is expanding its presence in the United States.

“I think it’s good for the sport to have more races in our time zone,” Epstein said Autoweek. He thinks F1 would do well to organize American meetings at different times of the year. “The fact that we are not back to back is also better for the sport. If F1 comes and drives here two weekends in a row, I don’t think the impact would be that great. This way the impact is doubled. Miami will sell out easily in year one and possibly year two, but after that the audience would go their separate ways if we were on the schedule closely. The dissemination is therefore fantastic.

Third race in the United States “good for F1”

In recent years, Formula 1 has grown in popularity in the United States. Epstein notes that interest in tickets to the United States GP has increased, in large part thanks to the success of the Netflix series Drive to Survive. He therefore suspects that there would be enough interest if a third American race is added to the calendar. “I think there are a number of other places it could work. Las Vegas is now on everyone’s list and I think it would be great for the sport if that became a reality.

As for the Circuit of the Americas, the current contract with F1, which began in 2012, expires at the end of this year. Epstein attended the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, presumably to talk to F1 executives about the deal extension. The promoter of the American GP is convinced that a new transaction will be concluded. “This is the first opportunity we have to get together, outside of the conversations via Zoom. When the amounts are right, it’s very easy to strike a deal, ”Epstein said. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time. I think we both want this to happen and this is the best situation to start with.