Las Vegas F1 race likely to get spring slot alongside Miami, says COTA chairman

2021 United States Grand Prix

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A third US Formula 1 race in Las Vegas is likely to be twinned with the series’ new round in Miami, according Circuit of the Americas chairman Bobby Epstein.

The 2022 F1 calendar will feature two American races as the series holds its first Miami Grand Prix in May. However commercial rights holder Liberty Media is known to favour holding more races in the USA and Las Vegas is considered a likely target.

F1 previously held three races in America in 1982, when the series visited Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas. However that proved the second and final race for the latter venue, Long Beach was gone after one further event, and within 10 years F1 had left the USA entirely.

However Epstein believes the sport’s growing popularity in the USA under Liberty Media makes three races in the country a viable option.

“I think 10 years ago it would have been hard for F1 to support two events,” Epstein told RaceFans in an exclusive interview. “How many [F1] fans are there in the US? Currently there’s certainly enough to support three.

“I hope that keeps growing. I think the Netflix series helped it grow a lot. I think an American driver, especially a winning American driver, would make it possible to have six or eight Formula 1 events, which I don’t see happening given the calendar and the bidding wars that happen for these races.”

The US GP takes place towards the end of the year and is followed closely by a race in neighbouring Mexico. Epstein believes a race in Las Vegas would take place nearer to Miami’s round to reduce travel costs.

“I certainly can see Miami and Vegas being paired in a nice spring slot on the calendar and then Austin and Mexico City in the fall,” he said. “I think together it makes sense from a business standpoint of transferring the cargo to make it two stops when you come over to the continent, at least.

“For us, I think it makes a great opportunity to bring the cars and get exposure in the US more than once a year.”

Las Vegas held the F1 season finale in 1981 and 1982 in a car park at the Caesar’s Palace casino. The track was later used by the CART IndyCar series before the site was built upon.

Red Bull visited Las Vegas for a demonstration run with one of its F1 cars in 2018 (pictured).

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RJ O'Connell
Motorsport has been a lifelong interest for RJ, both virtual and ‘in the carbon’, since childhood. RJ picked up motorsports writing as a hobby...
Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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21 comments on “Las Vegas F1 race likely to get spring slot alongside Miami, says COTA chairman”

  1. They should race in The Boring Company’s tunnels.

    Finally a place to show that F1 cars can drive upside down! 😜

  2. simply NO, stop with this “tracks”

  3. Nothing quite like parking lot races.

  4. Nice correlation between the top flight motorsport scene in America and the Arab states…

  5. A third US race is a good idea, but it needs to be at Indy. It’s already a grade 1 circuit, and more importantly there’s a already a massive fan base for the sport within an easy drive to the track.

    1. @jonathan, Not to mention a permanent circuit meaning no public road closure needed, although since Miami became preferred over Indy, I reckon this Indy avoiding trade will continue.

    2. And they could hold it as part of the month of May before Miami too! It’s mind boggling how obvious of a choice it would be.

  6. Six to eight, are you insane!!! Two is PLENTY. No more.

  7. Yes, probably in Northern Hemisphere spring alongside Miami if LV returned to F1.

  8. A series that already struggles with overtaking on permanent F1 track wants to introduce more street tracks. Clever, really clever.

  9. How about no. I don’t care how many US fans there are, the sport has long term fans in tons of countries that don’t even get a sniff in. 2 is more than enough. Its a world Championship not a US series.

    1. @lejimster82 I couldn’t agree more.

    2. Meanwhile a whole continent is still missing out and all of Asia, excluding the Middle East, will have just two races in Singapore and Japan next year. Obviously Europe is disproportionately represented in the calendar because the sport originated there and that’s where most of the fanbase is situated, but the oil-rich Middle Eastern countries are wildly over-represented on the calendar and effectively blocking other parts of the world from their own races.

      1. I was pretty disappointed when Vietnam was cancelled.

  10. The future is east not west.

  11. I’m not sure why the F1 races have to be held in the worst parts of our country. Maybe F1 will move the British GP to Hull Street Circuit.

  12. Miami is enough, okay?

  13. So a 28 race season then? The alternative might be more sports-washing events where the hosting fees are paid out of sovereign wealth funds instead of ticket sales.

    1. Why not?

      A few sovereign wealth fund events are okay if they hold that many races and bring back some classic tracks.

      Give me a 30 race season if its gets us Portimao, Istanbul, Sepang, Mugello, Hockhenheim-Nurburgring rotation.

      Heck put Indianapolis and Road America/Watkins Glenn/Barber Motorsport Park on the rotation too.

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