F1 targets second U.S. race at 'destination city'
Would fit in fine just after or before Canadian GP wouldn't it? Makes it 2 races in Northern America in that time frame instead of just the one. Plenty of time between Vegas - Austin, too. Or move Austin to near Canadian GP time frame, move Abu Dhabi to earlier in the season (around Bahrain or Baku), and have Vegas night race as season finale.
NY no... Miami....no Long Beach or Vegas are the only real contenders. But neither has a real F1 venue ready to go. I don't see it anytime soon. But for sure I see why Liberty wants it (as would the teams). Asia is dying. Singapore is gone. Malaysia is gone. Korea is a waste of time. China has to bus students to fill up the stands. They can't put more in the Middle East. They need Germany and France so that should be their priority.
Vegas has a couple of advantages 1) its set up specifically for tourism with plenty of hotel rooms and entertainment 2) it's easy for people to get to by car or plane, especially California 3) depending on the season the weather is good and reliable. 4) it's a party place used to large "conventions" and events 5) it's sexy and everyone in the world knows "Vegas" 6) I can see the casino's and tourist bureau supporting it. 7) Locals won't complain (unlike Long Beach) 8) There's plenty of convention space and arenas for car companies to do PR events 9) The casino's will support it with money or freebees 10) people wouldn't mind going days in advance because there's plenty to do There is this general movement in the city planners to add sports to the menu of "reasons to go to Vegas". The new NHL team was 3 years in the works before they finally agreed. The Arena where the Golden Knights will play was 100% privately financed. They are already working details of negotiating the land to construct the Raiders football stadium, half of which will be privately financed. Most locals are in shock at how fast major sports has decided to come to the city after years of failed trial balloons. So, we'll see. The issue is when they ran there before (albeit a long time ago) it didn't go well. And, there's a real question where they would run.
Definitely not Miami. Just got back from there. What a cesspool. Vegas makes total sense for infastructure, capacity, and mindset.
Why are Canada, COTA and a new US venue not consecutive races. Wouldn't it save lots of money on travel.
Rumors here in town is F1 was talking about buying race week here since toyota may be leaving as the main sponsor and turning it into a full month of racing. Indy car and F1 Townspeople and business's are all in with the idea.
Why not have a East Coast USGP and a West Coast USGP? Watkins Glen and Laguna Seca would be my favourites circuits.
What's more important than the location is the month: summer in Vegas or Miami would be intolerable. That's why I stopped going to Europe GPs in the summer: way too hot to sit outside I do applaud Carey for realizing that GPs should be tied to a destination venue. Who has the time or $ to fly to the middle of nowhere for a weekend?
Fully agree. Vegas is a no brainer. Can see many Europeans going there, too. Quick google tells me 62000 rooms on the strip alone. International airport right round the corner. It's genuinely, a no brainer. I'd absolutely love it.
No problem: I don't need to be there for the full time, just as now I'm not staying for a full GP weekend.
Only possible issue with Vegas, is reading the article Liberty talks about making this a week long experience. They need to monetize that for themselves. Might be hard to do competing again all that Vegas offers
Cant speak for Watkins, but as for Laguna, while its a great circuit, nothing else is set up for it. Monterey is a sea side town (bit like Brighton), a quiet town and can barely contain, WSB or MotoGP, crowds. Certainly not the capacity within the town to host F1 crowds and events. As for the track itself, great layout, great location but very little infrastructure, pits are tiny, no real grandstands ( except along front straight) to speak of. Would need 10's of millions to bring it up to modern F1 standards.. Hey but if someone builds it I will be there for sure. Vegas is the logical location, night race would be awesome..