2019 calendar waiting on Miami troubles
- Published on 12 Jul 2018 09:55
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- By: Jeroen Jonkers
Liberty Media is waiting on progress in Miami before finalising the 2019 calendar.
It has emerged that the opening seven races on next year's schedule - every race between March and June - have now been fixed: Australia, Bahrain, China, Azerbaijan, Spain, Monaco and Canada.
And the season finale will take place on December 1 in Abu Dhabi.
"The rest of the calendar depends on whether the planned grand prix in Miami takes place," reported Auto Motor und Sport.
There are several issues with Liberty's plans in Miami, but the latest one means that a contract was not signed by a July 1 deadline set by the city.
"As of right now a contract has not been finalised," Stephanie Severino, of Miami's communications office, told Forbes journalist Christian Sylt.
If Miami's troubles can be overcome, it seems an October race date is likely, on a 2019 calendar that will once again probably host 21 grands prix.
"The conversation around 22-23 races is, I think, a few years out," said McLaren boss Zak Brown.
"But if you put another two or three races on the calendar - a Miami, a New York, another one in Asia, some big markets - it's pretty attractive commercially to our partners," he added.
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Replies (5)
Login to replytalktohenry
Posts: 362
Great for Global sponsors, but USA thinks of F1 in the same way we think or Indycar, so it will never be big in America, we need more GP in Europe where people actually can go and see a race without spending £5k to go to Miami for a weekend!
2GRX7
Posts: 108
Fortunately, the desire for a more global view of the world and our place in it, is currently fighting the good fight in the USA. With that, the embracing of soccer and the World Cup (and The Premier League, for that matter) by those people who want to compete against the world, has skyrocketed (Major League Baseball, National Football League WORLD CHAMPS?!!!HUH??!!!).
That being said, Miami is a global destination city. More people will want to go there over Austin (not knocking them), and with the younger kids actually knowing who Lewis Hamilton is (His Twitter-Foo is LIT!), they're on to something.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Them thinking something now doesnt mean they have to think that forever. I think the sport is a bit too Eurocentered at times. And while I'd prefer to see a new venue somewhere else, the U.S is probably the only ones that can afford hosting another GP. But I still lament the choice of yet another street track. Just give me Laguna Seca or something and I'll be a happy camper.... Or labrat, I've never camped...
mcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
USA is a major market that F1 needs to crack sooner or later.
f1dave
Posts: 782
Waiting for a street track that doesn't exist, what could be more F1 than that?