Chicago and LA to get F1 festivals in 2019
Chicago and Los Angeles will both host Formula 1 global festivals as part of attempts to take the sport closer to fans this year.
Fan festivals were held last year in Miami, Milan, Marseille and Shanghai, and the sport will be returning to the Chinese city as part of its build-up to the 1000th world championship race.
Following on from the Miami success and with the sport's owners, Liberty Media, keen to increase the sport’s reach in the United States, Chicago will host a festival in the build-up to the Canadian Grand Prix in June, and another one is planned in Los Angeles around the time of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, which this year takes place from November 1-3.
The final festival will be held in a yet to be confirmed Brazilian city, to coincide with race in Sao Paulo also in November, and F1’s managing director of commercial operations Sean Bratches says new locations were required to take the sport to prospective new fans.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1113419084115468290
“Following the huge success last season, we are thrilled to announce all four F1 Festivals for 2019,” Bratches said. “We are committed to enhancing fan experience of F1 and continue to explore new ways of exposing fans to the sport. We believe it’s vital to take F1 into the cities so that fans can immerse themselves in the race day atmosphere.
“By announcing three new festival locations we hope fans around the world are excited to see what F1 Festivals have to offer and we are thrilled to be returning to China for the F1 Heineken Shanghai Festival to celebrate our 1000th Grand Prix.”
F1 currently has only one race in the U.S., although Liberty Media is understood to be exploring multiple options alongside the ongoing attempts to host a street race in Miami.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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