Image by Jerry Andre/LAT
F1 ‘still engaged’ with Miami despite ‘clear hurdles to get over’
Formula 1 is still hopeful of bringing a grand prix to Miami despite a vote that has added road blocks to its prospects.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County commissioners passed two resolutions that could impact on the planned race. One gives commissioners the power to prohibit road closures related to racing events near or in residential areas, and the other was an ordinance to give Miami Gardens residents a public hearing on races proposed in the Hard Rock Stadium’s district.
Following those votes, F1 CEO Chase Carey (pictured above) told a Formula 1 Group investor meeting that the votes do not end hopes to host a race at the stadium venue.
“Miami, we are still engaged,” Carey said. “There are clear hurdles to get over, we have to address -- we had a vote yesterday that created new issues for us to try and address. I wasn’t in Miami, so I don’t have the details as what are the steps from here to there, but we do have hurdles to overcome now to put the race in Miami, but that is ongoing.”
Carey says there is strong interest in further races wanting a spot on the calendar, following the addition of races in Zandvoort and Hanoi for next season.
“One of the things we’ve been particularly enthused about is the breadth of interest in places hosting races, which I think if anything has increased in the last year plus. And I think we have discussions literally on every continent other than Antarctica. Countries we do race in, countries we don’t race in, they’re varying degrees of discussions.
“Our capacity to add races is quite limited, so the demand exceeds supply. The vast majority of our races are long-term agreements and we want them to be long-term agreements -- we value that partnership. But there will always be some turnover. If you look at this year we have two new races Zandvoort and Vietnam, and one race not continuing in Germany.
“So I think we do feel excited about it, and some of it in traditional markets, some in new markets, like the U.S. and China. The discussions are in varying stages depending on which one and I’m not going to handicap individual discussions.”
Presented by:
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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