F1 News
"There will be an F1 race at COTA for as long as the track is there"
Over the last two years, Liberty Media have been trying to open up the American market. There have been talks of a Grand Prix in Miami amongst other places but none of them have materialised. For the time being, only the Circuit of the Americas is on the calendar and they believe the race will stay on the Formula 1 schedule for as long as it exists.
"What I will say is, I think there will be an F1 race at COTA for as long as the track is there, that's the benefit of building a permanent facility. I think a shorter deal is better for both parties, you don't want to get locked into something that you don't like down the line. We also can never be sure how the event or how the sport will evolve over the next few years," Bobby Epstein, boss of COTA, told ESPN.
"I think it's right to say F1 wouldn't exist in the U.S. right now if we hadn't built a home for it here at COTA. You just have to look at what we've done in the U.S. and helping to build a fan base here -- before ticket sales had been falling and it had been difficult for any circuit to establish itself as the home of F1."
In Miami, a plan was ready to drive through the port area of the city, but local authorities threw a spanner in the works. An alternative was quickly devised, which amounted to driving a lap around the Hard Rock Stadium.
"Our feeling with Miami has been that F1 should take some of the risk of that event. If you are going to do a street race you have to do it properly, somewhere which resonates with people. Like the downtown race or something on the [Las Vegas] strip might, or the race with the New York skyline they spoke about a long time ago," he added.