The resurgence of F1 racing in America has started.
For a sport that was dead in the United States for years, Formula One Racing has made a spectacular comeback in the eyes of Liberty Media, its owner and for Stephen Ross in Miami Gardens, Florida as the race was held in his football stadium campus. The beautiful people, the rich and the celebrities showed up in South Florida to watch cars literally go in a circle and that had to please Liberty Media. F1 has an annual race in Austin, Texas and it could very well become a fixture in Miami Gardens. But it is onto the glitz capital of the United States, Las Vegas which will host an event in 2023. Why has Formula One made a comeback? Maybe, just maybe it’s a Netflix series called Drive to Survive that spurred people to come back.
Liberty Media is prepping for the Las Vegas event. The company will purchase land off the Strip for about $240 million to build permanent pits and a paddock facility. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will spend $6.5 million per year through 2025 on the Las Vegas Grand Prix as a marketing partner. That means Nevada taxpayers’ dollars will go into the races. F1 racing was a financial disaster in the United States and the racing group stopped holding American events in 2007. Formula One races were held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway between 2000 and 2007. There were no races between 2008 and 2011. In 2012, Austin’s raceway opened. For Liberty Media, getting a second American race was a top priority. F1 signed a 10-year deal to race around Ross’s Miami Dolphins stadium. Formula One’s fascination with Miami and South Florida began in 2018, when the city of Miami made a bid to host Formula 1 auto racing beginning in 2019. F1 racing is now red hot.
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