Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey insists the sport will not lose its “foundation” in Europe as he and Liberty Media push for a greater presence in America and elsewhere.
On Thursday this week, a vote at the City of Miami Commission could pave the way for the Floridian city to join the calendar as soon as 2019, with even a first proposed street circuit layout released last Friday.
With Grands Prix in New York and Las Vegas also touted, some are worried this will come at the expense of the sport’s historic home with the races in Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy and more all facing uncertain futures.
Talking to Autosport, however, Carey declared: “It is not at the expense of the sport in Europe – which is the foundation of this sport, the home of this sport and this sport will always be built, as far as I am concerned, on its foundations.”
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But Liberty’s vision isn’t just for expansion in the States with Asia also in their sights as Vietnam remains a strong possibility and maybe, trying to read into the CEO’s next comments, a second race in China.
“This is a strong sport in Europe, but we believe there are opportunities to grow the sport in places like China and the US, the two biggest media economies in the world,” he added.
Away from the calendar, F1’s commercial rights holder is considering ways to maintain interest in the sport throughout the year, taking their cues from such events as the NFL draft.
“One of the ambitions we have is to figure out how we make this sport something that engages the fans 12 months a year,” Carey explained.
“It doesn’t mean we will race [that long] – our season is not going to go [to] 12 months – [but] we would like to determine how do we create more interesting things for fans, whether it is unique competition or unique events, or things that are around the sport that continue to build interest and enable fans to engage more?”
