Chase Carey insists the plan to bring in an extra Grand Prix in the United States of America is not an indication that Formula 1 is turning it’s back on its European roots.
Talks are underway to bring a second race to the United States, with a street race around Miami being touted as early as 2019 to join the event around the Circuit of the Americas as Liberty Media look to grow the sport in North America and in Asia.
However, Formula 1 Chairman Carey says Europe will always be the foundation and home of the sport, and he is keen to keep the traditional races on the calendar for the long term.
“We have been very clear from probably the day we came in about our goals and ambitions to grow the sport in the US, and grow the sport also in Asia,” said Carey to Motorsport.com.
“We are very proud of the race we have in Texas, but we have talked about destination cities and I guess the three we have thrown out most often have been New York, Miami and Las Vegas. So it fits with what we have been talking about and saying.
“But to be clear, 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.”
However, as well as retaining the European base, Carey feels there is a lot of potential opportunities to expand the sport in other continents such as Asia and the United States, with him adding that a race in Miami would be great addition to the Formula 1 calendar.
“This is a strong sport in Europe, but we believe there are opportunities to grow the sport in places like in China and the US, the two biggest media economies in the world,” said Carey.
“We have announced some initiatives in China recently when we were there in Shanghai and have taken some steps to do that. We are likewise looking to do that in the US.
“There are obviously steps we have to go through, we are engaged with other cities in the US, but we think Miami would be a wonderful city to host a race.
“We are working through the process to determine if that is something we can put together with the city in a way that works for both of us.”
