SEBRING (1959) RIVERSIDE (1960) DALLAS (1984)
Sportscar calendar linchpin Sebring missed the spot when it hosted Formula 1 for what would be a one-off in 1959. Tickets sold for the title decider were barely half that of the famous 12-hour enduro. Organiser Alec Ulmann was also out of pocket after coughing up for the prize fund, so he decided to move the race to sunny California…
Ulmann again relied on a huge money pot to boost the appeal of Riverside. The 1960 season finale – the last round of the 2.5-litre era – also helped launch the career of local lad Dan Gurney, who qualified third. But having already lost both titles, Ferrari didn’t turn up. Neither did the fans or local media to watch Stirling Moss land his first world championship victory since his enormous Spa shunt.
Dallas was perhaps the worst destination F1 ever found in the USA. It held one GP only, famous for searing heat causing the decentenough street circuit to disintegrate, and for polesitter Nigel Mansell collapsing as he pushed his Lotus 95T over the line after its gearbox failed. Race promoter Dan Walker was locked up for financial misconduct, leaving the series in search of another location following Keke Rosberg’s famous win for Williams.
Aquarter of a million people pre-registered to buy the 80,000 available tickets for this weekend’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix. Little wonder they have since been trading for over $2000 – that’s 150% more than a grandstand seat at Austin’s Circuit of
The Americas, which attracted 400,000 spectators last year for the US GP. They are selling for nearly seven times the cost of entry to the Indianapolis 500, and eight times the fee to see the Daytona 500 – the blue-riband Indycar and NASCAR events that, last century, went a long way to capping Formula 1’s US appeal.
It’s the first time since Dallas and Detroit in 1984 that two American rounds have featured in a single F1 season. A night race on the iconic Las Vegas Strip will join the calendar in 2023. For that, in an extraordinary move, F1 and its owner Liberty Media will promote the race rather than hand responsibility to a local organiser.
The relationship between F1 and the US is far more interdependent than when ex-mclaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh declared ahead of the maiden Austin race in 2012:
“We have to remember, America doesn’t need F1.”now, it has an almost unquenchable thirst.
As the championship enjoys a global popularity boom, cracking the US market has been the flagship success story.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround under Liberty Media,
“TWO AMERICAN ROUNDS FEATURE IN AN F1 SEASON FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1984”
which agreed to buy F1 from CVC Capital in September 2016 for £3.3billion. The series now generates half that figure in revenue every year. If Liberty Media wanted to sell up, the value of F1 would be closer to £10.5billion.
The Colorado-based media conglomerate’s first order of business was to establish F1 on its home soil and with a new generation of fans who didn’t remember the 2005 United States GP aberration. Problem was, Liberty took control when all motorsport was suffering a low ebb in the US. ESPN didn’t renew its contract with NASCAR at the end of 2014, bringing its 30-year coverage to an end. It did similar with Indycar ahead of the 2019 campaign.