F1 News: Formula 1 Might Be Headed to Sin City
Stefano Domenicali, the current CEO of Formula 1, has given us insight into the future of what the F1 calendar will look like, and it looks as though Las Vegas could be joing up to 30 locations in a season.
2022 brings an F1 record as it travels to 23 Grand Prix across the season. And now, with the success of Drive to Survive and with the F1 becoming so popular in countries like the United States, huge growth is on the horizon for the sport.
Now the CEO has confirmed that they’re looking into Las Vegas as a potential location for a Grand Prix and has even tagged somewhere in Africa and China as potential stops for the drivers. Currently the sport is limited to 24 races a season as per the Concorde Agreement, but this agreement runs out in 2025.
“I think there is potential to go to 24,” Domenicali told Sky Sports.
“I would say there is potential to go to 30! In terms of the interest we see all around the world.
“It is up to us to try to find the right balance considering what are the venues which would like to be in F1, what are the historical values we need to see on the calendar.
“We need to be balanced, we need to see what are the other opportunities. And very soon we are going to tell everyone what is our strategy to develop that market.
“Not only Las Vegas, there are other cities that are interested in Formula 1. On top of America, on top of China, I think there is a potential also to be in Africa soon. There is a lot of interest there. For sure that’s another area that so far is missing in the geography of our calendar.”
South Africa has previously hosted a race during 1993 at Kyalami circuit in Gauteng. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has shown his interest in racing there. This year, F1 will visit Miami where a track his been built specifically for the sport around the Hard Rock Stadium.
The season isn’t the only thing that could be growing. It’s also possible that more teams will be added to the grid after Domenicali has heard that there are several groups interested to join such as Michael Andretti and his team.
“There’s not only Michael Andretti,” revealed Domenicali. “He is maybe the most vocal one, but we have more than four or five requests to consider an extra team to be a part of Formula 1.
“I have to be very honest, today F1 with 10 teams, with the competition on the track, is very, very solid. There’s complexities that need to be considered if other teams can be added.
“Therefore I don’t think it’s the most important element to grow F1, to be honest.”
