20 years ago the US was scene of F1’s darkest hour. Now it’s set to shake up the sport as we know it
It’s been two decades since one of the most consequential races in Formula 1 history.
Don’t expect the sport to mention it, though. Most would prefer to forget it.
Just 1635 kilometres northwest of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix lies the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Most famous for the annual Indy 500, one of the world’s great races, in 2005 it was the scene of Formula 1’s nadir in attempting to woo audiences in the United States.
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After decades looking for a permanent home, the world-famous Brickyard and its infield circuit finally looked like the perfect match. In 2005 more than 100,000 people were packed into the grandstands to witness the sixth grand prix at the circuit.
What they got was a farce.
Tyre supplier Michelin discovered its tyres couldn’t do more than 10 laps around the banked part of the circuit without failing. Michelin and its teams attempted to find a solution that would ensure the event could continue but was stonewalled by the FIA and the lack of unanimity among the teams, with Bridgestone-shod Ferrari refusing to engage.
When last-ditch meetings on Sunday morning came to nothing, the Michelin-shod cars lined up on the grid but withdrew from the race at the end of the formation lap, leaving just the six Bridgestone teams — Ferrari and backmarkers Jordan and Minardi — to complete one of the most embarrassing races in F1 history.
The crowd — kept in the dark throughout the morning and understandably outraged — walked out in disgust.
It was the beginning of the end of F1 at Indy, and after its contract with the track expired in 2007, Formula 1 left the Untied States altogether, its future in the country clouded.
On the 20-year anniversary of that sorry race, Formula 1’s US recovery has been nothing short of remarkable.
This weekend’s Miami Grand Prix is the first of three set down for the United States this year.
Formula 1 in North America is bigger than it’s ever been, with events in Canada and Mexico bumping the continent’s calendar representation to just above 20 per cent.
There are also bubbling rumours about further expansion in the United States after F1 trademarked names for grands prix in Chicago and New York.
But knowing how quickly it all blew up last time, is F1’s American age sustainable, and what does it mean for the rest of the grand prix world?
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NORTH AMERICA IS STILL UNDER-REPRESENTED
The United States is just one country, but it’s continental in size by population and by purchasing power.
Home to more than 340 million people, it’s just under half the size of the entire European continent on its own. It’s the biggest constituent part of North America, contributing more than half of the continent’s population.
Despite this, North America remains significant under-represented on the grand prix calendar relative to the Old Continent and even the Middle East, a relative newcomer to Formula 1.
Continental share of grands prix
Europe: 76 million people per grand prix
Middle East: 108 million people per grand prix (Arabian Peninsula: 25 million people per grand prix)
North America: 123 million people per grand prix (United States: 113 million people per grand prix)
South-East Asia (including Oceania): 374 million people per grand prix
South America: 438 million people per grand prix
Asia (excluding South-East Asia): 1.85 billion people per grand prix
Africa: no grands prix
Aside from the fact Asia and South America are even less well serviced — not to mention the total absence of Africa from the calendar — the United States alone can argue forcefully that it can justify its boosted allocation of races.
The three grands prix also pitch themselves to markedly different audiences, a strategy facilitated in part because they’re so geographically disparate.
The vibe of the Miami Grand Prix is totally different to the hardcore motorsport appeal of Austin, the only permanent US circuit on the calendar. Las Vegas is different again, with its late-night timeslot playing into the city’s reputation as a 24-hour playground.
There have been challenges, particularly with the newer Miami and Las Vegas events, both of which pitch their tickets to the very top of the market.
Miami arrived in time to capitalise on the fervent post-pandemic enthusiasm for the sport and sold out, though there are still tickets available for this weekend, the fourth running of the event.
The first year of the Vegas event was beset by poor ticket sales that resulted in deep cuts to prices in the week leading up to the race. This year the glitzy night-time race has made a song and dance about selling $50 single-day tickets — the cheapest ever sold to this race — while also offering flexible payment plans to help take the sting out of the upfront cost for pricier offerings.
But ticket prices aside, commercially Formula 1 is in rude health in the United States, with US sponsors flooding the market in the post-pandemic world.
“Three races [in the US] seems to me sufficient to me, but it’s 25 per cent of the world economy, so you could clearly have another race from an economic standpoint,” Jefferson Slack, Aston Martin managing director of commercial and marketing told Autosport.
American sponsorship is also rapidly increasing, having doubled since 2018, and the sport is anticipating Cadillac’s arrival next season, the first involvement of auto giant General Motors in Formula 1 and the second to be partially based in the US, after Haas.
For now it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which the United States hosts fewer than three races. But that means that the constantly evolving calendar will need to make room elsewhere to continue expanding in other regions.
MADRID FORCES F1 TO FACE SOME TOUGH QUESTIONS
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali insists that the calendar is full at 24 races, at least three of which are carved out for the United States.
Next year there are 25 scheduled, with F1 set to welcome Madrid into the rotation.
Organisers in the Spanish capital announced construction of the semi-street ‘Madring’ circuit late last week.
Comprising 5.4 kilometres and 22 corners — two more than originally planned for — the race will be contested over 57 laps and see cars reach a projected top speed of 340 kilometres per hour.
Madring organisers are billing the race as the only one hosted in a European capital city — though that’s true only if you exclude the Monaco and the Hungarian grands prix, the latter around 20 kilometres out of the Budapest city centre.
The event will take over the Spanish Grand Prix moniker, but the race currently known by that name — in Barcelona, scheduled for the first Sunday in June this year — is still contracted to run next year.
The task of fitting more than 24 races into a 24-race calendar has been under consideration for years at F1 headquarters, with the looming problem having long been obvious as new venues bid to host races.
“It is true that we have a large demand of new possible venues that want to come in, and our choice will always be balanced between the right economic benefits that we can have as a system and also to leverage the growth in the market that we can see — potential that will be beneficial for us to grow even further our business,” Domenicali told a Liberty Media investors call late last year.
By January that balance was clear.
The historic Belgian Grand Prix, having appeared on the very first championship calendar but having recently languished on short-term contracts, was awarded an extension through to the end of 2031, but Spa-Francorchamps will host races in only four of the deal’s six years.
In 2028 and 2030 a different race — yet to be announced — will take its slot on the calendar.
The Dutch Grand Prix was long considered the logical pair to Belgium — they’re less than 250 kilometres apart and draw from similar fan constituencies — but instead the Netherlands announced it would be tapping out of F1 altogether at the end of 2026.
Race organisers revealed the financial risk associated with F1’s skyrocketing sanctioning fees — coming off the back of the sport’s booming popularity — wasn’t worth a new deal, even after Domenicali raised the prospect of rotation.
Zandvoort was a highlight event on the calendar, but its departure eases a future headache for Formula 1 by having one less incumbent grand prix to fit into the line-up.
But that still doesn’t solve the 2026’s 25-race problem.
It’s put the spotlight on another old favourite: the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola.
Italy is the only country other than the United States — and, for at least next year, other than Spain — to host more than one race.
“It will be increasingly difficult to have two races in the same country because interest in F1 is growing, and it’s a situation we will have to deal with in the coming months,” Domenicali told RAI radio in Italy this month.
“It’s hard for this situation with Imola and Monza to continue together on the calendar for long.”
Imola’s contract is up at the end of the season, putting it directly in the firing line to make way for Madrid.
RACES ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK?
But Imola isn’t the only race up for renegotiation this year, and it’s one of seven venues out of contract before the end of next season.
Las Vegas is also at the end of its first deal, though city authorities have already approved plans for the Strip to be shut once a year until 2032, presaging an all-but-guaranteed extension into the next decade.
Mexico City is out of contract this year too but is hotly rumoured to have signed an extension lasting at least three more seasons, having revealed last year that it had been preparing itself for a future without Sergio Pérez on the grid.
Four races come out of contract next year: the grands prix of the Netherlands, the United States (Austin), Azerbaijan and Spain (Barcelona).
Dutch GP organisers have already confirmed they won’t continue beyond next season, while the United States Grand Prix in Austin is unlikely to be at any significant risk of rotation or axing given its important to the sport’s hold in North America.
Azerbaijan, meanwhile, reportedly pays one of the highest sanctioning fees in the sport for its spot on the calendar, but after post-pandemic wrangling it secured a contract extension lasting only three seasons — unusual in the context of F1’s preference for decade-long deals, perhaps standing it out as a candidate for future rotation.
Barcelona’s future has long been clouded given the recalcitrance to upgrade facilities and subsequent announcement of Madrid’s street track, but long-awaited works to modernise the three-decade-old circuit infrastructure started after last year’s race in a bid to save the track from the F1 scrap heap, with organisers tipping €50 million ($88.8 million) into reconstruction.
“For the avoidance of doubt and to clarify here, the fact we are in Madrid is not excluding the fact we could stay in Barcelona for the future,” Domenicali told the F1 website.
But with the Italian boss already having talked down the prospect of two races in Italy — and Imola is his personal home grand prix — Barcelona would surely only be extended on a rotating deal and would likely be missing from at least the 2027 calendar.
After that, there are only two race deals expiring before 2030, giving the sport little immediate wriggle room to expand.
F1 circuit contracts expiring
2025: Emilia-Romagna, Las Vegas, Mexico City
2026: Azerbaijan, Netherlands, Spain (Barcelona), United States (Austin)
2028: Singapore
2029: Japan
2030: Austria, Abu Dhabi, China, Sao Paulo, Saudi Arabia
2031: Belgium, Canada, Italy (Monza), Miami, Monaco
2032: Hungary, Qatar
2034: Great Britain
2036: Bahrain
2037: Australia
But immediate wriggle room is what F1 needs most.
Domenicali said last year there are as many as 35 venues interested in hosting a new grand prix, 11 of which he considers serious bids.
Formula 1 has since gone public over talks with Thailand about a grand prix in Bangkok, with 2028 targeted as a first race.
It’s not the only interested party in Asia. There have been long-running rumours about a revival of the South Korean Grand Prix — albeit in a different location — as well as renewed cracks at races in Malaysia and India. China has also expressed interest in hosting a second grand prix.
F1 has also been open about its determination to find a home in Africa, the only continent not represented in the world championship. South Africa and Rwanda have been competing to be the first to prepare viable bids.
And that’s all before potential further expansion in the US is considered, with those rumours about races in Chicago and New York shot down by F1 but refusing to go away.
Formula 1 has never been healthier than it is today, and it’s certainly never been in better shape in the United States.
But its booming popularity brings with it some tough decisions. Imola seems certain to make way for F1’s expansion.
Who’s next?