chris walrod

I couldnt have said it better^^^

I vote for the Grand Prix of Buttonwillow!! Just think of all the lush hotels that would be built...

Nordschleife

this kind of attitude will send F1 away from the US

Look - the Gulf States want more races, Singapore does, India does, Russia does, and these countries are prepared to build decent circuits.

My view of Indianapolis is that its a **** hole place without a decent restaurant or hotel, not well suited to F1 racing and only enjoyed by the mechanics becaue it is cheap, full of girly bars, cheap beer and MechaniX gloves. Now this is about the only thing I'd agree with Eccleston or Mosley on, why cart a 1000 tons of kit to a place like that when you can be sitting on the waterfront in LA, which has much better girly bars, restaurants and hotels?

On the other hand F1 is very low rent, perhaps Indianapolis IS the perfect place after all.

R+C

TheOtherEric

I'm flattered that Bernie cares about my attitude.

And from a business perspective, I find it highly unlikely F1 would abandon the U.S. altogether. Would seem rather foolish.

JimmiLew

Panoz had developed Road Atlanta to be FIA compliant in hopes of hosting an F1 Race. Wouldnt an F1 Race at Road Atlanta be just amazing?

Also, Atlanta as a city has all the infrastructure to support any world class event, inlcuding F1. My vote goes for Road Atlanta!

JL

jsabatini

+1 for Road Atlanta

But what about seating for 100k plus spectators? Bleachers on the hill overlooking turn 5?

M758

F1 is not a normal racing event.

Where F1 choses to race is not driven by what is the best/most interesting track layout, but by money.

How much Bernie can get, how much money the track owner is willing put in to make the team/vip facillities fancy, and how much money is around to support the F1 image.

Montreal works because it is a rather european cosmopolitan type city. Indy ONLY works becuase Tony is willing to fork over large sums of cash. I mean no disrespect to Indy locals, but the area is a a bit "redneck" for F1. F1 fans stick out like a sore them in that town, but NASCAR or 500 fans blend in nicely. (I have been there 6 of 7 years)

So right now Bernie is just trying to get as much from Tony as he can. Tony George love F1 because it stokes his ego. In many ways Bernie and Tony are made for each other.

As for other locations. Well is there a track owner or group of investors willing to fork over hugh sums to money to get F1 in the US? Really forget about the fans and track layout. Think all about the money.

I rememberd reading something in F1 magazine that Bernie wanted to hold a GP at Paul Ricard in France. This is a test track with next to no grandstands or Fan amentires. Bernie did not care since he could just show it on TV. The reality is Bernie IS as crazy as he looks.

multi21

Everyone brings up great points. My personal vote would be Buttonwillow as the Willow Ranch BBQ and Motel 6 could serve as FIA headquarters for GP weekend

Laguna Seca would be great, but not enough rooms in the area. With the glitz and glamour of F1, a Las Vegas street course would be perfect, but Vegas doesn't need F1 to make money and wouldn't bend over for Bernie.

LA, Miami would be great, but it would have to be a street course. There's no real option at this point other than Indy for the USGP.

I've been to Indy 4 times for the race and no offense to the locals, but there is nothing to do away from the track. Restaurants and hotels are so so. I've talked to the locals who don't want F1 there because "they're a bunch of whiny snobs that complain about everything and put the blame on us" (a real quote).

doyle

The answer is that there are no other dedicated circuits in the US that are really viable as-is for F1. The obvious location is a street race in New York City, from what I understand is Bernie's #1 choice followed by street races in Las Vegas or LA.

hacker-pschorr

Safety wise Road America is an FIA track. Problem is they don't have the garages or hotel rooms to support F1 coming to town. Not to mention the sanctioning fees for an F1 race is just a bit higher than any other series that visits Wisconsin.

paradisenb

+2 for Road Atlanta.
Mostly because I want it in my back yard. Bleachers could be placed throughout the infield giving views of T5, T6, T7, T10 and the back straight no problem. Parking is available at the track, across the street and shuttles could be used. Lets go!!!

Rick964

What about California Speedway? Good track, close to LA. Could work.

chas911

VIR if the town could handle the crowds.

Charlie

smlporsche

I would love to see VIR considered but there are virtually no stands and as you pointed out the town would have a hard time handeling the crowd.

racer

FIA standards and $$ solve any problem.

Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Dallas, Detroit, Phoenix have all hosted F1 events and I imagine I am missing some.

Nowadays, the circuits (think Bahrain, Sepand etc) are multi Billion dollar adventures. F1 going to Road Atlanta, Road America, Laguna etc.. might as well go back to WG or Mid-ohio - the facilities just aren't "there".

Given F1s international flair and desire to grow the sport, I am in fact suprised the US even has an F1 venue but I am sure glad we have been able to host an event for the past 7 years.

cooleyjb

There just aren't any road courses in the US that have the track facilities that F1 would demand and none of the track management groups are going to dump the money into having those facilities built. If they did, I'm sure they could lure some f1 races but noone wants to spend millions for just one race series.

As for having it in a major metropolitan area as a street circuit, I hope not. Street circuits SUCK. Monaco is cool because of history but coursewise one driver put it, "it's like riding a bicycle in a closet"