F1 offered new Grand Prix venue by New York mayor as Bernie Ecclestone’s old plan revived

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F1 chief Greg Maffei has revealed that Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, has offered Randalls and Wards Island as a potential venue for a Grand Prix. The sport has grown rapidly in the country following the emergence of Netflix’s Drive to Survive Series.

Maffei is the CEO of Liberty Media, which bought F1 in a bumper $4.6 billion (£3.44 billion) deal back in 2017. Since taking over, Liberty have looked to stage more races in America.

The American Grand Prix has been held in Texas since 2012, but the Miami Grand Prix was added this year and the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be part of the schedule next season. And Maffei has revealed there have been talks over a New York City Grand Prix.

Speaking at an event in New York earlier this week, Maffei revealed that Adams, who took office earlier this year, proposed Randalls and Wards Islands as a potential venue for a New York City Grand Prix. “The Eric Adams administration has reached out asking for one,” Maffei said.

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“I think that’s very difficult. Their proposal, Randalls Island, is probably not our perfect venue.

“You know, a lot of time and money was spent here 15-20 years ago [sic], including by Leo Hindery, one of my predecessors, trying to build one out over in Hoboken. I think the reality is street races in a place like New York are just very, very, very hard.

“Las Vegas is one of the few places in the United States you could probably get a street race done, it has a different mentality. New York is a wonderful venue, but it’s hard to see that they’re going to shut Central Park for us!”

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When Maffei was told many New Yorkers would love to see the city stage a Grand Prix, he was not optimistic about the chances of it happening. “I suspect there are a few other groups which might not, so probably a fight we don’t need to have,” he said.

Former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone initially attempted to bring a Grand Prix to New York City for the 2012 season but those plans were eventually abandoned. As Maffei mentioned, Hindery attempted to stage a race in New Jersey and the Grand Prix of America was provisionally added to the schedule for the 2014 season, before later being scrapped due to a lack of funding.

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