US Grand Prix – F1’s Texan gamble pays off

Last weekend saw Formula One return to the United States of America for the first time since 2007, thus continuing the sport’s quest for a sustained presence in the world’s largest economy. The promoters of the race, held at the newly constructed Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, were hoping that their investment would start to pay pay off, for the previous nine venues to have hosted Formula One in the States have struggled.

The result was an inaugural event which exceeded everyone’s expectations, attracting capacity crowds and enjoyed the buzz created by the heady combination of a great race on an impressive circuit attended by some of America’s A list Hollywood stars.

For a nation whose appetite for motor sport is normally sated by Nascar’s blanket coverage augmented by top flight single seater racing provided by IndyCar, Formula One managed to resurrect itself successfully, and in a manner which bodes well for the future.

Putting aside the years when America’s Indy 500 could count towards the Formula One World Championship, F1’s road racing history started at Riverside, California, and Sebring, Florida, in 1959 and 1960 before enjoying a long period at Watkins Glen in upstate New York until 1980. Forays to Long Beach, Detroit, Dallas and even the car park of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas proved unsustainable, while Phoenix’s Grand Prix between 1989 and 1991 brought F1’s presence in the country to an end for almost a decade.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, that most hallowed of racing venues for American fans, bravely stepped up to the plate in 2000, and although it initially looked set to achieve the breakthrough Bernie Eccelstone and the teams had hoped for, attendances soon declined. The sheer farce of the 2005 event, when only 6 cars competed following the withdrawal of seven teams due to a problems with their Michelin tyres, did nothing to help. The inability of F1’s power-brokers to put on the show that day remains a blot on the collective memory of race fans. By the end of 2007 Indianapolis was unable to agree fresh terms, and the US Grand Prix once again bit the dust.

Such history does not augur well for COTA, but fortunately some fundamental aspects of this event are different. First of all it is a purpose built facility funded by core investors Red McCombs and Bobby Epstein. A 3.4 mile, 20-corner race track which features the latest in 21st century design philosophy, it produced a thrilling race on Sunday with Lewis Hamilton managing to overhaul runaway leader Sebastian Vettel. The headline writers had their Texas duel.

Introduced to Bernie Ecclestone by long standing associate Tavo Hellmund, the COTA investors acquired an 890 acre site, brought in F1 circuit guru Hermann Tilke to assist with the design, and according to the New York Times have spent USD$350 Million on its construction.

Although the project was launched in 2010, subsequent disputes between Hellmund and his investors appeared to threaten the development, but ultimately these were resolved and COTA was completed on time and given the all clear by the FIA. State-of-the-art is an overused term, but COTA ticks all the boxes and there were only positive reports from teams and media.

F1’s initial agreement with COTA is for a full decade of racing, and the owners of the track have been quick to capitalise on the success of attracting motor sport’s premier category. MotoGP has since been signed up to hold its first Texas motor cycle Grand Prix next year, while catagories as diverse as Australia’s V8 Supercars, the FIA’s World Endurance Championship and the American Le Mans Series have also added the venue to their 2013 calendars.

All this means that COTA’s owners are serious about ensuring their facility becomes a hub for world motor sport, with F1 as the jewel in its crown. Austin’s city officials have been fully supportive, along with Texas state, and feedback from the weekend was that the welcome received by the visiting circus has marked the event out as a season highlight. Attention to detail is important in securing favourable reports, and something as simple as a well-stocked media centre cafe resulted in smiling journalists happy with their lot.

If the international media was won over, the national media at least bothered to turn up and left impressed with what they had seen, but ultimately struggled to the give the race quite the headline coverage it deserved. Having the event on the same day as the final Nascar race of the season wasn’t the best timing, but F1 did get reported on even if the column inches were less than for a domestic ball game.

This was, therefore, an encouraging start. However, more than anything F1 needs the USA to produce a driver capable of racing at the sharp end of a sport that saw its last American World Champion way back in 1978 when Mario Andretti won for Team Lotus. In the 34 years since, American driver involvement in F1 has been both sparse and unspectacular.

I recall flying out of Phoenix the day after its final F1 event in March 1991 and reading in the local paper that the Grand Prix had attracted less than a third of the number of spectators who attended a llama race in northern Arizona on the same day. Yes, you read that correctly. Llamas were more popular than Ferrari’s Prancing Horse.

I also remember speaking to Tony George, then boss of Indianapolis Motor Speedy, back in 2000 and him saying how surprised they were that the trailer parks set aside for spectators were pretty well empty while the hotels were full within 100 miles of the race track. They were learning fast that the F1 spectators were not blue-collar Nascar fans sleeping in their RV’s, but international visitors flying in from Canada, Latin America, the East and West Coast.

COTA successful inaugural Grand Prix bodes well for the future, but the errors of the past will have to be kept in mind. The momentum of Sunday’s race needs to be maintained.

It will be over the 9 years that follow when the real test will come. A visiting World Championship is one thing, but for a nation renowned for its sporting patriotism and fervour, it is likely that the real step-change will only occur when F1 can find a home-grown American talent capable of duelling with the Vettels and Hamiltons.