Las Vegas Grand Prix fears addressed by Miami in ‘dangerous’ assumption

The arrival of the Las Vegas Grand Prix onto the F1 calendar doesn’t have the Miami GP organisers quivering in fear about their event’s future.

With the Formula 1-organised Las Vegas Grand Prix arriving on the F1 calendar in late 2023 and immediately producing a barnstorming race, the long-term future of the Miami GP was immediately pulled into scrutiny.

As the United States now hosts three races on the calendar, the risk of over-saturation – even with the races spread out over the country – means the huge success of Las Vegas and the ongoing popularity of Austin applies pressure on the still-new Miami event.

Tyler Epp: Great US racing can only help US F1 fandom

Speaking in an interview with Motorsport.com, Miami GP president Tyler Epp said he’s thrilled to have seen Las Vegas pull off a successful inaugural event and denied that its success is a cause for concern for the event he oversees on the east coast of the country.

“We talk about this a lot; to group all American F1 fans into one bucket is always dangerous, but we all like competition, and we all like drama,” he said.

“Gosh, the race in Vegas had both! Our race last May had a good bit of it as well.”

“So I think anytime we can get great racing on our soil only helps to cultivate that US F1 fan.”

Epp was full of praise for what had been pulled off in Las Vegas, highlighting the scale of the operation that was needed.

“I can’t say enough about the effort of Renee [Wilm, Las Vegas GP CEO] and her team,” Epp said.

“That was a herculean achievement. I think the promoter community is defensive for each other, we know what it’s like when mistakes get made and stories get told, so the job they did was outstanding.

“For us, as an America promoter, we believe in the rising tide of all ships, and we wanted that to be successful.

“We were there, supporting in any way that we could, but I think Renee and the team did everything they could to invest in the sport was absolutely on display by the time Saturday night rolled around.”

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Epp’s comments echo those of COTA’s Bobby Epstein, who said he sees the US rounds as complementary to each other.

“I think we saw that last year with the massive crowd that came that was a combination of additional exposure in the US, both from the Miami race, from Netflix, and from what we’ve done in the past,” he said.

“So I think the other races can work sort of as a commercial. They can be very complementary to what we’re doing, it’s great to see the race on in the spring in Miami, or in May, because it allows us to just get the attention of the US viewer.

“But at this point in the world, as global as I think all of our wired environments are, it’s much easier to follow a global sport today than it was even five and 10 years ago.

“So Miami’s complementary, it’s truly just the ability to follow the sport has become a lot easier in the US.”

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