Brown: “Miami is not a threat to traditional Grand Prix races”

As the first Miami Grand Prix is about to begin in a few hours, and a Grand Prix in Las Vegas was announced for 2023 a month ago, the question of the future of more traditional circuits arises. When asked about the subject by Autosport, Zak Brown believes that these new types of events are not a threat to the calendar’s staples.

« A threat to events like Monaco and Singapore? No. They have different geographies. They are all different races. » claims Brown.

« I think Miami will raise the bar for everyone. Singapore is an incredible event. Monaco is an incredible event. Abu Dhabi is an incredible event. Australia had a full crowd in the stands this year. People recognize the Super Bowl as the biggest sporting event in the world, but Abu Dhabi had a better audience. Maybe the World Cup final is still the most important overall, but that’s for one day every four years. And we have 23 races, so 23 Super Bowls.

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While Stefano Domenicali was talking about extending the calendar, potentially up to 30 races, the executive director of McLaren disagrees. “I think there are demands coming from places like South Africa, and we can’t really do more than 23 Grand Prix in terms of logistics. […] Everyone feels that’s the maximum. So if you had 17 races, and there were five that rotated each year, you still have a calendar of 23 races and we maintain our economy where it is, which is important. We’re not increasing the frequency, but expanding the markets. There are many sports where they play every 2 or 4 years, right? We wouldn’t want to have a Grand Prix every four years, but I think every two years works.”