Punta Cana is a tourist area in the easternmost province of the Dominican Republic. It has been a popular tourist destination since the 1970s. There are more than 50 hotels in the area, all but a handful of them being owned by Europeans. The area is served by Punta Cana International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the Caribbean, with 3.7 million passengers a year. This was the world’s first private international airport, built in the 1980s to feed the tourist industry. Today there are 28,000 hotel rooms in the region, many of them high-end facilities. There are 12 professional golf courses and hotel occupancy rates are high. In recent months there have been rumours of attempts going on to boost the growth still further with a plan to build a Formula 1 circuit in the area. The current President Leonel Fernández has served three terms of office (1996-2000 and then 2004-2012). He cannot stand again but is supporting Danilo Medina, the official candidate of the ruling Dominican Liberation Party. His opposition is former president Hipolito Mejia, who ruled between 2000 and 2004. He is hoped that voters will pick him in order to have a change, but he is handicapped by memories of his term of office when there was a banking crisis and widespread corruption. Since those days the economy has boomed, with growth of nearly eight percent in 2010, although this has slowed in the last 18 months. Medina’s running mate is Fernandez’s wife, First Lady Margarita Cedeño de Fernandez. The word is that if elected Medina will bring F1 to the Dominican Republic in order to drive tourist growth, with private enterprise building a track and the government proving funding for the race fees.
The Dominican Republic is already the Caribbean’s largest tourist destination and tourism receipts have been growing steadily as more investment has gone into the sector. There has been one F1 demonstration run in teh country when Jaime Alguersuari drove a Red Bull onthe beach at Punta Cana in 2010.
The election takes place on May 20.
A race in the Caribbean would be perfect for F1 as plans develop to increase the sport’s impact in the American time zones. There are plans for races in Austin, New Jersey, Argentina and Mexico, in addition to the existing events in Canada and Brazil. We have also heard of a third US project, although no details are currently available. A Caribbean race would revive memories of the popular events in the 1950s and 1960s when there were regular races in Cuba and in the Bahamas, notably the Nassau Speed Weeks when European and American racers mixed to dispute a number of events in the pleasant Caribbean winter weather.
joeblogsf1 
Joe,
Having recently visited Trinidad and Tobago, I would like suggest that an F1 circuit be built there. It’s also Caribbean, and judging by the standard of how the locals drive, there are plenty of budding F1 drivers 😉
I think you may want to take a look at the financials of T&T. They are so bad, G.B. had to take over the country again. No planning, no real taxes, its a disaster of a place. The only thing that makes it look good is that almost all construction on the island is brand new.
Then Bernie would start working with Jack Warner there to make that happen and….well, just google Jack Warner and you’ll see why I’m not sure it would be a good idea. 😉
Quite an interesting suggestion. I just looked up the place in Google Maps, there seems to be lots of space to build a track, especially close to the main road 106.
Why not take things to a new level and build a floating circuit in the bay of a Marina? Now THAT would be something 😉
… something awful… no run-off areas, insignificant gradients, restricted space – just like Valencia.
Not a good precedent.
Who needs gravel traps when you can have sea traps?
Monaco. Already been tried.
Omg joe. I never considered the west indies but what a brilliant thing it would be if it happens. What an exciting area to be racing.
Hi Joe,
Im from the Dominican Republic and I am an avid fan of all things F1. I read your blog and many others daily, but I am really surprised by this. I know you’re well connected but here in the country nobody has talked about this, and I can tell you this: there is no F1 knowledge in the country, only a few people watch the sport, and as much as I would love F1 in my country I dont want it to be another Turkey/Shanghai/Bahrain with empty grandstands.
But I can tell you this, if there is will in the government they can do it, as they recently built a 3 billion dollar metro in the city, and they are currently building a second line. So I can imagine them building a 200-300million dollar circuit albeit against the will of the people, you have to remember this is a 3rd world country. I have traveled to Brazil (Sao Paulo) and it is heaven compared to Santo Domingo, so my other concern is the security of the F1 personnel
Anthony, of course Sao Paulo is safer than Dominican Republic. Cause you hang around Los Mina, Canta LaRana, or The Caliche… Sao Paulo is safer than those places, but if you go to Punta Cana, thats another world, is heaven in earth. I invite you to step up, and just get out of those places you hang out, that by the way, ill bet are safer than where you live.
Interesting news Joe, I’m a F1 fan from Dominican Republic and you have a very good insight about the current political situations, but ss much as I’d love that dream became true one day, I also think the money to fund the race could be e little bit too much.
Hi joe, i’m from dominican republic and i can tell you, it will be FANTASTIC for our country if an idea like that makes true. I’m imagine a lot of tourist coming to my country and that will help to increase our benefits for everybody. We invite you and all your readers to come to dominican republic and enjoy our beatifull places, like punta cana; as a lot of people say: You come and then you don’t want to go :). Regards
Dreadful idea. What’s in it for Ferrari, McLaren etc? How many races are feasible in the Western Hemisphere? Remember every new location will mean one of the existing races will disappear, not that it would bother me if Bahrain or Korea were dropped.
And as another poster remarked do we want to see another race held in front of empty stands?
Hello Im Alex Cuevas from DR. and a full F1 Supporter Fan. i wish this could be more than a dream . Ojala. Mr. Bernie E. make DR a place to consider! into this would changing F1
So it could well be feasible that by the end of the decade, we could go close to having an equal amount of races each in Europe, the Americas and Asia/Oceania, it’s amazing how quickly the power balance has changed.
An F1 race AND a Carribean resort environment in the same space is almost beyond comprehension.
It would be a struggle to make it to the track each day!
Is there no poor country’s pocket Bernie will not pick? Who will pay for all this and more importantly, who will benefit from this? Could the average local citizen afford a weekend ticket to the show? And spare us the trickle down economic benefit to the local populace.
I know your just reporting events, but I can’t believe you’d think this is “good” for the local residents, beyond being good for F1 and Bernie. Once again Bernie is taking advantage of an aspiring economy attempting to equate itself with the major countries of the world when nothing could be further from the truth.
Would be interesting to know when they would be looking at having a race in the Dominican Republic since hurricane season in DR runs from June 1 to Nov. 30? Can’t see them going there before June & would they really push the season into December just to hold a race there?
Any rumours about from where the money for the track would come from?
Is there an active motorsport scene in the DR? It seems like some of the newer F1 tracks gather dust most of the year.
What I remember from Punta Cana is that it turns step by step into a colony for wealthy Russians, so there should be no problem in creating a proper “entourage” for the F1 circus 😉
high end hotel rooms mostly, so it wont be for the average fan/tourist.
hope they explore the geography of the place and bring out an interesting track at least. interesting enough to replace Interlagos, of which I think will never be seen modernized – and then there are the beaches instead of polluted air and rivers.
Spanish driver Jaime Alguersauri was seen driving his F1 on the beach in Cap Cana near Punta Cana in 2010. Here is a video: a href=” http://puntacanatv.com/f1-on-juanillo-beach-cap-cana.html“<F1 on Beach video
There would be many options in the Dominican Republic. Samana also would be a great location.