Formula 1 calendars are complicated animals, trying to satisfy people with conflicting demands. The F1 teams want to pair races and save money (and reduce the human damage of travel), while the race promoters want to have their own space, without having to compete with other races for customers. They also have specific demands to either include holiday weekends, or to avoid them – depending on the holiday. There is also the question of other sporting events that are best avoided, which is why in 2018 we have a triple-header, because it is the only way to avoid the FIFA World Cup.
In the old days this did not matter so much, but today people are more mobile and you need bigger distances between races to avoid overlaps. This is why Bobby Epstein of the Circuit of the Americas in Austin is saying that he wants the Mexican Grand Prix moved to give the United States Grand Prix a bit more space. Epstein argues that if the two races were more spread out, more people might attend both and sponsors might activate more at each event, rather than having to choose between the two. It is a fair point. There are 1000 miles between the two Grands Prix, but that is only two and a half hours in a plane.
Epstein says that Mexico should be twinned with Montreal in June. That would mean 3,000 miles between venues, or six hours flying, the same sort of gap as between the ongoing Malaysia-Japan back-to-back. This could be managed fairly easily. A race in June in Mexico City would mean hotter temperatures and much more rainfall than in October.
But, the Mexicans want to have their race tied to the Día de los Muertos holiday weekend, which means it attracts more spectators. The irony is that it might be more sensible to move Austin to be twinned with Montreal. The US Grand Prix is not linked to any particular national holiday, there is 1,600 miles between Montreal and Austin, about three and a half hours flying. Temperatures in June in Texas are higher than in October, but not excessively so, although there is more rain at that time of year. When you add in the fact that the Austin race currently takes place in the NFL season, which runs from early September until the Super Bowl in February, the current date is not as logical as it might seem. The NFL is the 800-pound gorilla of the US sporting world and if you want people to watch your show on TV, it is best not to go up against them. This is why the IndyCar seasons now stops in mid-September. This year, for example, there are more than a dozen NFL games on the same day as the United States Grand Prix, including the Dallas Cowboys playing the San Francisco 49ers, which kicks off in California at 1pm, so is a direct clash with the Grand Prix in Austin. Luckily, the Houston Texans have the weekend off.
However, if the race was held in June, there would be no NFL problem… and race could even be tied to the Solstice Festival, when Austin host concerts at multiple venues.
Sometimes what we wish for is not what we really want. I’ve been hanging out in low places for long enough to know Garth Brooks, and I think his advice in these matters is worth listening to (even if he does come from Oklahoma):
“Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the Man Upstairs
that just because he doesn’t answer, doesn’t mean he don’t care.
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.”
joeblogsf1 
Plus moving to summer instead of fall avoids conflicts with University of Texas and its football game weekends. To some degree a bigger deal than NFL. Especially after the brouhaha over the national anthem.
Aaah. I’d wondered for some time why Indycar only ran a half season these days. That explains it!
But IndyCar also has global fans like me, for whom the NFL means nothing. IndyCar could have some international races during the NFL season and make it a true championship!
Joe well back in the day 10-13 years ago Montreal was paired with Indianapolis when F1 went there so having USA and Canada one after the other wouldn’t be a new thing. I’ve never understood why Austin has held that GP in October/November. Summer would be so much better.
The argument agains the summer is that in the summer it can get really hot in Austin (although June might still be fine) Stephen
”I’ve never understood why Austin has held that GP in October/November. Summer would be so much better.” – How on earth would the summer be so much better for Austin with the temperatures being unpleasantly hot especially in July and August, and even in June they can get unpleasantly high, so moving to that time of year wouldn’t really be worth it.
I lived in Toronto that time, and would go to both Montreal and Indianapolis for the Grand Prix. Happy times! 🙂
You’ve obviously not been in Texas in August!
Expecting fans to sit out all day in that heat is not going to be a popular option.
I’ve not been in June but I suspect by early July most Texans spend most of their days in doors
So nice of you to quote those poetic verses Joe. It really impresses me, because those verses have so much in-depth meaning!
While pairing the US and Canadian GPS, wouldn’t it also make more sense to pair the Mexican and Brazilian/Argentinian GPS?
Logistically, it always seems bizarre that the Brazilian GP is a standalone race considering the distance. How much would that GP be affected if moved slightly earlier?
It would make zero difference whether the Mexican GP took place at a different time of year than the US GP or at the same time as it has been so far. First of all the distance between Austin and Mexico City is a massive 1,213.62 km by air which is greater than the distance between Spa and Monza, for example, and also greater than the distance between Hockenheim and Hungaroring, but no one is complaining about the scheduling of those races. Furthermore, it’s more or less the same as the distance between Montreal and Indianapolis that were scheduled subsequently from 2004 to 2007, but no one complained. But regardless of the travelling distance, as long as the Mexicans have their own race they will always go to that instead regardless of the scheduling of this and the US GP. The only way Austin could achieve the same amount of Mexican attendees as before 2015 is if Mexico would lose its race altogether again, but until that happens, the situation won’t change even if you did move Mexico to a different time of year or vice versa. The return of the Mexican GP alone meant that Austin would lose attendees from that country regardless of the scheduling of these two races. Also, it wouldn’t be the best idea to put the Mexican GP after Canada as it’s rainy at that time of year. Moving Austin to June would be a bit too risky temperature-wise as it can get unpleasantly hot at that time of year, so wouldn’t really be worth it.
“…the distance between Austin and Mexico City is a massive 1,213.62 km by air which is greater than the distance between Spa and Monza…”
The problem here is one of catchment area, not just distance between the events.
Consider how far an F1 fan needs to travel to get to the events.
Within a 300 miles radius of Spa – a drive no-one would baulk at – you’ve got all of Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg and Switzerland, half of France including Paris, a goodly chunk of Germany with all the major cities except Berlin, and the bottom-right corner of England – including London. You’ve also got beautiful countryside to drive through.
For Austin, you’ve got Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio… and a lot of empty desert.
So everyone else has to fly.
Now, it’s true that Americans think nothing of flying back-and-forth between their major cities, and have an infrastructure in place to make this simple and convenient. Barely anyone – despite all the road-trip movies – realistically considers driving between, say, Austin and Denver.
However, the airlines make it next-to-impossible to buy a round trip like Denver-Austin-Mexico City-Denver, especially if you’re going to take 10 days to do it.
So, while a Parisian F1 fan could drive to both Spa and Monza, taking a tent, food and beer, a Denver-ite is looking at return flights plus hotel and meals (at inflated F1-weekend rates) for both weekends… and will probably choose to go to just one.
So, *that’s* why the promoters want to split the races.
I think the number of fans in Europe is way bigger. So it could help.
Maybe some people who attend Mexico could save up because of the bigger time frame and attend both? Rationally that doesn’t make sense but people aren’t rational about money.
In a typical June, Austin is a helluva lot hotter than Mexico City… (but you’re right about the rain)…
Ah, Garth Brooks – the old time sage of F1..
“I got friends in low places”
Must be a pal of Flav and others of the piranha Club…
😅😅
To some extent, I do have some sympathy for the race organisers. Trying to reach an arrangement between so many conflicting interests is like trying to juggle sand.
I think they should do the 3 North American races (or more if they can get an east and west coast race) together in a mini North American championship. – Thus we split the season into 4 parts: –
1. Australasia & Asia – Aus, Bahrain, China
2. Europe and the Caucasus – ESP/Cat, Azer, Mon, Rus, Fra, Aust, GB, Ger, Hun, Bel, Ita
Then take the August break. This gives the teams chance to ship the transporters and motorhomes from Europe to Montreal, then from the end of August we get:-
3. Can, USA 1, USA 2, Mexico, USA 3 – And if it is still in the championship it should then be spring in Brazil
4. Finish the season with: Asia – Singapore, Japan, China 2/Vietnam, UAE
It also gives the option for 3 mini Championships:-
AsiaPac Champion
Americas Champion
European Champion
It might also allow young / development drivers to split their time in the cars into the 3 championships.
I’m sure they’ll be climatic reasons the season cannot work like that but surely it is easier for the teams and none of the America races will be that close? Surely the real issue is the proximity of Montreal to New York if they put a race there.
Mind you … the Austrians, Hungarians and Italians don’t complain about the closeness of their tracks …
That’s an interesting idea, the key with the US/Americas would be to time the races such that they lead the sports coverage on the weekend they occur – which as Joe suggests is going to be difficult and require careful consideration.
Certainly the current timing of the Austin race slap bang in the middle of the NFL season doesn’t help, nor does the Mexican race in close proximity.
Interesting point. Back in the day when South Africa was run by the racist Nazi-light Nationalists no sport was allowed on Sunday, so the South African Grand Prix used to be held on a Saturday afternoon. This was so the dominee could have his bottle of branewyn in peace on a Sunday to liven himself up for his hell and damnation sermon.
The GP weekend could be jigged around where Friday could be FP1 and FP2, perhaps an evening FP3 to capture the imagination of the public. Then Saturday is Qualifying and the race. Timing to avoid the things Joe mentions, so it could be early afternoon, late afternoon or evening to suite all the other parameters.
The NFL… Depends on whether or not they can pull themselves out of the cesspool they jumped into. Not being an NFL fan, I don’t care. For those who are NFL fans, as opposed to those who were NFL fans…
Hm, but when the NFL is a prime concern, then it would make more sense to have the US “season” earlier in the year “Addmmanniw”.
Maybe we could even start in South America before going to Australia
100% agree with this idea.
Some of these races could also be over a weekend with no need for a Friday. In fact what is the point of Friday’s? Testing now is a lot less relevant and I’m sure if we lost the Friday it would have zero impact on the quality of the race on Sunday.
More races equals more dollar and thus the teams can employ more crew to cope with the demands.
@Jimbo – Scrapping Friday practice has come up before. I’m sure Haas would be in full agreement after last week’s incident. Good job it didn’t happen on Saturday! I’m sure FOM would be more than happy to reduce the fee they charge the circuits to cover the reduction in income they’d suffer.
/Thus we split the season into 4 parts/
I think that Liberty guys mentioned similar idea already.
Whilst travel is now very normal in Europe it is still more of a deal than in the US, and the country is also more relevant in Europe. It will be a very long time before we look upon ourselves as Europeans ! if ever !
I haven’t looked at the weather stats but would be surprised if Texas had a significantly different temperature than Malaysia and I imagine that October still has the possibility of a stray hurricane.
Richard is right, from what I understand, people can fly from the UK to dozens of European cities round trip (return) for under £100 while in the US such a thing just doesn’t exist, even when cities aren’t that far apart.
For Austin race this is not just the NFL they have to compete with, they have more importantly the college football season. Every year they would be avoiding a clash with University of Texas games.
For perspective, the university of Texas Austin stadium can host around 110 000 persons. It’s the second most valuable team in college football.
They are in a tough spot. I am really amazed that the event is still going on especially since Mexico is on the calendar. The first years a lot of spectators were doing the trip to Austin. Not so many anymore…
Another Austin potential tie-in and with appeal to a younger demographic might be with the South by Southwest Music Festival in March which could make it the season opener. Mind you, to add in Montreal in march Pirelli might have to make studded tyres! What is Mexico like in March?
Trying to tie it in with SXSW is totally daft. Hotels and AirBNB are nearly all booked up for that and while there might be some overlap at the top income levels, I don’t think the SXSW crowd is the ideal crossover.
SXSW already fills almost every available hotel at inflated rates. I attend the WEC races in September and the last two years temps were in the high 90’s F. June can be even hotter. I’d like to see an Austin/Montreal pairing in the fall. If you can avoid scheduling against local college football you should be OK. I don’t think the NFL TV crowd has much overlap with motorsport fans. But I’m from Oklahoma, so what do I know?
Books has a point even if it is expressed with a cloying homespun sentimentality.
I think of Robert Kubica in this context. The romantic in me is tempted by the fairy tale story of the hero conquering fate, but my more temperate self realizes that it is more likely to be, at best, a disappointment compared to what might have been and at worst, a soul crushing defeat for him.
Personally, my prayer would be to never hear country music again in this or any other lifetime. My prayer has not been answered. Apparently even God cannot stop the leviathan that is the American popular music business.
An June afternoon in the sun in Texas does not sound very appealing. Plus a lot of people on vacation in June and unable to watch a race. It’s why tv networks start their seasons in September and use the summer for re runs.
Joe, I think you out-promoted the promoter, your solution makes a lot more sense. That being said, that’s often the kiss of death for a solution involving multiple parties.
Any Austinites that I’ve ever conversed with about a race in the summer have been quite adamant that it’s simply too hot to be out in uncovered grandstands at midday.
ISTR the one, only and generally unlamented Dallas GP was the third consecutive weekend of the sequence Montreal-Detroit-Dallas, and was in July. The consensus among fans and teams alike was “it’s too bloody hot”, even the unmarried mechanics wanted to go home and the track disintegrated.
Used Canada not to be a late-season affair? I’ve a recollection of a photo of Gilles Villeneuve on the podium wrapped up in a thick parka to prevent himself from freezing to death. With an outsize bottle of beer (aka “Canadian sports drink”) instead of champagne.
Joe, will you be joining the American Honky-Tonk Bar Association when you are in Austin?