FLOYD ON F1: Racing bug has bitten Uncle Sam

The United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) last weekend certainly did not disappoint.

It was an absolute nailbiter of a race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. The title battle, between Mercedes and Red Bull, was to suffer some pre-race issues due to the nature of the track’s surface.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes chief, announced the team had been forced to compromise performance as the car’s underside was suffering serious damage. He said. “Definitely a compromise for going faster on the track, but maybe a necessity to actually finish.”

Red Bull’s Christian Horner reported a “hairline crack” following qualifying on the rear wing of Max Verstappen’s car and decided to strengthen both cars.

He stated: “I don’t know whether Max hit something, as it was quite a crack and nothing on the other car or any of the other wings. We got permission just to beef it up a bit on both cars.

A wise move, as track-surface resultant damage led to one Alpha Tauri and both Alpines retiring.

The weekend apparently drew 400 000 spectators to the circuit and the sight of capacity  grandstands certainly encouraged the on-track protagonists. They gave the 140 000 race-day spectators real value for their money.

The down-to-the-wire finish and all the off-circuit entertainment has the international media lauding the event.

Many Americans have become fanatical F1 fans and the future is rosy, as cities across the country vie for a round of the championship. It was reported the governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak, had met with F1 leaders in Austin last week to discuss a Las Vegas GP in 2023.

I still have nightmares when thinking of the 1981 and 1982 F1 season finales in the respective parking lots of the Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Then there is talk of a return to the Indianapolis circuit, and the new addition for next year, Miami. This raised an interesting point as Miami mayor, Francis Suarez, was reported as being frustrated that the race would be in Miami Gardens and not in the city centre.

A confident Surarez stated: “Eventually we are going to have the race in the city. In the future, it will be like Monaco, with the race happening downtown. So everything starts now in one place and will end in the ideal place.”

Will this lead to more legal action? But Austin and the COTA are first in line, as Bobby Epstein, the man behind the US GP, wants to extend the contract.  In an interview with the New York Times he was reported as saying: “Anything that would stop the future momentum of the event would be potentially irreversibly detrimental.”

He continued: “Given that we start with that as a point of agreement, I’m fairly optimistic this will continue for a long time.” The premise boils down to a simple equation: money, money, money.