In May 2022, New York mayor Eric Adams asked Formula One owners Liberty Media to hold a race in New York, specifically on Randalls and Wards Islands. Adams’ proposal was rejected. The news might have come as a shock for race fans in the northeast, as the United States had been enjoying a love affair with F1 at the time, a relationship that’s only grown stronger since.
“Vegas, Miami, and New York”
To put that latter statement into context, Formula One Group CEO Stefano Domenicali announced that his racing product was no longer “competing with other sports with four wheels” in October 2024. The Italian boss pointed to sport-adjacent “movies”, presumably like Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive (2019) as a cause of F1’s popularity in the States.
A 2022 Statista survey quantified Drive to Survive’s influence – 30% of respondents claimed the show was why they’d become a fan. Around the same time, The New Yorker ran a piece about the Mercedes F1 Team. This gradual slide into the public consciousness has also brought other motorsports along for the ride (with one major exception, as we’ll see later). Karting, which simulates the smallest of race vehicles, found a place among the Paddy Power online slots as Hyper Karts. This pocket-sized game features five Karts with an associated pot awarding players when a Kart appears on the reels. Overall, these experiences connect fans who don’t watch the sport to on-track racing.
The F1-New York saga didn’t end with the Adams snub. A year later, the wind changed and Liberty Media suddenly wanted a race in the Big Apple. “Vegas, Miami, and New York”, F1 chairman Chase Casey said, in December 2023, describing his company’s original plans for races in the States. Miami got its Grand Prix in May 2022, a hyper-luxurious event with colossal ticket prices. Eventual attendees Business Insider estimated $2,300 for a family of four.
Central Park
So, what’s the problem in New York? The state has its racetracks. Watkins Glen International is native to the Finger Lakes region but, unfortunately, it can serve as a reminder of F1’s newfound dominance in the US.
Watkins Glen is dedicated to IndyCar, Trans-Am, and NASCAR, which owns the circuit. However, the latter’s decline after the financial crisis of 2008-10 (the Harvard Crimson newspaper traces NASCAR’s troubles back to 2005) has yet to be fully arrested. Off-track in-fighting and, again, the popularity of F1 media has put the brakes on NASCAR’s growth.
The big problem in the Big Apple is that Liberty Media would want an F1 race in Central Park, which may be impossible. This 843-acre park is a protected space not currently zoned for development. It’s also a magnet for tourists. While it generates little revenue on its own, the “Central Park Effect”, to quote a contractor for Central Park Conservancy, means that anything sitting nearby can count on its gravity to turn a profit.
Right-angle Streets
In brief, Liberty Media wants an urban race just like the one in Las Vegas but New York’s right-angle streets don’t provide much entertainment. Just ask anybody who has driven there. The financial impact of closing central New York and/or Central Park could be devastating, especially if any prospective race doesn’t live up to Las Vegas or Miami’s examples or even that of the original American F1 event in Austin, Texas. New York would be the USA’s fourth race if it ever gets greenlit.
New York will probably get a place on the F1 calendar (Watkins Glen hosted F1 between 1961 and 1980) – but nobody seems to know how the city will manage it just yet. In the meantime, the British Formula 4 2026 calendar features several high-profile American entries so it might be worthing tuning in to that.
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