Flavio Briatore has revealed he enlisted Donald Trump in a bid to bring Formula 1 to the east coast of the United States. The Alpine team boss told The Race that Trump, whom he knew from hosting separate international versions of The Apprentice, was involved in the plan for a New Jersey race.
F1 had just returned to the US in 2012 with the United States Grand Prix at a purpose-built circuit in Austin, Texas. Under Bernie Ecclestone, a second American race in New Jersey was seriously explored. Its debut was initially pencilled in for the following year, and Red Bull completed a showrun on the site of the proposed waterfront circuit, chosen to take advantage of the Manhattan skyline.
Trump's pitch for New Jersey
"Donald had no idea as well about Formula 1 – but he's a great promoter," Briatore told The Race. "At the time he promoted boxing, he promoted everything in Vegas... And I made Donald talk with Bernie. I was in the office of Donald. We put in [a] video with Bernie to [find], what was the best place in New York to do the race."
The proposed race would have had the Manhattan skyline in the background, but it never happened. A second attempt to stage it in 2014 also fell through, and the project was eventually abandoned. This was long before Trump became US president. Briatore had spent years out of F1 after being banned for his role in the 2008 'Crashgate' scandal, before successfully challenging that punishment in court.
Despite the hurdles, the project came close after Trump pitched New Jersey as the host state rather than New York.
Why the New Jersey race collapsed
"Donald [told] us New York is very difficult for a million reasons, but New Jersey was the place, so Bernie started negotiating Jersey with two or three different people. But we never succeeded, because Formula 1 was not… considered something special. You talk about… NASCAR, you talk about IndyCar, completely different business. And Formula 1 was not [valued] at all," Briatore added.
While the New Jersey plan failed, F1 has since launched two more US events, in Miami and Las Vegas. The Miami race has been a financial success, while Las Vegas has had teething problems, with F1 investing heavily to make it the sport's modern-day flagship event.
F1's changing standing in America
Briatore reflected on the sport's transformation: "Now, you go to America, you go to Miami, 500,000 people [attend]. You go to Austin, full, you go to Vegas. You see, Formula 1 is changing dramatically. You see, every race is sold out, sold out, raining [or] not raining."
He added that Liberty Media, which bought the commercial rights in 2017, is much more open than Ecclestone's restrictive approach, and works in partnership with the team. Marketing has opened up completely, he said.
