F1 boss reveals joint plans with Donald Trump to host grand prix race

Donald Trump shouts in the McLaren garage at the 2024 Miami GP — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 boss reveals joint plans with Donald Trump to host grand prix race

This would have been quite something, Flavio Briatore and Donald Trump teaming up

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Saturday 1 August 2026 17:30

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F1 today is a regular visitor to the US, but that wasn't always the case, and the sport tried to use help from Donald Trump to get a race on in the 2010s, according to Flavio Briatore.

The 2026 F1 season visits the country on three occasions, with the Miami Grand Prix taking place earlier this year, the United States Grand Prix at Austin scheduled for October, and the glitz and glamour of the Las Vegas GP coming up in November.

Since mass media corporation Liberty Media became F1 rights holders back in 2017, growth in US markets has been a key focus, and the surge in TV viewership this year in the US through a partnership with Apple TV is yet more proof of that, while the Miami GP drew in over 250,000 spectators earlier this year.

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But now, Alpine F1 boss Briatore has taken us back to a time when F1 interest in the US was not high, and the sport struggled to find a venue for a stateside race.

An F1 world championship US race was first held in 1959, and since then the United States Grand Prix - separate to the Miami, Las Vegas and Caesars Palace events that have come since then - has had six venues, and it was only in 2012 that the Circuit of the Americas became the secure home of the race.

Following the end of Indianapolis' deal with F1 back in 2007, the potential for a number of events came and went, including a 'Grand Prix of America' that was tipped to take place in New Jersey in 2014.

That event was the brainchild of Briatore and F1 CEO at the time Bernie Ecclestone, and Briatore has revealed that he even managed to get Trump involved, setting up conversations between the now President and Ecclestone.

The race was due to take place at Port Imperial, but never happened as Leo Hindery Jr, who was set to construct the track in New Jersey, was not able to secure enough financing to satisfy Ecclestone and F1.

Briatore has admitted that Ecclestone was 'very restrictive' in the way he ran F1, while Liberty Media, in his opinion, have opened up the doors, allowing the sport to take the US by storm in recent years.

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Flavio Briatore worked with Donald Trump to try and land an F1 grand prix in New York

Briatore, Ecclestone and Trump plot US race

Briatore began his staggering story by discussing the races in America which did occur, with Phoenix holding three events in the late 80s and early 90s, before Indianapolis hosted F1 in the early 2000s.

"I don't know if you remember, but for us, it was impossible to race in America," Briatore told The Race. "Bernie tried. We had one stupid race in Phoenix, with zero spectators.

"We had another one in Indianapolis, with a lot of trouble, you remember. We never raced, because it was between Bridgestone and Michelin, etc, etc.

"So, I tried, as well, with Donald Trump, to have the race in Jersey. And, we didn't succeed, because the guy who wanted to build the track went into bankruptcy. So, it was impossible.

"Now, you go to America, you go to Miami, 500,000 people. You go to Austin, full, you go to Vegas. You see, F1 is changing dramatically. You see, every race is sold out, raining, not raining.

"What has changed is really the commercial side. Liberty is much more open. Bernie was very strong, very restrictive in the business."

Briatore went on to talk about Trump's role in the promotion of the race that never was, before he became President of the US.

"Sure, Donald had no idea as well about F1," Briatore continued. "But he's a great promoter. At the time, he promoted boxing, he promoted everything in Vegas, etc, etc.

"And I made Donald to talk with Bernie. I was in the office of Donald. We put in video with Bernie to found what was the best place in New York to do the race. And Donald tell us New York is very difficult for a million reasons, but Jersey was the place.

"So Bernie started negotiating Jersey with two or three different people. But we never succeeded, because F1 was not... In America, before Liberty arrived, F1 really was not considered something special."

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Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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F1 Alpine United States Grand Prix Flavio Briatore Bernie Ecclestone