Lewis Hamilton backs multiple US Grands Prix despite calling for South Africa return

Hamilton, Mercedes, United States GP — Photo: © LAT Images

United States Grand Prix

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Hamilton backs multiple US Grands Prix despite calling for South Africa return

A third US race has been rumoured

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Thursday 21 October 2021 20:55 Updated: 16:43

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Lewis Hamilton has called for F1 to return to South Africa as rumours of a third US race joining the calendar continue ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix.

Miami will host its first race in May next year to add to the current event at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, since 2012.

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali revealed to holding talks over a return for Kyalami in September, before teasing "good news" would soon be announced when debating the new calendar for his column.

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Rumours have begun to surface over a third American race piquing interest for the sport, with Las Vegas one city named.

Asked if there were any countries not involved in F1 that he believed should be, Hamilton replied: "The place that I really feel, to my heart, is most important to me is to get a race back in South Africa.

"I think there is a great following out there and I think it would be great to highlight how beautiful the motherland is."

The seven-time champion also recognised the importance of hosting multiple American events and added: "The US Grand Prix is fantastic.

"It is such a huge country, having just one race here for sure is not enough to really tap into the sporting culture here and really encapsulate the fans and get them on a journey with us, I think definitely we need to have two.

"But there are so many great cities to have a grand prix. They are going to have one in Miami, it is going to be incredible, as is Austin. I don't know where they''ll have the next one.

"I think that is quite cool, having these kind of little mini championships in each continent, it is not a bad thing for the sport."

US F1 progress "huge" - Hamilton

Hamilton won the US Grand Prix on his first attempt when the race was held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2007 before the venue fell off the calendar at the end of the year.

With a hiatus from the schedule for the US until COTA welcomed F1 in 2012, the sport's popularity seemed to dwindle.

The Netflix 'Drive to Survive' series has, however, helped boost audiences Stateside and Hamilton remarked: "I think we already knew from the beginning that there was huge potential here.

"My first race in the US was in 2007. But I've already been to a NASCAR race, seeing how it is and to an NFL game, an NBA game, you see they are just crazy about sports over here and there is never enough sports, they always want more.

"The progress I have seen over these years has been huge. Of course, in these last couple of years, it has been the steepest rise and more and more people talking about it, more and more people engaging.

"The amount of emails and messages I have been getting from people I have known in the States but never knew what I was doing, are now hooked and can't wait to come.

"I think a lot of them are coming this weekend so I think that is only good. It is a good thing and it is great to see the response."