F1 Turns a Deaf Ear to Public Outcry With Plans Laid Out For 4th American Race – The Chicago Festival Grand Prix

F1 has already increased the number of races in the USA to three. Last year’s Las Vegas GP was a humongous success as the sport’s stakeholders Liberty Media had aimed it to be. Now they are reportedly looking to add a 4th American race. F1 gives the logic of the United States being a huge country, thus they want more races over there. However, fans certainly don’t like so many US races. The Las Vegas race faced a lot of public outcry before turning out to be a great addition to the calendar. Now this 4th venue that F1 is aiming at is reported to be Chicago.

There have been reports from various sources of Liberty Media and F1 registering new trademarks for a Chicago Grand Prix or Grand Prix of Chicago. As the applications for these registrations got leaked on social media, recent reports suggest they may get rejected.

Thus, if F1 is looking to have a race in Chicago, it may be called the North American Grand Prix or the Chicago Festival Grand Prix.

However, local authorities have expressed some reservations about an F1 race in Chicago. This includes two of the Aldermen of the city. These reservations come after the city hosted its first NASCAR race on a street track in Grant Park.

Chicago officials feel F1 is more expensive and complicated than NASCAR

Alderman Brian Hopkins and Brendan Reilly gave their insights on the challenges they may face to host F1 in Chicago. Hopkins cited that he believes F1 requires a “10-year minimum deal”. This “non-negotiable” aspect of hosting a Grand Prix may be difficult to agree upon.

Besides this, Brendan Reilly stated that they could either host F1 or NASCAR. He feels F1 circuits need to be longer and more organized with barriers, bumps, potholes, and manhole covers. This would be a steep ask for Chicago to fulfill properly

Reilly also commented on the expensive nature of F1 besides the track, “What we did with NASCAR, welding manhole covers and smoothing over potholes and calling it a track — that doesn’t work with F1. More complicated, thus higher price tag.”

The NASCAR track in Grant Park was a 3.5 km (2.2 mile) circuit with 90-degree corners and long straights. While 90-degree corners and long straights have become a normal theme in F1 street circuits now, the length of the track may be a concern. 3.5 km is the minimum length for a new modern F1 circuit to be eligible to host a race (Monaco is the only exception at 3.337 km).

Most of the current tracks on the F1 calendar are 4 to 5 kilometers (three to four miles long) on average. The three new tracks that announced long-term 10-year deals with F1 – Miami, Qatar, and Las Vegas are all above 5 km in length. So, besides the name trademark, circuit length and infrastructure may be a crucial parameter for F1 to overcome about Chicago.

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