The 3 US F1 races will develop character and distinctiveness over time: Liberty Media CEO

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei claims the F1 three races in the US will develop their own character over time. The sport is all set to visit the US thrice this year, with races in Miami, Texas and Las Vegas.

Since Liberty Media entered the picture, the sport has gained tremendous popularity in the US, a market it had long been trying to break into. To supplement the official United States Grand Prix in Austin, the Miami Grand Prix was added to the calendar in 2022.

Now, in 2023, F1 will return to Las Vegas for a Saturday night primetime race on the strip, making it the second time in the history of the World Championship that a single country will host three races in a single calendar year.

It's worth noting that the Monza, Mugello, and Imola races in Italy in 2020 were not part of a planned expansion but rather a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, Maffei believes that each of the three races in the US will eventually establish their own unique selling points.

Speaking on a Liberty Media investor call, Maffei said about the F1 races:

"Each of them is going to have things that are unique and distinctive. The fan festivals at Austin, given where it is, and the spread it has are not going to be matched in either Miami or in Las Vegas.

"What Miami has - there's not going to be a beach - but Miami has a lot of things that are very distinctive as well, and then obviously those tracks have different forms, Miami is different from Austin, and then we're going to have a street and a night race."

Audi F1 aggressively recruiting from rival teams

According to reports, Audi's F1 team is aggressively seeking to recruit key technical personnel from rival teams, having already secured 50 experts, some of whom come from competing teams. The team aims to make a smooth transition to the top level of single-seater racing once the new engine regulations take effect in 2026.

However, Audi faces significant challenges due to its geographic location. Its headquarters are in Neuberg, Germany, while seven of the ten current F1 teams are based in the UK. This puts them at a disadvantage in terms of accessing most of the technical talent pool, which is concentrated in and around the UK.

Only Ferrari has a presence outside the UK while Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren are all based in the UK. However, CEO Adam Baker has expressed absolutely no concerns regarding the matter, claiming the team already has a strong foundation in place.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com, Baker said:

“Regarding recruitment, what we need to recognize is the Formula 1 project for Audi Sport here in Neuburg, it’s an important transformation project. This means we benefited from taking around 200 highly qualified staff over from within Audi Sport into Formula 1. So this is obviously a huge boost for our ramp-up phase."

It will be interesting to follow Audi's progress closely as they prepare for their entry into the sport in 2026.