Miami GP president guidelines out risk of the occasion turning into an evening race, definitely so far as 2024 is worried.
Talking at this yr’s race, Miami Dolphins CEO, Tom Garfinkel admitted that talks had been held with F1 over the opportunity of the race being held at night time.
Nevertheless, talking in Belgium final week, Miami GP president, Tyler Epp, whereas revealing that organizers of different night time races, together with Singapore and Las Vegas, had been “very useful”, admitted that subsequent yr’s occasion will as soon as once more be held through the day.
“We’ talked about ‘Might we do that, does this make sense?'” Epp tells The Athletic. “We did not actually get too deep into the evaluation as a result of in some unspecified time in the future, it is, why are you doing it? Like, let’s make sure that there is a justifiable motive.
“It is most unlikely we might do it for 2024,” he provides. “We are going to proceed to guage. We’re all the time methods to make the expertise higher.
“If we get to the place the place System 1 says this actually does work for us from a broadcast perspective, and this makes plenty of sense, definitely we’ll check out it.”
Liberty Media’s ‘have your cake and eat it’ method not solely implies that the forthcoming Las Vegas race is to be held at night time, however for the primary time in nearly forty years the Grand Prix will happen on a Saturday, thus making certain that the all-important TV viewing figures in what stays the game’s heartland, Europe, aren’t compromised.
Whereas followers in Europe will be capable to watch the Las Vegas over Sunday breakfast, an evening time race in Miami would see followers having to get out of their beds at round 03:00.
F1 at the moment has 4 night time races – Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar and Las Vegas – whereas Bahrain and Abu Dhabi are held at sundown, nevertheless, for now Epp is totally focussed on constructing an identification for the Miami occasion.
“Miami is our model,” he says, “and we attempt to deliver that out with the circuit. Vegas might be an evening race as properly. Singapore definitely has their spot on the calendar. I am unable to let you know what their selections are and why they’re. For us, we’re fairly dedicated to being Miami, day or night time.”
One factor Epp admits to not actively pursuing nevertheless is the chance to host a Dash, feeling that the normal race weekend, with the build-up to qualifying on Saturday, being fashionable with the Miami viewers.
“We’re all the time focused on a dash race,” he says. “However I might additionally let you know that qualifying was actually beneficial for us. We see plenty of worth within the qualification expertise in F1. There are a ton of our followers who’ve given us nice suggestions about conventional qualifying.
“We’re right here to help, and if we now have a chance to host a dash race in some unspecified time in the future, we’ll welcome that. But it surely’s not one thing we’re actively pursuing.”
