Briatore reveals failed Trump-backed F1 GP bid

Flavio Briatore says a Formula 1 push into New Jersey with Donald Trump and Bernie Ecclestone fell apart because the sport still carried too little weight in the United States and the project no longer made economic sense.

Speaking in The Race Business’s “In Conversation With…” series with Darren Cox, Briatore said he helped set up talks between Trump and Ecclestone as F1 searched for a race site close to New York. “New York is very difficult for a million reasons, but Jersey was the place,” Briatore recalled Trump saying, adding that Ecclestone then negotiated in New Jersey with “two or three different people.”

The plan, though, ran into the same problem that had defined F1’s earlier attempts to establish itself in America. Briatore said Formula 1 “was not considered something special” at the time, in a market where NASCAR and IndyCar had far stronger standing. He also said the bid collapsed for financial reasons because Trump wanted to build the circuit, “went too far,” and later ended up bankrupt.

Briatore framed the failed New Jersey project as part of a much longer struggle for relevance in the U.S. He pointed to what he called “a ridiculous race in Phoenix without any spectators” and the Indianapolis era ending amid the Bridgestone-Michelin controversy. The summaries note that F1’s provisionally last U.S. race before its revival came in 2007, before the championship returned with Austin in 2012.

The New Jersey idea still progressed a long way. Formula 1 committed to a second American race under the Grand Prix of America name from 2013 on the Port Imperial street circuit, and the layout was promoted publicly when Sebastian Vettel and David Coulthard drove it in road cars for a Red Bull and Infiniti event. But the race was repeatedly postponed and never made the calendar in reality.

Briatore said that contrast with today’s market shows how much the sport’s position has changed since Liberty Media bought F1 in 2017. He said Miami now attracts “500,000 people,” while Austin and Las Vegas are full, adding that “every race is sold out” regardless of the weather. Briatore said the difference is commercial, arguing that Liberty “opened completely” the business and marketing side and has worked with teams “in a very good partnership,” helping turn the U.S. from a failed frontier into one of Formula 1’s strongest growth markets.