Sustainability has become a focus of Formula One in recent years. Rearranging the calendar has been a huge first step in this. Now, Miami and Montreal becoming a double-header is being proposed.
While most of the Formula One calendar has been changed in recent years to give us a clear European leg and more logical journeys, there have still been outliers.
Namely, the American races and Canada. There are three US races in Formula One and five in North America. The logic of sustainability dictates the US races should be done consecutively or at least broken up by races like Canada, Mexico or others in the region. However, that hasn’t happened.
Instead, the US races and Canada remain separated. Miami is in May, COTA is in October, Vegas is in November and Canada is in June. These breaks between races are a huge blow to the move towards reduced carbon emissions as more often than not there’s a US race followed by a European or Asian race before heading back to the States.
More recently, there have been discussions about having COTA and Vegas closer together. This idea has been criticised because of the fear that multiple US races back-to-back would negatively affect ticket prices.
However, a recent proposition has been a potential double-header from Miami to Canada. Canada currently disrupts the European leg of the Formula One calendar which makes it an inconveniently placed race. Hence the discussions around moving the Canadian Grand Prix to become a double-header with the Miami Grand Prix in May.
What are the actual chances?
The organisers of the Miami Grand Prix have been open about how they would be happy to join Canada as a double-header. However, they don’t and can’t move from their current dates, so Montreal will have to move to May. Tyler Epp, the Miami Grand Prix president told Autosport:
“We like being early on, the first US race and it juxtaposes nicely with what Vegas is doing later in the year. To be honest our date doesn’t have much movement given everything else we have going on.”
Unlike many of the races which are permanent tracks or street circuits that are fairly flexible. The Miami Dolphins stadium where the Grand Prix takes place, has a busy year surrounding the F1. They have the American Football season which doesn’t end until late January and they also host the tennis with the Miami Open.
This led to Epp admitting “I can’t see us moving the date because of everything else.” However, with the Canadian Grand Prix sitting on the 15th of June and inconveniently between the European races, Montreal can move.
He said, “One of the things that F1 does not get enough credit for is they let each promoter be distinct and unique. Going to a race in Miami is much different to going to a race in Montreal or Vegas. It is why people travel to different races.
“I will be honest and say when Vegas came on the calendar we were a bit worried about the luxury customer,” he admitted. “We were concerned about that, but we have not seen any negative ramifications of that.
Environmental goals
Formula One aims to reach Net Zero by 2030 and reducing unnecessary travel would help massively with this goal.
Tyler Epp showed that this is something organisers are happy to contribute to, “I think that is fantastic for the sport. I’m not scared of putting Montreal around Miami, especially if it meets some sustainability goals around the sport.”
It may take a while before any changes are implemented. However, it is clear the discussions are happening and the intentions to stick to the 2030 goal are there.
Feature Image Credit: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images, Haas Media Library