From 1991 to 2012, the United States of America had no Formula 1 race for 12 of those years. The only F1 event on the calendar during that time was from 2000 to 2007, when the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the United States Grand Prix on the road course.
Now, thanks to a recent interview with current Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore, new details have surfaced about a failed attempt to hold a Formula 1 grand prix in New Jersey in the gap between Indy’s last F1 event in 2007 and the first United States Grand Prix held at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, in 2012.
Briatore has rubbed shoulders with motorsports royalty during his four-plus decades in racing. He has also, as evidenced by his dating supermodels Naomi Campbell and Heidi Klum (with whom he had a kid, Leni), spent a lot of time interacting with celebrities.
One of those celebrities, who just so happened to go on to twice become President of the United States, was Donald Trump.
Donald Trump once tried to get a Formula 1 race in New Jersey
In a new interview with The Race‘s In Conversation With… series, Flavio Briatore recalled Trump’s attempt to get then-Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone to bring a race to New Jersey.
“You tried to put a New Jersey Grand Prix together with Donald Trump?” Darren Cox asked Briatore.
“Yeah, because it was done in The Apprentice with Donald Trump. I was The Apprentice from Italy. And we see all the time together, because it was the same time,” Briatore replied.
“Sure, Donald had no idea as well about Formula 1. But he’s a great promoter. At the time, he promoted boxing, he promoted everything in Vegas, et cetera, et cetera.
“And I made Donald to talk with Bernie. I was in the office of Donald. We put in video with Bernie to found what was the best place in New York to do the race.
“And Donald tells us New York is very difficult for a million reasons, but Jersey was the place. So Bernie started negotiating Jersey with two or three different people. But we never succeeded, because Formula 1 was not…
“In America, before Liberty [Media] arrived, Formula 1 really was not considered something special. You talk about the NASCAR, you talk about Indy, completely different business. And Formula 1 was not [discussed] at all.”
Of course, now, as Cox pointed out, Donald Trump did sort of get his wish by having an IndyCar race in Washington, D.C. The Freedom 250 will take place on Aug. 22-23 this year on the National Mall.