As sustainability becomes increasingly important, geographical changes in future F1 calendars may play a crucial role. Miami Grand Prix organizers stated that they have no concerns about scheduling races consecutively with Canada to help Formula 1 meet its sustainability goals. Considering that F1 aims to achieve net zero carbon by 2030, addressing travel between races will be a necessity going forward.
Grouping races by regions seems like the most logical way to reduce human and cargo movement during a season that currently features a record 24 races worldwide. While most European races are scheduled consecutively, there are still many distant races due to contracts that require specific cities to host at certain times of the year.
Looking at the 2025 calendar, Miami’s race date of May 4 falls between the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which is the last of a triple-header, and the race in Imola. Tyler Epp, President of the Miami Grand Prix, told Motorsport.com, “We love our spot on the calendar. We enjoy being the first race in the U.S. and it fits nicely with the races that Vegas will have later in the year.”
“Honestly, we don’t have much flexibility with our date due to other events. American football, hopefully, goes on until late January, and we are hosting the Miami Open, so I don’t think we can change our date logistically.”
The Canadian Grand Prix, which is scheduled for June 15 next year, stands out on the calendar with three European races preceding it and six European races following it before F1 moves to Azerbaijan in September.
Despite the limited flexibility in Miami’s schedule, Epp is open to the idea of a double-header with Canada. “This is more of an F1 issue; we can’t decide that. We’re at a point where there isn’t much movement, but we align with F1 and the rest of the sector on sustainability. I think F1 has some work to do, but our date is quite fixed. We won’t know until we see it, but it wouldn’t be an issue for me.”
“One of the things F1 doesn’t get enough credit for is allowing each organizer to be different and unique. A race in Miami is much different from a race in Montreal or Vegas. People travel to different races for that reason.”
“I think that’s great for the sport. If it meets some of the sustainability goals related to the sport, I have no fear of putting Montreal around Miami.”
Currently, there are five Grands Prix in North America. In addition to Mexico and Canada, there are three races in the U.S.: Miami in May, the United States Grand Prix in Austin in October, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix in November. The 2023 season was the first time the trio of American races were together on the calendar, but Epp stated that Miami was not negatively affected by Vegas returning in 2023.
“I’ll be honest and say we were a bit concerned about the luxury market when Vegas came onto the calendar, but we didn’t see a negative outcome from it. We communicate with them frequently; I think our businesses are different enough to complement each other but close enough to align strategically.”
“The positive communication with the organizers in Vegas has been an advantage for our business. We target very different markets. They are mostly domestic, while our average is about 40% from South Florida, 20% domestic, and the rest international.”
