With F1 glad that its three races in the USA are sufficient for that market, consideration has shifted to different areas to seize a rising worldwide curiosity in grand prix racing.
Talking at an F1 in Depth occasion in Monaco on Thursday evening, which was co-hosted by Autosport Enterprise, Maffei mentioned that the profitable return of the Chinese language Grand Prix confirmed what was doable.
“We’re fortunate that we have been capable of get a Chinese language race this yr after 4 years,” he mentioned. “It was very profitable. The curiosity in China has exploded partially as a result of we now have a Chinese language driver.
“Critically, you see cultural identification a lot when you could have drivers from a rustic, and when you could have groups from a rustic. And in order that’s been nice to see the expansion in China.
“However there’s plenty of curiosity throughout Asia, as we’ve curiosity from many cities. However in Asia, as you rightly level out: Thailand, Seoul, and we have had curiosity from Indonesia. There are many locations which need a System 1 race.
“We’ve got actually appeared on the intersection of the place our followers are, the place they might be, who may run an awesome race, and who can frankly afford a race – and all these kinds of intersections of these three circles.
“I feel you may very simply see a second one in Southeast Asia [alongside China].”
Sebastian Vettel, Purple Bull Racing RB9 leads in the beginning of the race
Picture by: Patrik Lundin / Motorsport Pictures
Thailand’s prime minister visited final weekend’s Emilia Grand Prix as he pushes for a road race in Bangkok from both 2026 or 2027.
Vegas classes
Maffei was joined on the F1 in Depth occasion by main representatives of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and defined how F1 had come to know higher what followers needed by way of its determination to develop into the race promoter of the occasion.
“We have actually modified the game in some ways,” he mentioned. “One in every of them is that this actually was a B2B enterprise the place we actually simply dropped the product on the native promoter they usually offered it. However an increasing number of, between issues like F1TV and promotions that we’ve been doing ourselves like Las Vegas, we perceive the followers higher. We’re a direct-to-consumer enterprise and we perceive their wants.
“That permits us to have higher learnings and meet their wants higher over time, together with in Las Vegas. So I am excited for what we will do collectively there. I feel it will be an awesome spectacle. And I hope it stays as thrilling a race because it was yr one.”
And off the again of what turned out to be a profitable inaugural Las Vegas grand prix final season, regardless of issues on the opening day when a drain cowl got here unfastened, Maffei mentioned he anticipated this yr’s occasion to be even higher.
Requested what his hopes for the second Las Vegas Grand Prix have been, Maffei mentioned: “I hope we will get a race almost nearly as good, and even higher. I hope we’ve no monitor failures early – that will be good! That was a heartache too early.
“I feel our dry run went very nicely, and we will solely hope that the spectacle is nearly as good. I count on we are going to be taught to optimise and do issues extra effectively as a result of in some circumstances we transfer so shortly.
Esteban Ocon, Alpine A523
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Pictures
“I actually credit score the staff at LVGP and our companions in how shortly we moved to get that up. To get that race from actually zero in 15 months is superb.
“I feel we’ll be smarter subsequent time. And we’ll be extra environment friendly and that may most likely be much less disruptive to the group.”
