Formula 1 scouts downtown Miami as potential GP venue

Formula 1's executives were in Miami recently, taking a look at a few potential sites with the hope of bringing a race to the sunny city in the future.

Since his arrival at the helm of F1, CEO Chase Carey has made no secret of his desire to expand F1's presence in the US, preferably choosing to bring the sport to 'destination cities' such as New York, Las Vegas or Miami.

F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches met with Miami's Mayor Francis Suarez and the city's events director Vicente Betancourt for provisional talks about possible locations and logistics.

• Bratches: 'Dozens' of venues interested in hosting F1

"They had their track engineers come down and look at the streets," said Betancourt.

"We’ve got to see if it works and what it would cost them to actually bring it out. I think the ball is pretty much in their court."

It is believed Bratches and his team scouted an area around Biscayne Boulevard which hosted a street race back in 1983 and again in 2003 for the CART series.

Two years ago, the site also hosted the Miami ePrix, but the event was a one-off and Formula E did not return to Florida.

While the race itself was a success, with high attendance figures, the event did not go down well with many local environmentalists.

Miami has already warned Formula 1 that no hefty amount of money would be coming its way, should the sport definitely set its sights on racing in Florida's Magic City.

"I was very blunt with [Formula One] and said we’d love to entertain it but we have no money," Betancourt said.

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