Categories: CircuitsF1 News, Reports and Race Results

Ecclestone wants Southern California F1 race

Bernie Ecclestone says he wants a grand prix in Southern California as part of four F1 races in the United States.

The United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas is the only US race on the calendar at present, with plans for a grand prix in New Jersey having failed to materialise. Speaking about the importance of F1 racing in America, Ecclestone confirmed his desire to add a number of races to the calendar.

"It’s important," Ecclestone said. "I wish we had more races here. History wise, we left America before, we left Watkins Glen, it was a lovely event but they had a terrible memory and forgot to pay us. We had the same sort of problem at Long Beach."

Asked if he was looking for a second venue for an F1 race in the US, Ecclestone replied: "And third. We’d like four races here."

And when pushed on where he would like to see a race held, Ecclestone said: "A few places have come up. Southern California."

Ecclestone said on Friday he still believes there remains a prospect of getting the race in New Jersey to go ahead in future.

F1 closing on two-tier engine regulations

Technical analysis: Exclusive pictures of the 2015 Honda power unit

Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.