Is there a third US Grand Prix on the cards?

Bernie Ecclestone is reportedly leading a charge to bring Formula 1 back to the west coast of the United States. If successful it could mean the US has as many as three F1 races each year.

In the late 1970s Formula 1 ran a street race in Long Beach, California. Officially it was called the United States Grand Prix West and it ran from 1976–1983. In recent times top flight open wheel racing has still taken place at Long Beach, although it’s been the domain of the home-grown IndyCar series (and its various iterations).

Motor Sport magazine reports that television audiences for IndyCar are in decline and describes the sport by saying: “Outside the city of Indianapolis, the series has little or no identity and sadly has become one of America’s smallest, most irrelevant sports.”

Hence the impetus for the alleged triumverate of Bernie Ecclestone, F1 sponsorship guru Zak Brown and Long Beach founder Chris Pook to open discussions about bringing F1 back to California. The IndyCar contract with Pook expires in 2014 thereby opening the door for F1 to replace the fledgling series.

Michael Andretti, one of a few racers to compete in both F1 and IndyCar, doesn’t think it will happen. “Why would they sell it?” he asked. “It runs along every year, making enough money. They have things in place; it works. I don’t think it’s a headache for them at all.”

Significant investment would be required to bring the facilities at Long Beach up to scratch, which Andretti says is unlikely. “They’d have to spend $100 million to bring it up to where F1 would want it,” Andretti said. “No one would do that.”

However, long-time Motor Sport correspondent Gordon Kirby says discussions between Ecclestone and Bob Foster, Long Beach Mayor, will take place in June during the Canadian Grand Prix.

Former Ferrari and McLaren driver Stefan Johansson reckons F1 at Long Beach would be a great idea. Johansson has lived in Los Angeles for the last 20 years and maintains an active role in motorsport by managing Scott Dixon. “It would be fabulous!” said Johansson. “They’d have to spend a lot of money, but they could make it the race. It would be great for F1 and great for motor racing in America.”

[Source: Motor Sport & GrandPrix.com]