U.S. GP Promoter Calls For F1 Race To Be Split From Mexico On Calendar

U.S. Grand Prix promoter Bobby Epstein is "still pushing for his race in Texas to be split from neighboring Mexico" on the Formula 1 calendar, according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The two races are on back-to-back weekends, with Austin's Circuit of the Americas playing host on Oct. 22 before the action shifts to Mexico City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Oct. 29. Epstein has "long maintained" that the scheduling is more geared for F1's "convenience, from a standpoint of logistics and saving on freight costs, than in the best interests of fans and sponsors." Any hopes that F1 owner Liberty Media might change the arrangement were "dashed when the pairing was retained" on the draft '18 calendar. Epstein said, "They came out with their calendar in June ... and I don't expect that to change any time soon. I think it's going to be that way. It would certainly be better for the promoter if the races were further apart on the calendar. Mexico with Canada. We'd be with Brazil" (REUTERS, 10/3).