F1’s expansion into the American market has been extremely rapid these past few years, with the racing series going from one race in the USA to three in the span of two years. Now, there could potentially be a fourth, as the mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey has approved development of a racetrack that is up to “Formula 1 specifications.”
The $2.7 billion investment, which is to be built on the grounds of an old airfield, includes housing and shops in addition to the 2.4-mile (3.9-km) track itself. The project is expected to take six to nine years to complete, meaning we won’t see anything of this space until at least the end of the decade, assuming it gets finished at all. Even if it does go through, there’s still no guarantee that F1 will actually make its way to the Garden State, only the fact that the track will supposedly be up to their standards.
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Many people would argue that America doesn’t need four F1 races, and on one hand we’d agree given that tracks like the Hockenheimring and Sepang no longer have a spot on the calendar. But on another hand, many people forget the sheer size of the country. The 2020 season featured three races in Italy, a nation 32 times smaller than the USA, yet there weren’t many complaints because each of those three tracks had something different to offer. That also applies to the races in America, in which each one manages to have its own unique identity. The race in Miami is distinctly different from the one in Texas, which itself should prove to be worlds apart from this year’s inaugural Las Vegas race, and we’d imagine a race in New Jersey would also have its own spin.
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That being said, back in 2011, something similar was tried in Weehawken, New Jersey just outside of New York City, but the project was canceled for a multitude of financial and contractual issues. We’d say that was an even more promising project given its proximity to one of the most famous cities in the world, yet even that fell through, so we’re dubious of this Atlantic City proposition to say the least. Regardless, it seems like we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the project to find out anything for certain.