Flavio Briatore has revealed that Donald Trump was once involved in an attempt to bring Formula 1 to New Jersey as the championship explored ways of rebuilding its presence in the United States following the end of the US Grand Prix in 2007.
According to Briatore, the initial idea centred on potentially staging a race in New York. Trump, however, believed the city would present too many difficulties and suggested New Jersey as a more realistic location for the proposed Grand Prix.
“Sure, Donald had no idea as well about Formula 1 - but he's a great promoter,” Briatore said on The Race Business's ‘In Conversation With...’ series. Briatore subsequently connected Trump with then-Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone to discuss potential locations.
“I was in the office of Donald. We put in a video with Bernie to find what was the best place in New York to do the race,” Briatore explained. He said Trump then argued that New York would be difficult for numerous reasons and pointed the discussions towards New Jersey instead.
The suggestion led Ecclestone to begin negotiations over a potential New Jersey race with several parties. However, the project ultimately failed to produce a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Briatore believes one of the obstacles at the time was Formula 1's position within the United States market. He contrasted F1 with NASCAR and IndyCar, arguing that the world championship was not considered particularly valuable in America during that period.
Formula 1's position in the United States later changed considerably. The supplied material notes that the Circuit of the Americas has been on the calendar since 2012, Miami since 2022 and Las Vegas since 2024, highlighting how different the championship's commercial standing in America was when the proposed New Jersey race was first discussed.
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