F1 races that never were

Since 1950, there have been 991 Formula One World Championship grands prix. The third race of the 2019 season will be the 1000th in the sport’s history, but that landmark may have already been reached but for these – races that were scheduled to take place and then dropped or cancelled. Some are more speculative than others, but these were all referenced at the time as being likely to take place. (Last update: 24/09/18)

Argentina

The Argentine Grand Prix, traditionally held at the circuit in Buenos Aires, made its first appearance on the F1 calendar, and was held every year until 1960 bar one – the 1959 event, which was originally scheduled for January as the season opener, but was cancelled due to waning interest after the retirement of the home hero Juan Manuel Fangio. After 1960, the race dropped off the calendar until 1972, although it was held as a non-championship event in 1971 – Buenos Aires retained the race despite being originally planned to be held at the then-new Autódromo Juan Manuel Fangio in Balcarce.

From 1972, nine further events took place, broken only by 1976, when the event was cancelled due to financial issues. In 1982, the event was due to be held in March as the second race of the season, but was again canned at short notice. The drivers’ strike held at the season-opening South African GP led the event’s sponsors to back out just weeks before the race was due to take place, and attempts to reschedule the race for later in the season failed as a result of the Falklands War. The race then disappeared from the calendar for nearly a decade – an attempted return in 1986 came to nought – before featuring on the provisional 1994 calendar with a race in October. However, the upgrades for the circuit weren’t completed in time, leading to the event again being cancelled – it was replaced by the European GP at Jerez in Spain.

The return went ahead in early 1995, with three further events being held until it was dropped for 1999, to be replaced by the Chinese GP (see below). When that race was cancelled, it looked as if Buenos Aires would receive a reprieve, but it was again cancelled at short notice due to F1’s failure to reach a financial agreement with the Argentine organisers. As one of F1’s historic events, it’s likely to return at some point in the future, with the most recent rumours suggesting the Buenos Aires circuit is to be updated ahead of a rebooted Argentine GP in the early 2020s.

Austria

The Austrian GP was first held in 1964 on the bumpy Zeltweg Air Base temporary circuit. A second running was pencilled in for 1965, but was pulled for safety reasons. It wasn’t until 1970 that Austria received a permanent circuit considered to be up to F1 standard – the Osterreichring in Spielberg, a short distance from the previous circuit. This held 18 consecutive grands prix and became a firm favourite with drivers and fans for its fast flowing layout, before being cancelled ahead of the 1988 season, with safety again in mind.

Despite this, there were rumours of a return in the 1990s, most notably when the event was part of early drafts of the 1992 calendar in place of the stricken Hungarian GP, and again as part of an early version of the 1996 calendar. However, it wasn’t until the circuit was substantially rebuilt after this that it was able to secure its return in 1997. Known as the A1-Ring and now the Red Bull Ring, it has held 12 events in this new form, and Red Bull’s backing looks set to keep it on the calendar for some time to come.

Bahrain

The Bahrain GP at the Sakhir Circuit near Manama has been a fixture at the head of the calendar since 2004, with one notable exception. Booked to host the season opener in 2011, the race was postponed just three weeks before it was due to take place, after anti-government protests during the Arab Spring called into question the safety of the event. Amidst heated debate within the F1 paddock, attempts were made to move the event to October, with the Indian Grand Prix moving to December, but this was later abandoned. In spite of this, F1 controversially chose to return to Bahrain for 2012, and it will remain on the calendar for the foreseeable future. The Bahraini royal family are also able to veto further F1 races in the Gulf as part of their deal with the sport.

Belgium

Despite being one of F1’s grand slam events, the Belgian GP has dropped on and off the calendar several times. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was held at the fearsome 9-mile Spa-Francorchamps circuit on public roads through the Ardennes, except in 1957, when it was cancelled due to financial reasons resulting from the Suez Crisis, and 1959. However, after a string of serious and occasionally fatal accidents, it became a very unpopular event with the sport’s drivers. This led to the event being cancelled in 1969, and despite the addition of a chicane for the 1970 race, it was again dropped in 1971 under mounting pressure from the paddock.

After a brief rotation with the unloved Nivelles circuit, the Belgian GP became established at Zolder, before returning to the truncated Spa circuit in 1983. After a final event at Zolder in 1984, Spa again became the permanent venue from 1985 – though not after the 1985 race was postponed to September after the track broke up during its scheduled weekend in June. The new Spa has become one of the most popular circuits on the calendar, and it was a huge disappointment when the 2003 Belgian GP was cancelled due to the country’s tobacco laws. Though this was resolved for the following year, the race was again cancelled in 2006 after the organisers went bankrupt, throwing the event’s long-term future into question. Happily, the year’s absence allowed the circuit to redevelop its facilities, and with renewed financial support, it returned in 2007.

Canada

The Canadian GP was, for many years, the only North American race on the F1 calendar. It first appeared in 1967 as a double-header with the season-ending US GP, and rotated between Mosport Park and Mont Tremblant until the latter dropped out of hosting the 1972 race. Toronto had been scheduled to host the 1969 race, on a street circuit in the same area of the city as today’s IndyCar circuit, but the event’s organisers were refused planning permission and the race moved back to Mosport Park.

The Ontario circuit held the race through the 1970s, except in 1975 when it was cancelled due to a dispute between the organisers and FOCA. However, despite signing a three-year contract in 1977, a serious accident in practice for British driver Ian Ashley during the following race called the circuit’s safety into question, and it would prove to be the last F1 race held there.

Despite competition from Toronto, the 1978 event moved to the Île Notre Dame circuit in Montreal, known as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve since 1982. It has been a continuous presence on the calendar since then, with two exceptions. In 1987, the race was cancelled after a dispute between two of its sponsors, Labatts and Molson, and it looked as if the event might have reached an end. The cancellation of the Austrian Grand Prix in 1988 led to its return for a further 20 years, until a dispute with F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone led to the 2009 race being dropped from the provisional calendar, leaving the championship without a presence in North America for the first time. However, further negotiations took place later in 2009, and eventually a deal was reached to bring the event back from 2010.

China

The Chinese GP was first run in 2004 at the ultra-modern Shanghai International Circuit. However, it was first added to the calendar for the 1999 season, at the Zhuhai International Circuit in Guangdong. The city of Zhuhai had held international events on a street circuit in the mid-1990s, until a purpose-built circuit, with its functional layout, opened in 1996 as the first venue of its kind in the country. Negotiations about bringing F1 to the circuit had begun in the early 1990s, and it begun to be linked with a spot on the calendar after its completion, most notably as a potential replacement for the cancelled 1998 Portuguese Grand Prix. In the event, a deal was reached to bring F1 to southern China for the second race of the 1999 season to be held in March, but the FIA refused to allow the event to go ahead due to infrastructure problems (including around the number of hotels in the area). Though the governing body stated the event would go ahead in 2000, Zhuhai soon quietly dropped out of contention, as the sport instead chose to commit to a revived US GP at Indianapolis.

France

As you would expect from a sport based around grands prix, there was a French GP every year from 1950 to 2008, with the exception of 1955, when the race at Reims was cancelled in the aftermath of the Le Mans disaster. While the circuits varied – Reims, Rouen, Charade, Le Mans, Paul Ricard, Dijon-Prenois and Magny-Cours all taking turns, along with a failed bid from the Albi circuit to host the 1970 race – the race remained a constant. The country even hosted a second race in 1982, with the Swiss GP being hosted at Dijon. This was due to be repeated for 1983, but the event was cancelled after a dispute over the television coverage. The run of races in France came to an end with the cancellation of the planned 2009 French GP at Magny-Cours, but it returned to the calendar in 2016, marking the first race at Paul Ricard since 1990.

Germany

At least one race in Germany has also been virtually a guarantee for F1 since 1951. Until recently, there were only two exceptions: the 1955 race was cancelled due to the Le Mans disaster, while the 1960 German GP was held as a Formula Two race on the Nurburgring Sudschliefe circuit (the lesser-known and now abandoned neighbour of the famous Nordschliefe). The latter was in part the result of safety concerns from the 1959 German GP at AVUS, one of the great novelties of racing history: a circuit devised of two straights along a closed autobahn, linked by a high banked turn. The fact that the same drivers were content to return to the Nurburgring Nordschliefe for 1961 says a lot about how dangerous this must have been!

The Nurburgring was at the centre of the only other cancelled German GP. The modernised circuit ran into financial troubles in the early 2010s after an ill-advised attempt to create a theme park, complete with the world’s fastest rollercoaster. As a result, the scheduled 2015 German GP was cancelled, leaving no German races on the F1 championship calendar for the first time since 1960. The circuit is yet to fully recover from this, so with Hockenheim only hosting a race every other year, there was also no scheduled German GP in 2017.

Great Britain

While the British GP has been held every year since hosting the very first F1 World Championship event in 1950, the home of the race has varied over the years, being held at Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch, along with a one-off European GP at Donington Park in 1993. While there have been no cancelled events, there were two contractual agreements to move it. The first came in 1999 when Brands Hatch won the right to host the British GP from 2002. However, plans to substantially remodel the circuit and build a new pits complex failed to win planning consent, and the circuit’s owners Octagon instead agreed a deal with Silverstone’s owners, the British Racing Drivers Club, to continue to hold the event there.

Despite a period of uncertainty in the mid-2000s, Silverstone looked set to retain the British GP for the future until 2008, when it was announced that Donington had surprisingly won the right to host the race for 17 years from 2010. The grand project was based around the sale of debentures at the venue, but this failed to take off. Work had already begun to revamp the circuit when circuit leaseholders Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd went into administration. Soon after, F1 agreed a 17-year deal with Silverstone, although a break clause has since been activated, leaving the event’s future beyond 2018 once again looking uncertain.

Hungary

The Hungarian GP was added to the F1 calendar in 1986, and has not missed a year since. However, attempts had been made to run a race in the two years before this, as part of F1’s agreement with Budapest. A temporary circuit was first devised for a potential race in October 1984 in Varosliget or City Park, but this plan was superseded by another temporary circuit at Nepliget or People’s Park, which had previously hosted the 1936 Hungarian GP (see above). Plans were put in place to modernise this circuit for potential races in 1984 and 1985, but unfortunately this failed to take off.

Indonesia

Racing enthusiast Tommy Suharto, the son of Indonesian dictator Suharto, was the driving force behind the construction of the modern Sentul International Circuit, which opened in 1993 to great fanfare. Over the next few years, the holding of an Indonesian Grand Prix seemed an inevitability, with Tommy buying Lamborghini and planning his own Humpuss Racing F1 team, and towards the end of the 1995 season, it was announced that Sentul was scheduled to host the 1996 season finale. However, it soon dropped off the official calendar, and the Asian financial crisis of 1997 eventually led to the downfall of Suharto and his son. Sentul has hosted major international events for cars and bikes, but despite Rio Haryanto becoming its first F1 driver in 2016, Indonesia’s chances of holding an F1 race currently seem remote.

Italy

The Italian GP has been part of the F1 championship every year since 1950, and it also boasted a second race in the form of the San Marino Grand Prix between 1981 and 2006 – this was instead of plans to alternate the main race between Monza and Imola, which had begun in 1980, the first and so far only year that Monza has been absent from the F1 calendar.

In 1985, a third race in Italy was also planned on the streets of the EUR district of Rome. Led by future World Superbike promoter Maurizio Flammini, the idea was essentially a revival of the 1928-1930 Rome GP in the same part of the city prior to its expansion. Initially a reserve event, the cancellation of the 1985 Dallas GP in December 1984 led to the European GP in Rome being added to the calendar for October 1985. Even so, just three months later, local politicians chose reverse their support for the event and it was cancelled – the 1985 European GP was instead held at Brands Hatch. In 2009, Flammini revived the plans for a street circuit in EUR to potentially begin holding F1 races from 2013. This too was abandoned in 2011, though a Formula E race in the same area did go ahead in 2018 (see above).

Japan

Fuji Speedway held the first Japanese GP at the end of 1976, a race famed for James Hunt’s charge and Niki Lauda’s withdrawal in heavy rain. The 1977 race was due to be held much earlier in the year in April, but was postponed until October – this time the race was marred by an accident involving Ronnie Peterson and Gilles Villeneuve in which two onlookers were killed. The planned 1978 race, also due to take place in April, was cancelled, and F1 temporarily abandoned Japan.

As early as 1984, plans were being made for a Japanese GP at Honda’s Suzuka Circuit for 1985 – again an April date was pencilled in. But the first F1 race here didn’t take place until 1987, when it held the penultimate race of the season. The Japanese GP has been on the calendar every year since, and nearly always at Suzuka. After seeing several dramatic title-deciding races, it has since slipped further back in the calendar, but remains a popular event.

One other aspect was the story of Japan’s second race. This was due to debut in April 1993 under the name of the Asian GP, and scheduled to be held at the remote Autopolis circuit on the southern island of Kyushu. It was the brainchild of ambitious millionaire Tomonori Tsurumaki, who sponsored the Benetton F1 team to promote his $500 million venue, and paid vast amounts of money for artwork to be displayed there, including over $50 million for a Pablo Picasso painting. However, after finally realising his dream of securing a date for an F1 race at Autopolis, Tsurumaki ran into major financial trouble and eventually went bankrupt. The Asian or Pacific GP was abandoned for 1993, with the European GP at Donington Park taking its place. Autopolis was later rescued, being bought by Kawasaki in 2005, and remains one of Japan’s major racing venues.

However, at the same time, another wealthy Japanese businessman was developing his own resort circuit. Hajime Tanaka opened the Tanaka International Circuit Aida in 1990, initially as a private venue for wealthy drivers, but his ambition soon reached hosting an F1 race. The first Pacific GP was held in April 1994 as the second round of the championship, though the circuit was unpopular with teams for its remoteness, it was scheduled to host a second race in April 1995. However, the major earthquake that struck the region around Kobe shortly before the event was due to take place led to it being postponed until October, when it proved to be the title-deciding race. A third Pacific GP was scheduled for April 1996, but by now Tanaka was in financial trouble, and the race was replaced by the European GP at the Nurburgring. Like Autopolis, Aida was rescued in the mid-2000s, and in 2005 it was renamed the Okayama International Circuit.

Mexico

The first Mexican GP to be part of the F1 championship took place in 1963, a year after the non-championship event which claimed the life of the country’s young star Ricardo Rodriguez: the Mexico City circuit is now named after him and elder brother Pedro, who won two F1 grands prix. Pedro played an important role in ensuring the 1970 Mexican GP took place, politely asking the excitable crowd to watch from a safe distance from the track. Sadly, those crowds would not be seen at the circuit again. The 1971 race was cancelled as a result of the safety concerns that arose from the 1970 event, and while it was pencilled in for a return in 1972, this too would be cancelled, as interest waned following Pedro’s death in a sportscar crash a year earlier.

But F1 continued to chase the peso, and initially booked a return to the capital for April 1980, only for this to be cancelled. The shortened Mexico City circuit instead hosted IndyCars in 1980 and 1981, while F1 attempted to establish a race in 1981 at either the same circuit or on the streets of Acapulco. With neither coming to fruition, it wasn’t until 1986 that F1 returned to Mexico City, with a further seven races. But with drivers complaining about the bumpy track and unsafe run-off areas, the 1993 event was cancelled.

Though tentative plans for a circuit in Cancun were in place and then quickly abandoned in the mid-2000s, the arrival into F1 of Sergio Perez and Esteban Gutierrez saw growing calls for the championship to return to Mexico. In the end, a deal was agreed to take F1 back to an updated Mexico City circuit in November 2014, but due to the extensive works on the layout taking longer than expected, the first race was postponed until 2015.

Morocco

The only world championship Moroccan GP, which took place at the end of the 1958, is primarily remembered for sad reasons, as the Ain-Diab circuit in Casablanca claimed the life of rising British star Stuart Lewis-Evans of Vanwall. Further races at the circuit in 1959, 1960 and 1961 were scheduled and then cancelled, and a late 1990s attempt to revive the event with a race in Marrakech never got off the drawing board. Marrakech does, however, host Formula E and World Touring Car races at a temporary venue first used in 2009.

Netherlands

The Dutch GP was first included in the F1 championship in 1952, and was held most years from then until 1985 at the Zandvoort circuit in North Holland. The exceptions were in 1954 and 1956, both due to financial reasons (the latter resulting from the Suez Crisis), and in 1972, after the drivers protested against the circuit’s safety facilities. After the 1985 race, the circuit owners went out of business, leading to much of the track being sold off for redevelopment. After being reduced to a club circuit for much of the 1990s, the new owners rebuilt part of the old circuit and constructed a new section in order to attract international events again from 1999. However, with F1 looking lucrative new events in the east, attempts at reviving the Dutch GP failed. More recently the rise of Max Verstappen has led to rumours of the race’s return, but the most likely candidates for this are Zandvoort’s modernised rival TT Circuit Assen, or on the streets of Rotterdam.

Portugal

The Estoril circuit opened in 1972, 12 years after the previous F1 championship Portuguese GP on the streets of Porto. While an F1 race at the circuit was planned for 1975, this was later abandoned, and the modern circuit, well ahead of its time as a venue for motorsport, had to wait another nine years. By this point, the attempt to revive the Spanish GP with a race on the streets of Fuengirola in October 1984 was in the process of being postponed to the following year, leaving a spot on the calendar at the end. The race was moved to Estoril, and it became a fixture on the calendar for the next 12 years, as well as a major testing venue.

Even so, in the mid-1990s the circuit started to face some criticism for its facilities – what was considered modern and safe in 1972 was now out-of-date, and the high-speed turn 2 was causing some concern. Heading into the 1997 season, in which Estoril was due to host the season finale in November, plans were drawn up to alter the layout and improve facilities, but as the season drew on, it became increasingly clear these would not be finished by the time of the event. Ironically, after benefiting from a race being moved from Spain, the Portuguese GP was now finished off by its race being moved to Spain, in the form of the European GP at Jerez.

Though it again received a spot on the provisional 1998 calendar pending completion of the works, they still weren’t finished, and despite the work being eventually completed in 1999, there would be no third chance. Even though it has FIA Grade 1 status, it hosts very few international events, and faces competition from the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, which opened in 2008 and was once tipped as a potential F1 venue, and the street circuits in Porto and Vila Real.

Russia

Prior to the first Russian GP in 2014, several attempts had been made to get a race in Russia off the ground. The most concrete of these was in 1983, when a Soviet Union GP was placed on the calendar to take place in August. This was to be held on a street circuit in the Leninskie Gory (or Vorobyovy Gory) area of Moscow, best known as the area around the Luzhniki Stadium, which had held the 1980 Olympic Games and would host the 2018 World Cup Final. The only available map of the proposed circuit suggests a length of over 14 km, which is unlikely! Alas, we never got to know any more, as it was cancelled in September 1982.

Further attempts to establish an event after the dissolution of the Soviet Union included a circuit based around Pulkovo Airport near St Petersburg proposed in 2001, a permanent circuit at Nagatino Island in Moscow proposed in 2003, and the construction of the Hermann Tilke-designed Moscow Raceway, which opened in 2012 and had been linked with hosting F1 prior to the announcement in 2010 that the Russian GP would be held in Sochi from 2014.

South Africa

The first two championship grands prix in South Africa were held at the Prince George Circuit in East London in 1963 and 1965, with the 1964 race being cancelled and the 1966 race being held as a non-championship event. From 1967, the event was moved to Kyalami, and it ran continuously until 1985. However, the memorable 1981 race, won by Carlos Reutemann in wet conditions, was declared a non-championship event after it was boycotted by teams allied to governing body FISA.

Increasing political tensions surrounding South Africa’s apartheid system in the 1980s came to a head in 1985, when the event was boycotted by multiple teams and sponsors. While Kyalami had been allocated a spot on the 1986 calendar, it soon became apparent that racing there was impossible. Like Zandvoort, Kyalami were forced to sell off much of the circuit’s land for housing, and developed a new layout around part of the old track.

After the end of apartheid, F1 returned to South Africa for the season opener in 1992, driving on the new Kyalami circuit. A second event was held in 1993, but shortly after the race, the circuit manager was arrested on fraud charges. Kyalami was sold to the South African Automobile Association, but the 1994 South African GP would be cancelled. The circuit acted as a reserve in the late 1990s, and was mooted as a potential round 16 of 17 in 1998 after the cancellation of the Portuguese GP, but the country’s economic problems in the late 1990s, coupled with F1 eyes being drawn to Asia, led to nothing concrete being agreed. The race has remained a source of rumours and speculation, and Kyalami has again been redeveloped with a view to bringing it closer to F1 standard, but there are no plans as yet for F1 to return to Africa.

South Korea

Bernie Ecclestone first agreed on a Korean GP in 1996 with the Sepoong Engineering Construction Company, who planned a brand new circuit on the west coast of South Korea near the city of Gunsan; the planned layout looks suspiciously like that of Estoril, a circuit on the verge of being axed by F1. The race was first scheduled for October 1998, but the Asian financial crash in 1997 led to the abandonment of the project, not to mention a three-year lawsuit from Bernie against the company.

Fast-forward to 2010 and the first Korean GP at the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, on the south-western tip of the Korean peninsular. The circuit was planned around a harbour-side urban development, with CGI visuals of skyscrapers showcasing what was to come at the time of the first race. In reality, the circuit was barely finished by the time of the 2010 race, the urban development never took off, and neither did the event. After four years, the race was scheduled to switch to an April date, but this was dropped from the final calendar with the organisers in financial trouble. Surprisingly, it returned to the 2015 provisional calendar in December 2014, but Ecclestone soon revealed that this was for contractual reasons, and the organisers quickly backed out.

Spain

The first F1 Spanish GP took place on the streets of Pedralbes in Barcelona in 1951, the second year of the world championship. However, this was the first of only two championship events on the circuit, the other taking place in 1954 – planned raced were cancelled in 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1957, mostly due to financial problems. Despite a scheduled 1962 race not going ahead, the event was eventually revived in the late 1960s, with the third F1 championship Spanish GP taking place at the Jarama circuit near Madrid in 1968. This alternated with another Barcelona street circuit in the Montjuic area until 1975, when a serious accident in which five onlookers were killed led to the circuit being abandoned.

Subsequent events were all held at Jarama, but Spain defiantly remained a motorcycling country. In 1980, the Spanish GP was boycotted by teams allied to governing body FISA, leading to the race being declared a non-championship event during the weekend. After this, only one further race took place at the narrow, twisty circuit, which was never popular with drivers. The 1982 event, scheduled for June, was cancelled.

A surprising attempt to revive the race came in 1984, with a planned circuit on the streets of the Costa del Sol resort of Fuengirola. Postponed twice, it was eventually pencilled in for the end of the 1984 season, before being replaced by the Portuguese GP at Estoril. Further attempts to get it on the calendar for 1985 proved unsuccessful, and it was superseded by moves to bring F1 to the brand new Circuito de Jerez, which held its first Spanish GP in 1986. The race has been ever-present on the calendar since, being held at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona since 1991.

Switzerland

Of all the races cancelled after the Le Mans disaster in 1955, the best known is the Swiss GP. Held at the Bremgarten public road circuit in Bern, it was part of the world championship for the first five seasons and was scheduled for a sixth until the disaster led not only to the cancellation of the race, but the banning of all motorsport in Switzerland.

The Swiss GP has been part of the championship only once since then, being held at the French circuit of Dijon-Prenois in 1982. A repeat of the event in 1983 was cancelled due to a dispute over television coverage. A revival actually based in Switzerland was proposed for April 1984, with a circuit drawn up at Sion Airport. However, any plans were dependent on the ban on racing being overturned, and in September 1984 the Swiss Federal Council rejected this.

Sweden

The Swedish GP, first held as a championship event at Anderstorp in 1973, was primarily based around the extraordinary talents and popularity of the nation’s star driver Ronnie Peterson. Unfortunately, this would also prove to be its downfall. When Peterson was killed at Monza in September 1978, shortly before the death from cancer of Sweden’s other grand prix winner Gunnar Nilsson, interest in F1 in the country nose-dived. The result was the cancellation of the 1979 Swedish GP, which had already been scheduled for June the following year. A further attempt at scheduling a race in 1980 also came to nothing, and despite huge success for Northern European drivers in the years after, F1 has not returned to the region since.

USA

The US has a substantial collection of aborted F1 races, symbolising the many attempts F1 has made to break the American market. After initial United States GPs at Sebring in Florida in 1959 and Riverside in California in 1960, the 1960s saw the race settle down in Watkins Glen in New York. An attempt was made to move the 1965 race to the road course at Indianapolis Raceway Park (not to be confused with its more famous neighbour, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which hosts the Indy 500 – itself an F1 championship event from 1950 to 1960). However, a dispute between ACCUS and circuit owners USAC meant the event was moved back to the Glen, who continued to host it until 1980.

An attempt was made to add a second race to the calendar in 1972, held in April on the road course of the new Ontario Motor Speedway in California; a non-championship race, called the Questor GP, had been held the year before, having originally been included in the championship calendar but pulled due to the FIA’s insistence on circuits holding a test event first. This second American race, initially due to be called the United States Grand Prix West, failed to go ahead, along with attempts to move it to Riverside and Road Atlanta. Instead, it wasn’t until 1976 that the first second race in the US was held at Long Beach, California. As a postscript, the state-of-the-art OMS, which had opened to much fanfare in 1970 with celebrity backing from the likes of Paul Newman and Kirk Douglas, closed for redevelopment as early as 1980.

The success of the Long Beach event and F1’s growing popularity overall led to more bids for races in the 1980s. This began with the Las Vegas GP, first proposed to take place in the Caesars Palace car park in 1980. This was postponed, but did eventually take place in 1981 and 1982, with the unimaginative circuit winning few fans. A further race in 1983 was cancelled, and the event switched to IndyCar. However, F1 has always been attracted to Vegas, and the idea of a race there resurfaced in the 1990s. A new street circuit was tentatively given the slot of 10th November 1996, but this event never reached a provisional calendar. Then, in 1997, plans were put together for a permanent road circuit in the city which would host the US GP from 1999, but this too would be aborted, with the land instead being used to develop a golf course. Even so, the idea of a Vegas race refuses to go away – F1 owners Liberty Media continue to openly discuss the possibility of F1 racing again in Nevada in the future.

Meanwhile, what became known as the United States GP East at Watkins Glen ran until the 1981 event, pencilled in for October, was cancelled when the circuit ran into financial problems, ending the popular New York state circuit’s run. Instead, focus in the state moved to a planned race in Flushing Meadows, best known as the home of the US Open tennis tournament and the host of two World’s Fairs. This proposed event made the 1983, 1984 and 1985 provisional calendars, each time scheduled for September, and was cancelled every time, eventually being abandoned in spring 1986. 30 years on, another attempt to set up a race within sight of the Manhattan skyline failed in similar circumstances, this time in Port Imperial, New Jersey. Known as the American GP, it was scheduled for June 2013 and 2014 and was postponed on both occasions, eventually collapsing entirely.

In the 1980s, F1 in the US meant street circuits. The first F1 race on the streets of Detroit was held in 1982, and the last in 1988, after which the event switched to IndyCar, later moving the race to the Belle Isle parkland circuit. In 1984, after the end of the race at Long Beach, a street circuit was devised around Fair Park in Dallas. It proved to be one of the most unpopular circuits in F1 history, being narrow, extremely bumpy and very dangerous, with the track breaking up during the race weekend. Despite this, a second event was initially scheduled for June 1985, but by the end of the year it was cancelled entirely.

The final street circuit to host the US GP to date was that in Phoenix. Three races were held there, but again it won few friends for its basic layout and yet more bumps. A fourth race was pencilled in for March 1992, but the event’s total lack of popularity led inevitably to financial problems and it soon dropped off the calendar. Despite this, F1 continued to chase the American dream well into the 1990s, with various bids and schemes, notably including a further attempt to draw F1 to Road Atlanta by its new owner Don Panoz; a project to build a circuit in Brandy Station, Virginia; a tentative plan to organise a race at Disney World, Florida; and the Las Vegas schemes.

In the end, Bernie switched his attention to the home of American motorsport, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which would go on to host eight grands prix on the infield road course. After negotiations between Bernie Ecclestone and circuit owner Tony George collapsed, the race once again found itself off the calendar for 2008, beginning a mad dash to become the next venue of the race. Bernie was courted by bids from the private Monticello Motor Club in upstate New York and a proposed circuit in Jersey City. However, after negotiations with former driver Tavo Hellmund, the event was awarded to the city of Austin, Texas. The Circuit of the Americas in opened in 2012, having been built specifically for F1, and has so far been a popular host – but with its future up in the air due to more financial problems, the rumours will no doubt soon begin again for a new US GP venue.

And what of the Miami Grand Prix? A deal was in place for another new city centre race for 2019, but this was postponed before even reaching the provisional calendar. Even today, we’re still getting new additions to the collection of F1 races that never were…