Formula 1's race calendar is being quietly redrawn. Liberty Media is globalising the sport, and Europe's share of races is shrinking. Madrid returns after 45 years and Portimão joins next season, but Imola is lost and Zandvoort will go from 2027. Spa-Francorchamps will alternate with Barcelona. The Turkish Grand Prix's return means Asia will host nine races next season, overtaking Europe's eight for the first time. Gulf hosts reportedly pay about $50mn a year, roughly double most European promoters.
Fans and traditionalists are mourning these losses, but Paolo Aversa argues they are looking at the wrong map. F1 has two geographies: where races take place, and where cars are made. The race map is globalising fast. The industry map remains firmly anchored in Britain. Motorsport Valley, a strip of English countryside between Oxford and Northampton, hosts the headquarters of six of the 11 teams, including Mercedes, Red Bull, Aston Martin, Williams, Alpine and McLaren. Even teams based abroad keep a foothold there.
The Motorsport Industry Association values the wider UK motorsport and engineering services sector at £16bn a year, supporting an estimated 50,000 jobs. The cluster was not planned. Its roots lie in amateur enthusiasts racing home-built cars on disused wartime airfields, and in pioneers such as the Cooper family and Colin Chapman.
Two mechanisms keep the cluster alive. Talent rises vertically from karting and club racing into professional teams, and moves horizontally as engineers circulate between rivals. Passion anchors people to place, which is why the cluster has survived every change in regulation, ownership and fashion since the 1950s.
Aversa's warning is that hosting races and building cars are different markets. Losing races to Asia and the Gulf does not automatically erode Britain's engineering lead. The real risk is taking that lead for granted.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing