Domenicali on COTA: 'With this kind of intensity, track deserves future'

According to Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali the Circuit of The Americas (COTA), where Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix last weekend, has earned its place on the F1 calendar. The race in America is on the schedule for the 2022 calendar, but a final spot still depends on contract negotiations.

F1 has been racing at COTA since 2012, but after this season the original ten-year deal was reached. The track's location in Austin depends on a new contract. COTA boss Bobby Epstein told ESPN he has a lot of faith in a new deal. Domenicali says that COTA's high attendance and the growth of F1 in the US make it an easy choice to extend the deal with COTA.

"Its [COTA's} future? I mean, you see where we are", Domenicali tells ESPN during the GP weekend. "With this kind of intensity, I think that this track deserves a future. And we are discussing with the promoter, who by the way is doing an incredible job -- because if you go outside [the paddock] you really feel what it means for the people that are here. So they [COTA] are doing an incredible job."

Important market in the US

F1 is in talks to host a third race in the US at Las Vegas in the next few years. Domenicali is hoping for a new and younger market in the US. "It's up to us to make sure that we can develop the right strategy. But it [the American market] means a lot, because potentially it's the biggest market in which we can develop the sport in a different dimension."

"I can give you one important information that I can share with you, that are facts. This year is, as you can see, so packed, but it's not only about it being packed, it's the diversity we have seen in terms of who is present this weekend. The average age of the people that are here is 10 years younger compared to two years ago. That is incredible. And this is where, as Formula One together, we should really work in order to follow these directions, that is really very, very important for us."