IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

IndyCar wants to race in Mexico just like NASCAR and Formula 1 and in this week’s edition of the Business of Motorsport, you will find out why. I also have analysis of whether the F1 cost cap is working, the latest on the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports lawsuit with NASCAR and are Las Vegas Grand Prix organizers worried about attendance this year? All this and much more!

Motorsport Industry News

Formula 1

Las Vegas Grand Prix

Is the Las Vegas Grad Prix in trouble? That is the inference that Dan Lawrence of Motorsport Week draws in light of the announcement that organizers have revealed a 44% discounted package in partnership with Lewis Hamilton. “If the Las Vegas GP needs Lewis Hamilton to fill up seats, why not announce the package well ahead of time?” You can read his reasoning here.

BlackBook Motorsport has pored through the latest F1 team annual reports to evaluate whether the budget cap has truly steadied the ship or if more needs to be done to secure stability across the grid. With the Ferrari, RB and Sauber teams all based outside of the UK, this won’t be a complete picture, but the figures from Companies House will give an indication of the direction of the majority of the grid. You can read their analysis here.

While the teams have adhered to the budget cap, two engine manufacturers have not.

Honda Racing Corporation, whose power units are used by Red Bull and RB, were found to have “included incorrect excluded and/or adjusted costs in the calculation of its relevant costs” towards the cap. They included costs relating to dynamometer maintenance and inventories.

Alpine “submitted reporting documentation in respect of the 2023 Reporting Period that was inaccurate by omitting relevant information,” according to the FIA’s Cost Cap Administration panel. They agreed their assessment report contained “significant deficiencies” as “several required procedures had not been performed at all, and several other procedures had only been partially completed.”

Honda was fined $600,000 (£460,000) while Alpine was ordered to pay $400,000 (£307,000). Both have 30 days to pay their fines.

Read more at Racefans.

With the rumored sacking of Sergio Perez happening any moment, Mexican Grand Prix promoters are confident that the race can survive without the hometown hero. “What I can tell you is that the Formula 1 fandom in Mexico is very strong in general, and obviously Checo is a great enhancement for this. But Mexicans are having Formula 1 very, very close in their heart.”

They seem to be hedging their bets though as NASCAR is scheduled to race at the track next year and talks have begun with IndyCar about a Mexican race (see IndyCar news below).

In his latest Business of Speed column, Vincenzo Landino looks at how Liberty Media overhauled Formula 1 from its closed European base to embrace accessibility and a digital presence for impressive results.

“Liberty Media’s true genius wasn’t in creating new content – it was in dismantling F1’s fortress of exclusivity. They looked at F1’s licensing rules, which made sharing content harder than qualifying for Monaco, and systematically demolished them.”

Read what he has to say here.

IndyCar

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

Penske Entertainment and the promoter of the Mexico City Grand Prix intend to re-engage early in 2025 to discuss the possibility of bringing the NTT IndyCar Series to the home country of its most popular driver, Pato O’Ward.

“Discussions regarding an IndyCar race in Mexico City have been positive and we look forward to continuing the conversation,” a Penske Entertainment spokesperson told RACER of its interest to host a race in 2026. “Pato’s presence this past weekend underscores the intense interest from fans and the massive and still growing star power he brings forward.”

Meanwhile, The Thermal Club is making progress in its planning to host the return of the NTT IndyCar Series for a full championship event at the private road course in Southern California. IndyCar has been great to deal with and work with, so they’ve been really helpful with Jay Frye and his whole team,” Thermal GM Nicholas Rhoades told RACER.

NASCAR

NASCAR Logo

Sports Business Journal reports that NASCAR was listed last Monday as being in talks to bring a race to the planned Qiddiya mega resort in Saudi Arabia toward the end of this decade, but it’s not yet commenting on the potential. “Still, Steve O’Donnell and Ben Kennedy both told SBJ in separate interviews last year that the Middle East was indeed one of the regions they were exploring, alongside Europe, South America and Asia.” Read more here.

Quick Takes on the Business of Motorsport This Week

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

Highlights from the Sustainable Motorsport Roundup

Motorsport UK Logo

Motorsport UK has launched a sustainable fuels consultation and in this week’s Sustainable Motorsport Report you will get all the details of how it will work. I also have news on TCR’s switch to synthetic fuels, the use of sustainable materials at Škoda Motorsport and the competing demands of electric powertrain development. All this and much more from your source for sustainable high performance motorsport news.

The Numbers

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

BlackBook Motorsport reports that Formula One has recorded an audience within one million viewers of NASCAR for the fourth consecutive race.

“Formula One may not be at the level to consistently challenge Nascar for viewership, but getting inside one million viewers for four straight races is unprecedented. It emphasises the shifting fortunes of both series, with Formula One’s particular strength being in the key 18 to 49 demographic as 503,000 viewers watched the Mexican Grand Prix in this segment, up six per cent on last year.”

Part of the reason why these numbers are so good is because of the close battle at the top for the drivers’ and constructors’ championships according to Front Office Sports.

“ESPN is averaging 1.12 million viewers through 20 races this year, 1.8% higher than the 1.1 million final viewership average in 2023, but down 7.5% from 2022. Nine F1 races in 2024 have seen viewership gains over the last year, another sign of the relatively flat viewership numbers.”

Motorsport Law Roundup

A look at some of the legal and regulatory issues and analysis in Motorsport this week

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have had their motion for expedited discovery denied by the court. In his ruling, United States District Judge Frank D. Whitney laid out multiple factors for the decision. First, the court determined the request would not be as the team’s proposed of “narrowly tailored” and a “minimal burden to Defendants.” The requests for production were also seen as overly broad as it spanned eight years.

Here are the latest updates on the increasingly contentious legal dispute.

The Bryan Herta Autosport IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge team is suing a former client for allegedly failing to honor the terms of its contract, which includes non-payment for a significant sum of money.

Under the Bryan Herta Rallysport LLC, banner, the team owned by Herta and Sean Jones filed a lawsuit against Deily Motorsports LLC and its owner Robert Deily as an individual, in Deily’s home state of Oklahoma, seeking remuneration for the terms in the loan of a Hyundai Elantra N TCR fielded by Deily in 2023.

RACER has the details.

John Hand at The Motorsport Lawyer has put together an excellent look at the legalities of the infamous Verstappen vs Norris maneuver from the Mexican Grand Prix. “However, from my experience seeing other sports, F1 is far behind in maximising sporting advantage. And these penalties are just examples of Verstappen maximising the Regulations (whether people like it or not).”

You can read his full analysis here.

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

McLaren had a major issue with the penalty handed out to Lando Norris at the United States Grand Prix and invoked their right to review of the decision which ultimately failed. The Race does a good job of explaining why the decision failed.

“But the way McLaren pursued this was unusual as they claimed the supposed new significant and relevant “element” unavailable to McLaren at the time of the original decision was, effectively, the decision itself.”

But it’s not just the fact that their appeal failed, McLaren has issues with the actual process involved with the right to review according to Autosport.

“We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a competitor aware of an objective, measurable and provable error in the decision made by the stewards, cannot be an admissible “element” which meets all four criteria set by the ISC, as specified in Article 14.3.”

Finally, Samuel Coop at RacingNews365 argues that, while admittedly legal under the current regulations, Red Bull should not be allowed to own two F1 teams. “Despite RB now being considered a ‘B team’, Red Bull has always insisted the single-ownership structure is not insidious and Christian Horner has previously distanced the arrangement from past controversies, like the ‘Pink Mercedes’ saga from 2020.”

You can read more here.

Motorsport Sponsorship & Partnership News

Here are the latest motorsport sponsorship deals, partnerships and related analysis that were announced this week

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

The Business of Running a Race Team

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

Team & Manufacturer News

Here is a roundup of the latest team news from around the world of motorsport

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too
IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

Motorsport Movers & Shakers

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

The Athletic profiles Sauber’s Alessandro Alunni Bravi, a lawyer who has had a fascinating life that combines the practice of law with running a Formula 1 team.

He discovered that cross-examination and driver management required similar skill sets. “When you need to close a business deal, you need to understand their targets,” Alunni Bravi said. “You need to understand what they are thinking, what they need, always starting from their needs. You need to have an open and transparent dialog with the drivers, and the relationship, the mutual trust that you are able to build, to establish between you and a driver, is a key. All the rest doesn’t matter, really.”

Read the full profile here: The many lives of F1’s Alessandro Alunni Bravi: Wanting to fight Mafia, repping Sauber (The Athletic)

IndyCar Wants To Race in Mexico Too

The Athletic also has a profile of Oliver Oakes, who went from karting glory to becoming Formula 1’s youngest team principal at Alpine.

“I feel fortunate that my origins are back as a driver, and then when I built Hitech, I had to learn many different sides that I probably underestimated at the beginning,” Oakes said. He had to deal with elements of the business, such as legal, commercial and HR, and started learning more about the technical aspects of an era where car development was still permitted in F3. It now functions as a single-spec series where every team runs the same car.”

You can read the full profile here: How Alpine F1’s Oliver Oakes went from karting glory to the sport’s youngest team boss (The Athletic)

Mark Boudreau
Author: Mark Boudreau

Mark is the publisher of Motorsport Prospects. As a former lawyer, he applies his legal background and research skills to assist race drivers by showcasing the resources they need to make their motorsport careers happen.