Panama City Rumoured to Hold F1 Circuit Talks with Liberty Media

Liberty Media and Formula One are still working hard to spread their feelers across the globe and scout for new venues. According to the latest rumors from local newspaper Di Mario, Panama City is one of the prime candidates to earn a berth on the F1 calendar in the future.

As it turns out, Liberty has grandiose ambitions to boost the F1 calendar to 25 races in one season, though there will most likely be resistance from the teams. One of the conglomerates’ biggest targets is the United States market and they were targetting a race in Miami.

However, if the Miami talks do not come into fruition, Panama City will be willing to step in and put itself on the F1 map. Further strengthening the rumours are talks that local architects Mallol Arquitectos is conducting a study on the feasibility of bringing an F1 race to the country’s capital.

A prospective layout of the city’s circuit and virtual images got leaked to the media and they pounced immediately. It is believed that Panama City promoters are eyeing the goings-on of the Mexican Grand Prix which is contracted with F1 until 2022. Should Mexico elect to pull out after the culmination of their current contract, Panama City will be waiting in the wings in 2023.

Why is F1 Targeting Panama?

This is potentially a good move for Panama as it is a major offshore hub for the financial industry and the largest in central America. The country’s primary focus is trained on the banking, insurance and securities industries, and banking represents about 92% of the financial center’s total assets.

Meanwhile, coming to the subject of Miami, the latest news is that the mayor of Miami-Dade County dismissed a resolution that would have blocked the use of public roads. Local politicians and the residents of Miami are still on the fence about hosting a Formula One race.