Donald Trump an obstacle to F1’s expansion in America: Bernie Ecclestone’s verdict. How Donald Trump hindered F1 in America ten years ago. .

Donald Trump has recently returned to power in America, and Bernie Ecclestone has also spoken about him. The two had contact several years ago. The goal was to organize a Grand Prix in another location in the USA, but Ecclestone failed in this attempt due to the demands of the American President.

Bernie Ecclestone’s idea was to go beyond Austin, which had already been on the calendar for a few years. He wanted to create the Grand Prix of America in a different location, near Manhattan, to have the city’s skyline as a backdrop.

In this attempt, Donald Trump was the main obstacle, even though he was not yet the President of the USA at the time. As Bernie Ecclestone explains, Trump demanded numerous acknowledgments and wanted his name to be printed everywhere.

Faced with all these requests, Bernie Ecclestone decided to give up. “In the end, I told him: ‘You know what? The only thing you haven’t asked for is toilet paper.’” However, the former CEO of Formula One Group still holds great admiration for the President of the USA: “I would have liked to have him as a partner in my used car business.”

Ten years later, the situation in America has completely changed, with F1 gaining more and more traction, particularly in the United States, thanks to the influence of social media and the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive.’ In line with this expansion, the category’s organizers have decided to increase the number of races in the U.S. This year, the drivers will battle it out in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas.