F1 failed to secure the necessary backing to make the temporary track developed in the car park of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas a permanent fixture on its calendar following races in the US city in 1981 and 1982.

Hermann Tilke, the designer responsible for the majority of new circuits developed for Formula One in recent years has made numerous recent visits to Las Vegas with a view to developing a race venue, according to UK newspaper the Independent, and Ecclestone is set to hold discussions over adding a second US race to the F1 season on his way to next weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

“There is a consortium in Las Vegas that wants to arrange a race. They are very serious and want me to go out there on the way to Texas so we will see,” he told the Autoweek.com website.

Ecclestone added that casino impresario Steve Wynn and Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberte - both counted by the 83-year-old as personal friends - are not members of the interested consortium.

As opposed to the USA, where home-based motor racing series such as Nascar and IndyCar hold sway, Spain represents an important market for F1 following the rise of Fernando Alonso and, according to the El Confidencial newspaper, Ecclestone is also in negotiations with a group of businessmen to stage a street race in the country’s capital.

El Confidencial added that the F1 chief has received bank guarantees and a detailed business plan. The proposed race would rely exclusively on private funding, and the group aims to secure financial assurances and Ecclestone’s backing ahead of going before the local authorities.

Barcelona’s has staged the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991, with its contract running through until the 2016 season. Spain staged two races per season between 2008 and 2012, with the European Grand Prix held on a street circuit in Valencia.

The additions of new races in consecutive years in Mexico City and Baku means Formula One is set to have 21 rounds by 2016.

As the 2018 season draws to a close, the focus is already shifting toward improvements for the 2019 season. Since Liberty Media acquired Formula 1 in January 2017, the long-term vision has been clear: to unleash the greatest racing spectacle on the planet.

Formula 1 is in constant perpetual motion of creating, sustaining and retaining major global sporting events, with 21 different host countries across five continents vying to create the most unique race weekend experience for fans.

With a yearly cumulative TV audience of 1.8 billion people, Formula 1 has 506 million global fans and an average race attendance of 200,000 people, creating multiple layers of cultural and economic benefits for a host city. Whilst complimenting the local and national tourism strategy, other benefits include global visibility, positive economic uplift, contributions toward tourism and job creation.

Economic impact

Hosting a Formula 1 race boosts the economy of a host city and country by stimulating consumer spending and creating new opportunities in the secondary and tertiary sectors of the economy.

The Formula 1 United States Grand Prix held at The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) has contributed substantially toward the local economy, with total economic impact to the Austin Metro area between 2012 and 2015 valued at $2.8bn.

Similarly, a recent study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers found that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku created $277.3m of increased economic value in 2016 and 2017.

Increased visibility

With live broadcast to over 200 territories worldwide, Formula 1 excites fans and creates over 635 hours of broadcast footage. A host city is positively positioned in front of a global audience, showcasing them as a destination for major sporting and entertainment events.

Through destination branding, the Mexican Grand Prix has generated over $5.5bn MXN global media exposure and $885m MXN of media value of the Mexico logo.

Tourism

With over 200,000 attendees per race and on average 53 per cent coming from abroad, hosting a Formula 1 race induces tourism and opens up a city to new audiences. Mexico City experienced a 12 per cent increase in hotel occupancy in 4 and 5 star hotels during the Grand Prix and on average the weekend spend per guest is £1,600 (excluding tickets). Since their first Grand Prix in 2008, Singapore has hosted more than 450,000 international visitors, who have contributed around $1.4 billion in incremental tourism receipts.

Job creation

Returning year after year, Formula 1 increases both annual and seasonal employment, whilst creating new jobs across a number of industries. When the Grand Prix heads to Montreal an additional 640 jobs in the Quebec region are created and COTA’s annual activities and operations combined to support 9,100 jobs in the Austin region representing $306 million in annual payroll for Austin-area workers.

Formula 1 is a sport with unique heritage and a proven track record of creating economic benefit and we are excited to be hosting our 1,000^th race next year.

Chloe Targett-Adams, Global Director of Promoters and Business Relations at Formula 1 is speaking at Host City 2018 in Glasgow on 20-21 November

By the time the time the athletes on the track hear the starting pistol, the team from DB SCHENKERsportsevents has already completed most of its work. The logistics experts are organisation specialists for major sports events. They begin their preparations long in advance, developing logistics plans for management committees, associations, hospitality firms, sponsors, and service providers.

DB Schenker is the leading name in international sports and events logistics. Its partners come from every sporting discipline – football, winter games, sailing, athletics, motorsport and a lot more besides. Around the globe, DB SCHENKERsportsevents employs some 150 people who put their expertise at their customers' disposal, combining precision logistics with a passion for sporting pursuits of all stripes.

Always on the ball

In sports terms, 2016 was a superlative year. DB SCHENKERsportsevents toured the planet as it delivered logistics services at the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio, the UEFA EURO tournament in France, and a host of big-name tracks for the Formula One season.

These major events required months of preparations, which covered everything from long-distance planning to on-site services, and which were then followed up by the necessary activities following the events' conclusion.

An Olympian task

From delivering canoes for the competition itself to champagne for the party afterwards, the German team at DB SCHENKERsportsevents dispatched over 1,030 shipping containers of material to Rio. They contained essential provisions for the Olympic Village, the German national team, the house that served as their residence during the Games, as well as for the opening and closing celebrations and the VIP catering service organised for every stadium.

"As long ago as September 2015, i.e. almost a full year before the Games, one of our team was already in Rio to coordinate and oversee our planning activities on-site,” Christian Schultze, SVP at DB SCHENKERsportsevents.

“The most intense period for us was just before the Games, and then the whole team was involved. The Olympics and Paralympics represent a challenge, but it's one that we enjoy taking on time and again."

The Olympic Village has accommodated some 17,000 athletes during the course of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. DB Schenker sent some 940 containers of material to Rio to equip the village, which is often described as the "heart" of the Games. At no other sporting event do so many world-class athletes live in such close proximity, and the village is designed to provide every possible service from accommodation and catering to training facilities and platforms for meetings and events.

Similarly, the German house served as a place where athletes and figures from the worlds of sport, politics, business and the media could congregate. DB SCHENKERsportsevents had 100 per cent responsibility for all logistics activities at the site. As the exclusive logistics partner for the German house at Rio 2016, DB SCHENKERsportsevents planned and performed everything connected with the logistics pertaining to this traditional hub for meetings and mingling at the event.

As the official logistics partner of the Olympic teams from Austria, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland, DB Schenker made use of its respective national offices to make sure that the athletes' equipment made it to Rio on time. Similarly, DB Schenker staff in China, Japan and South Korea played a role in transporting television equipment from these countries, while employees in Singapore organised the transportation of the Singaporean sailing team's boats and other equipment.

Following the end of the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, the work of DB SCHENKERsportsevents continues. Once the television broadcasts stopped and after the last athletes embarked on their homeward journeys, the logistics specialists spent about two months working on returning and forwarding the items sent to Brazil for the Games.

A race between racing events

DB SCHENKERsportsevents is also responsible for the pan-European logistics needs of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One™ Team, which relies on the experts for support between Formula One races. Whenever an event is held somewhere in Europe, DB SCHENKERsportsevents is in the thick of things.

Sometimes, races are just one week apart, a week during which the racing team needs to have a new home built for them at their next destination. When the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS drivers, cars, mechanics and other team members arrive for the new racing challenge, their motorhome needs to be ready and waiting for them.

In other words, everything has to be dismantled, loaded and transported to the next destination in the shortest time possible. It's the logistics provider's very own race between races. The moment the equipment arrives, 18 experts set to work in several shifts to complete the motorhome's construction in around 36 hours. Every step of this process has to run completely according to plan so that the construction team can hand over the keys on time.