CDMX GP until 2025 to support the industry

With the emphasis that the Mexico City Grand Prix is ​​a private capital investment, except for the logistics services with which the government of the capital supports, it was confirmed that the contract has a new validity until 2025.

For that year, Checo Pérez will have concluded his second agreement with Red Bull Racing (2024), but although he is a large part of the motivation of the fans and the economic spill that is generated, the organizers of the date in Mexico seek continue with the tradition of motor sport, which celebrates 60 years since the first Grand Prix, and for this, a tribute was established at the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodrome, with the name: Motor Sports Honor Wall.

“We think about the future and we are not worried if Checo Pérez will be until 2024 or 2028, we think so, but surely there will be other drivers. The big bet we make is to the fans and the event. Checo is a fundamental piece but we are betting that the industry in general and of motor sport will sustain itself in its roots and in the love of F1. We believe that the economic impact is going to be even greater than it was last year, because we are sold out and there is an effervescence like we have never had before, ”Federico González Compeán, Director of the Mexico City GP, explains to El Economista. .

Since 2015 Formula 1, at that time, under the command of Bernard C. Ecclestone, decided to negotiate with the Inter-American Entertainment Corporation (CIE) to be the main promoter of the race in Mexico. Four pillars came together at that time to return the Grand Prix, after an absence of 23 years: CIE, Carlos Slim (promoter of Checo Pérez and Esteban Gutiérrez), and the city and federal governments.

Figures recorded by this newspaper indicate that the average annual payment between 2015 and 2019 was 42.6 million dollars. The entire value of the contract (213.2 million) was paid by the Mexican government through the Mexican Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM), which disappeared in 2018.

At the end of that contract, the Head of Government, Claudia Sheinbaum separated the public resources from the payment to Formula 1 and emphasized that the renewal for the three races between 2020 and 2022 (with the option to renew for two more years) would only have private capital. . According to the financial reports of Formula Money and Black Book F1, this contract would have an approximate value of 35 million dollars per year, for a total of 105 million.

The pandemic caused the suspension of the 2020 race and the edition will be replaced in 2023. In the current contract renewal, announced on October 27 (2022), the president of CIE, Alejandro Soberón, indicated that there is a group of more than 40 companies that activate the Grand Prize. “I am not saying what it costs because there is a confidentiality clause, but the conditions under which he comes to Mexico are privileged and special.”

The race in Mexico has been awarded several times by F1 as the best organization and in the contract renewals, a reduction in the quota was ‘considered’. However, this time Federico González explains to this newspaper about a difference with Liberty Media, owners of the highest category since 2017.

“The negotiations with Liberty Media are of a different nature, we have a great relationship with them, they see us as their strategic partners and we are happy to participate with them, they see us as one of their best promoters and we are aligned in our interests: that sport grow and that the attending public have a great experience at the Autodromo. We helped them a lot to achieve that goal.”

marisol.rojas@eleconomista.mx