MEXICO CITY ( Associated Press) – Formula One and the organizers of the Mexican Grand Prix announced a three-year contract extension Thursday that ensures motorsport’s top-flight returns to the Mexican capital until 2025.
Mexico signed an original five-season deal that began in 2015 and was renewed for a further three years in 2019. In 2020, the Grand Prix was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it resumed last year.
The organizers declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal.
Alejandro Soberon said, “I am not saying what it costs because it has a confidentiality clause, what I can say is that the conditions are privileged, they are special and it is a tribute to the automobile community’s love for the country.” is due to.” Director of CIE, the organizing company of the Mexican Grand Prix.
Sauberon stated that the 2020 race was lost by the agreement signed in 2019, which was not fulfilled as the agreement was for three years and not three races.
“No one expected that the pandemic was going to be brutal or that it would force us to suspend, but talks had started and there is a good horizon of three years ahead, with 10 editions completed in this new phase are,” he said.
Under the original agreement, the federal government paid $213 million through the Ministry of Tourism. In the Restoration, that contribution disappeared, but it was rectified by a contribution from a group of merchants. And it will be the same with the new covenant.
“Many thought they could not follow the Grand Prix in Mexico, but nobody counted on the head of government (Claudia Sheinbaum), who managed a group of companies to support the event,” Soberon explained.
The government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador cut support from previous administrations not only for motorsports, but also for the NBA, NFL and tennis tournaments, which had to find other ways to compensate for the absence of such resources.
Soberon explained that when that resource disappeared, the head of the capital’s government assembled a group of merchants with whom he recouped the loss.
“Previously, like many cities around the world, this was done with public resources, the difference is that we seek sponsorship from many businessmen,” Sheinbaum said. “Formula one is very special to the city. When we arrived we gave it that character.
Sheinbaum said the economic spill over the weekend of the race could reach 20,000 million pesos (about $100 million), but she also sees an added benefit in being the host.
“It’s probably the weekend with the biggest spillover of the year for the city, but more importantly, it makes the city visible to the rest of the world and more people want to visit,” Sheinbaum said.
Interest in Formula One in Mexico has existed for 60 years. The category has experienced three phases in the country: the first between 1962 and 1970, the second between 1986 and 1992 and the most recent one starting in 2015.
But in recent years, interest has grown rapidly in Mexican driver Sergio Pérez, who is currently second in the drivers’ standings.
“I’m happy and excited for the expansion, which means we’re going to have this party for many more years,” Pérez declared. “I hope it’s an excellent weekend and everything goes well.”
