Unequivocally the answer to that question for me is yes. Formula 1 has been a nomad in the United States since the final race at Watkins Glen in 1980, in total there has been 10 different venues for Formula 1 races in America.

We are consistently told of the importance of American market to the car makers involved in F1 and with a population of over 312,000,000 you can see the importance of this market. It is this vastness that is the problem for an international sport like F1. A country the size of the United States, that spans across 5 time zones is very insular when it comes to sport. Home grown sports like Baseball and American Football dominate the TV ratings, with the teams seldom playing outside of North America.

Their motorsports are no different. As long as F1 has been running America has had Indycar, their own open wheeled racing series with only a hand full of races taking place outside of its borders. The jewel in its crown is the Indy 500, one of the most prestigious races in motorsport.

Bernie Ecclestone  commented this week that F1 will never be a huge success in America despite having two races on the calendar from 2013. With F1 dipping into a country the size of Europe for two weekends a year, it’s difficult to keep awareness up throughout all of the 52 states.

I asked Peter Windsor, a well respected journalist , who has worked in F1 for many years whether F1 can be a success in America on Twitter earlier, he said “I think F1 can be huge in the USA – but only if it is properly promoted and marketed as a brand by the F1 industry as a whole.” If it is the manufactures that are looking for greater exposure stateside, I think they would be better off looking at Indycar.

As I have said before, hosting a F1 race is a privilege, not a right. I know that there is support for F1 in America. Through twitter I have spoken to many fanatical fans who have been starved of a home race since 2007. America should have a race on the calendar but with F1’s future moving ever faster eastwards, how long can it keep hold of two races?

A bumper grid of 25 car lined up for the inaugural Marshall GP iGP. After a week of frantic preparation, the cars were revealed to the world ahead of qualifying. The main talking point prior to any track action was the weather after several showers threatened to throw the teams set up into disarray after a dry practice session. Qualifying was dry and the Wacky Races car stormed to pole position, the top 10 was tight, with 3 tenths covering the top 6.

At 7pm GMT the race got under way with the pole sitter making the most of his advantage and started to scamper off into the distance setting a searing early pace. At the end of lap 1, the Horton Racing car entered the pits to change tyres after gambling on a wet race despite the cloudless sky at the start of the race, team owner, Peter Horton, took drastic action in the wake of this tactical error, replacing all high raking team members after the race “Due to starting a dry race on wet tyres I had no choice but to sack my entire staff. My driver will remain blameless.”

Another big loser in the opening exchange was the Marshall GP car, a strategic error saw them start with a higher fuel load than was necessary for the soft tyres, wearing them out by lap 8 and heavily compromising the second stint. Team Boss and league founder, Gary Marshall said “Coming into this race we had no real idea how far we would be able to g on the softer tyre, in hindsight we were far too optimistic with our strategy and paid the price. It’s a steep learning curve for all the teams on the grid and lessons will be learned going into next week’s race at Sepang.”

The early pace setting car of the wacky Racer team also fell foul of high tyre degradation in the first stint, eventually losing the lead to eventually finish 3^rd. Team boss was philosophical about it after the race “That was fun tonight, quite tense. We pushed too hard on first stint and compromised tyres on 2/3 stints. Happy with a podium though.”

Finishing just off the podium was the Not Another Lotus car making good ground from 7^th on the grid to run as high as 2^nd before pitting. Team Owner, K Gallagher was happy with his team’s performance, “Today’s race was seriously challenging for drivers and teams alike. The strategy was very tricky to call correctly, but in the end I think we did a good job, going for an aggressive first stint that allowed Kristaps to climb as high as second before the first pit stop. From there, he drove a very mature, controlled race, and at one point, it looked like we may have finished on the podium.

Alex Watson’s AWF1 racing entry enjoyed a good opening round, converting 2^nd on the grid into a 2^nd place finish and also picking up the fastest lap of the race with 1.24.712. “Happy to take a front row qualifying and convert to a solid second place in the race, very pleased with the Robert and the team.”

The team of the day and the story of the day goes to the race winner, Team Vodathone Fake McLaren. Starting 8^th, they quickly made head way through the field, eventually taking the lead mid way through the race and holding on for the win with a comfortable 6 second gap. Even more remarkable was the fact that they elected NOT to have anyone on the pit wall to call the strategy, instead relying on a pre-determined plan that paid off in spades. The mystical, boss of the team, doesn’t want to be identified and only left us with this short, rather bizarre statement after the race. “I am amazing. Though this is Vodathone McLaren Mercedes so it was to be expected. Mr Thomas will be banned from chinstrap beards.”

The championship moves on to Malaysia for round 2 on Christmas day, follow the race on twitter with the hashtag #igp.

Has there ever been more experienced drivers looking for a drive at this time of year?

All the recent talk has centred over the line ups of Lotus Renault, Williams and which of the three contracted drivers, Force India will go with.

Today’s announcement that Toro Rosso have released Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari in favour of Red Bull young guns, Daniel Ricciado and Jean-Eric Vernge came as a bit of a shock to most observers. The decision does leave an unprecedented number of drivers looking for a seat next year with the second William berth being the only realistic destination.

Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov, Rubens Barrichello, Adrian Sutil (If he loses his Force India seat), Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari are all now hunting to stay in the sports highest echelon in 2012. All will now be queuing up to talk to Sir Frank and Adam Parr over what they can bring to the team.

Barrichello may still get his 20th year in F1 as they continue to prepare their young Finnish protégée, Valtteri Bottas for a race seat in 2013. Sutil and Senna are both still strong candidates given the amount of backing they can bring to the team, also Petrov to a certain extent but I think he is a long shot.

Buemi and Alguersuari’s chances won’t be helped by the fact that no driver, apart from Sebastian Vettel has moved on to greater things after leaving STR. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed and Sébastien Bourdais have all fell by the way side after their time there.

What do you do to get your racing fix over the winter? Yes I hear you all say go to Donington on January the 7th to see the Grand Prix Collection with me, but that is one day out of the whole close season.

I’ve stumbled across this rather good-looking game, iGP Manager. Essentially, you have to cerate a team from the bottom up, hiring a driver, acquiring sponsors, managing resources and delegating responsibilities to you staff. Once your team is up and running, you have the opportunity to go testing before each race to fine tune your set up and to finalize race strategy. Re-fuelling is still permitted in this game and it’s down to you how much fuel you put in for each stint and on which compound of tyre. If one rival team always seems to have more pace than you, you can spy on particular areas of their car to see where they are gaining such an advantage.

It is also possible to poach driver/staff from rival teams by offering them more money that they are currently on. This game is sure to get you all addicted and there isn’t much else to do on a Sunday night at the minute, so sign yourselves up and try to get to the top step of the podium.

I have set up a league on the web site that will race every Sunday at 7pm from this week. The league name is Marshall GP iGP League and the password is sennaweek.

It should be a bit of F1 fun to help get us all through the slow winter months.

The response so far to this trip to see the Donington Collection has been great! So far you all know about getting to see the collection and the track walk for just £6 and now, thanks to my mate and fellow Williams fan, Paul Havell, we now have a fun quiz to complete on the day. Paul has collated some great questions from the 70′s to the present day so there should be something in there for everyone. A quiz wouldn’t be a quiz without a prize and thanks to my friends at Retro Formula 1, We have one of their fantastic shirts to give away, choose from classic Hesketh, Williams, March, and many more.

About Retro F1… The concept of Retro Formula 1 was forged in the mind of company founder Andrew Smith during his attendance at the 2009 British Formula One Grand Prix.

While visiting the retail village one thing caught his attention. It was not the hoards of people, 12 deep, queuing for the latest Brawn, Mercedes or Williams merchandising, it was the fact that no historic teams; the teams he had grown up with, were represented.It was as if in the frenetic world of modern F1 merchandising the teams, drivers and marques who had captured the public’s imagination decades before, had now been pushed to one side and overlooked.

Since the first Formula One race at Silverstone in 1950 Cars, Teams and Drivers have come and gone but the memories linger in the hearts of the race fan. The premise of Retro Formula 1 is to revive the memory of those illustrious racing teams that are still held so dear by the motor racing enthusiast.

In essence our goal is to reform the grid of great Formula One marques. 

So if you’re not already signed up for this great day out, please leave a comment in the box below along with your email address so I can send conformation to you.

The day only costs £6 and is a great chance to meet a room full of like minded people. The collection opens at 10am, please try to get there for 9.30am.