F1 has registered trademarks for a Chicago Grand Prix with the United States Patent Office.
F1 recently registered trademarks for a Grand Prix in another city in the United States, sparking intrigue and speculation.
With Formula 1 increasing its roster of races based in the United States to three races following last year’s addition of a Las Vegas Grand Prix, the registering of new trademarks for another race in the States has prompted speculation for the future.
Las Vegas joined the calendar in late 2023 as the first race promoted and organised completely by Liberty Media-owned Formula 1, in addition to the existing races at the Circuit of The Americas, which runs as the United States Grand Prix, and the Miami Grand Prix.
Documents lodged with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on the 19th of January 2024 show Formula One Licencing has lodged applications for four Chicago-based race names.
These include ‘Formula 1 Chicago Grand Prix’, ‘Grand Prix of Chicago’, ‘Formula 1 Grand Prix of Chicago’, and ‘Chicago Grand Prix’.
If and when approved, F1 would hold the rights to use those titles to market a race in Chicago if such a race ever transpires.
F1 has done similar in the past – lodging trademarks for a Miami and Las Vegas Grand Prix years before the races became a reality.
Chicago is one of the major US cities, and is located in the state of Illinois with a population of 2.7 million – significantly more than either Miami or Las Vegas, but matching the population of Miami-Dade County and only slightly behind the population of the state of Nevada.
Located in the north-east of the country, Chicago could represent a strong option if F1 is looking to hold races in opposing corners of the United States… but is this likely to happen over the next few years?
PlanetF1.com understands there are currently no plans in place to go racing in Chicago, even at a negotiation stage, and that the move could be simply pre-emptive to protect intellectual property and prevent other entities from using that branding.
For instance, F1 lodged similar trademarks for a New York Grand Prix in late 2017 but, over six years later, a race in the city hasn’t transpired. The trademarks for the New York race were registered in the same year as Miami and Las Vegas, with two of those three races having become a reality since.