By Alan Baldwin
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - MotoGP has immense potential for growth under new owners Liberty Media and can be compared to the Formula One of 20 years ago, KTM Tech3 owner and former Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner said on Thursday.
Speaking to Reuters ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone, an event that has a fraction of the attendance of the F1 grand prix at the same circuit, Steiner said the two-wheeled sport had an amazing show with commercial opportunities waiting
to be tapped.
"MotoGP doesn't have to look exactly at what F1 is doing, they can write their own story," he said. "You don't have to copy-paste the racing.
"F1 was good before Liberty, (former supremo) Bernie (Ecclestone) did a fantastic job, but Liberty gave it another spike. I think Liberty can do that (for MotoGP), maybe not at the scale like F1 -- not every sport can be F1 -- but it can be very big.
"MotoGP doesn't need help with the racing, leave it alone. But the rest of it, just (on) the presentation of everything, Formula One is top. MotoGP are good but they can need the help of Formula One."
ROOM FOR GROWTH IN AMERICA
Liberty Media acquired the F1 commercial rights in 2017 and took over MotoGP's parent company Dorna in 2024.
Steiner led a consortium that took over the KTM Tech3 team from the start of this year, assuming the role of CEO.
The Italian, who still attends Formula One races as a television pundit and spends much of his time in the United States, said the U.S. market could sustain more than the one current race. Formula One now has three U.S. rounds, after none as recently as 2011.
"I moved to the United States in 2006. I came from F1, people knew what F1 was but nobody could care about it," Steiner said. "Now everybody knows what F1 is and cares. I think MotoGP has got the potential...it can be bigger than it is."
MotoGP is dominated by Spanish and Italian riders -- with both countries also hosting multiple races -- and Steiner, whose team currently have Spaniard Maverick Vinales and Italian Enea Bastianini, said that needed to change with more talent brought in from elsewhere in the world.
Vinales will be missing from this weekend's race due to shoulder surgery and has been replaced by 35-year-old Spanish test rider Pol Espargaro.
Separately, Silverstone announced an extension to its contract that will keep the British Grand Prix -- which has had 11 different winners in the last 11 editions -- at the circuit through 2028.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
