Alpine team boss Flavio Briatore says he and now United States president Donald Trump were the instigators of the ultimately unsuccessful plan for a Formula 1 grand prix on a New Jersey street track in the 2010s.

Briatore recalled his story in The Race Business’s ‘In Conversation With…" series with Darren Cox.

He said that after the demise of the Indianapolis/F1 partnership in 2007, he joined forces with Trump to pitch a new US GP to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

"Sure, Donald had no idea as well about Formula 1 - but he's a great promoter," said Briatore, who would later emulate Trump by presenting the Italian version of The Apprentice TV franchise, as Trump had in the US.

"At the time, he promoted boxing, he promoted everything in Vegas, etc, etc…"

"And I made Donald talk with Bernie. I was in the office of Donald. We put in [a] video with Bernie to [find], what was the best place in New York to do the race.

"And Donald [told] us New York is very difficult for a million reasons, but Jersey was the place. So Bernie started negotiating Jersey with two or three different people. 

"But we never succeeded, because Formula 1 was not… considered something special. You talk about… NASCAR, you talk about Indy[Car], completely different business. And Formula 1 was not [valued] at all."

By the time the New Jersey plan progressed, F1 had already secured a new US home at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas from 2012 onwards, but it still committed to adding a second US race - under the Grand Prix of America title - from 2013 on the Port Imperial street track in New Jersey.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel and grand prix winner David Coulthard sampled the track layout in road cars as part of a Red Bull and Infiniti promotion, but the actual race never became a reality - its F1 calendar debut repeatedly postponed before ultimately being largely forgotten.

Briatore adds that Liberty Media - who purchased F1 from Ecclestone in 2017 - has changed how F1 is valued in the US. 

"Now, you go to America, you go to Miami, 500,000 people [attend].

"You go to Austin, full, you go to Vegas. You see, Formula 1 is changing dramatically. You see, every race is sold out, sold out, [whether it’s] raining, not raining.

"And, what has changed is really the commercial side. Liberty is much more open. Bernie was very strong, very restrictive in the business.

"And, Liberty opened the commercial side, opened completely. Marketing opened completely. And, Liberty is working with the team in [a] very good partnership, if you want."

You can watch the full 'In Conversation With...' interview from The Race Business in which Flavio Briatore talks to Darren Cox about all things Gucci, Benetton, F1, Alpine, and more, below or listen to it here.