MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The growing popularity of Formula 1 is full throttle in breaking through the American sports market.
Reigning two-time champion Max Verstappen put on a show on Sunday in the first of three F1 races in America this year to win the second Miami Grand Prix.
So what’s next for F1 attention in the United States? Austin, Texas October 20-22 and Newcomer Las Vegas November 16-18.
F1 wants to add American spectacle and competition to a sport steeped in tradition, so fans at home and abroad will be visiting American races for the next 10 years.
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“The sport is always growing and evolving and they’re not just doing the same as they have in the past,” said seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, the most popular F1 driver in America.
“They try new things. They’re trying to improve the show. And I fully support that.”
Can F1 compete with the Super Bowl in the US?
F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said this week that one in three F1 fans has followed the sport over the past four years and 40% of all fans are women. The Netflix series Drive to Survive, which debuted in 2019, sparked the surge. F1 had 5.7 million fans in races with 1.54 billion viewers worldwide in 2022.
F1 has seen the NFL market the Super Bowl into a week-long buildup before the main event every year. And F1 believes its three-day weekends of annual events in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas can rival the Super Bowl in attendance, viewership and economic impact.
“From our side, we think we bring a lot that’s not just fly in, have a football game and leave,” said Emily Prazer, the Las Vegas race’s chief commercial officer, who was an executive at Liberty Media, which owns F1 . Both Liberty and F1 promote Vegas racing.
The Miami Grand Prix took center stage on ABC Sunday afternoon, drawing in 270,000 visitors over three days (30,000 more than last year) as viewers watched F1 drivers navigate through an NFL stadium (Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins ) racing on a world-class race track.
Hip-hop pioneer and actor LL Cool J introduced the F1 drivers before the race as if they were prize contenders, although some of the drivers weren’t fans of theatrics and spectacle.
“I don’t think there’s any other sport in the world where you’re out there in the sun 30 minutes before you do your business with all the cameras on you and you make a little show of it,” Mercedes driver said George Russell who finished fourth. “I appreciate that in the entertainment world. But like I said, we really want the best for the sport.”
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross privately funded the Miami Grand Prix, while Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel realized the vision of giving South Florida an annual F1 race by 2032. Last year’s first race grossed $350 million for South Florida, while the 2020 Super Bowl grossed $572 million.
“I think the more people that come out and experience these events in the United States, experience Formula 1 racing, the more fans they’re going to be, and that just helps everyone, so I’m looking forward to that,” Garfinkel said.
Looking ahead to US races in 2023
Bobby Epstein helped create the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, which has brought an American touch to F1 since 2012. The race attracted an F1 record crowd of 440,000 fans last year and is aiming to reach 500,000 spectators this weekend in October.
Three weeks later, F1 returns to Las Vegas for the first time since failing after two races at Caesars Palace in 1982.
And if the Miami introduction was too splashy, imagine the fountains flowing at the Bellagio as a backdrop to F1 cars during a Saturday night street race on the Las Vegas Strip for fans of the sport old and new.
“The best way to describe it is that we are the show,” Prazer said of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. “And we’re going to make sure everyone is somehow engaged and interacting with the destination from landing to departure.”
Jim Allen – chairman of Hard Rock International, a partner of the Miami and Vegas races – says both locations appeal to the global fanbase that F1 hopes to lure to the United States. He waved the checkered flag after Sunday’s race.
“I think we have these great cities like Miami and Vegas that are international destinations,” Allen said. “I think that’s the formula for success.”
Can F1 supply American fans?
Still, fans who commit to travel and attend F1 races want the payout to be worth the build-up.
Verstappen was booed during the launch of the race in Miami and even stood on the podium when he received the winner’s trophy.
He started in ninth place after qualifying, which caused some excitement. But the biggest rising F1 star shredded the competition to win his third race of the season. His Red Bull teammate Sergio “Checo” Pérez won the other two.
Combined, Red Bull has led 257 of the 273 laps in the five races, with Verstappen ruling 236 of those laps. Only four of the other 18 drivers have led the other 16 rounds this year.
This is a league where Hamilton won six out of seven championships before Verstappen’s current two-year run and Mercedes-AMG Petronas won eight straight constructors’ championships before Red Bull won last season.
“I think it’s normal when you win and they don’t like who wins. So, that’s something for me, which is absolutely fine,” Verstappen said of the negative ovation from some. “As long as I’m at the top, that’s the most important thing for me. I take the trophy home and they go back to their houses and have a nice evening.”
F1 still needs to do some fine tuning on integration in America. But the commitment to it is unshakable.
“Right now is the moment for great positive results for Formula 1,” Domencalli said during an announcement for Puma as F1 apparel retailer this week.
“We can’t sit. We have to look ahead. We must be humble and not think that we are the best. We have a lot to do, a lot to improve. We always listen to new ideas, new thoughts from the traditional fans – if I say like me – and the new ones are very important for the sport.”
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