Is F1 now the fastest growing sport in America?
As the world moved into the 21st Century over 20 years ago, sports columnists called NASCAR “the fastest growing sport in America”.
Now, that title should arguably be given to another form of motorsport: Formula One.
Even just a few years ago, the thought of F1 gaining traction in the United States would have been laughed at. The open-wheel racing series, which only competes on road and street courses, has long been associated with Europe, the Far East, Mexico, Canada, South America and other global hot spots.
American audiences only cared for stock car racing and the only open-wheel race casual sports fans knew of was the Indianapolis 500.
But if Wednesday’s announcement of a Formula One race partly on the famed Las Vegas Strip in November 2023 has proven anything, it's that F1 has found a new home in America.
And it’s here to stay.
Las Vegas will be the third event in the U.S. to join the F1 calendar, joining Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and the new street race in Miami, which takes the green flag on May 8.
While Wednesday night's announcement came as somewhat of a surprise, planning for the race had been ongoing for several months. And it's not surprising as Liberty Media, Inc., which purchased ownership of the F1 Series in 2017, is headquartered right here in the good old U-S-of-A.
In addition to three exciting events stateside, American fans may soon have one of their own to root for on the track.
Twenty-two-year-old Colton Herta, who is already a star and proven race winner in IndyCar, will test a McLaren car later this year and is already one of the expected drivers for a potential new (or potentially merged) F1 entry fielded by his IndyCar owner Michael Andretti.
If the Andretti foray to F1 occurs, it will become the second American team in the series. The U.S. also has an existing Formula One team in Haas F1, which debuted in 2016. Haas is currently ranked fifth out of 10 entries in the constructor standings after the first two grand prix's contested so far this season.
With the sudden influx of interest in F1 by U.S. fans, teams and competitors, outsiders might scratch their heads at how such a foreign sport suddenly became so popular in a country that traditionally doesn’t care for international competitions.
The answer can best be described with three words: Netflix and ESPN.
Making its debut in 2019, Formula One: Drive to Survive has become one of Netflix’s most popular programs. The streaming service inked an exclusive contract to produce a docu-series giving a behind-the-scenes look at the sport the year prior, and the series has been credited for attracting new fans to the sport, especially here in the U.S.
Naturally, many of the new F1 fans created through Drive to Survive decided to follow the sport more closely.
As a result, in comes ESPN.
At the end of the 2010s, it looked as if “Worldwide Leader in Sports” was about ready to ditch motorsports entirely. ESPN did not renew its NASCAR contract at the end of the 2014 season, and their NHRA and IndyCar coverage concluded following the 2015 and 2018 seasons, respectively.
However, F1 came to ESPN in 2018, and the new broadcast partnership (which was offered to ESPN by F1 for free) debuted an unfamiliar concept to American sports fans - commercial-free coverage.
The partnership clearly has worked. Formula One is experiencing its highest ratings ever in the U.S. Last season was the most viewed in U.S. broadcast history, with an average audience of 949,000 viewers per race.
Last weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was also the most-viewed F1 race on ESPN since the network acquired the rights in 2018 - and the most-viewed F1 event on cable since 1995.
The telecast averaged 1.445 million viewers and led all of U.S. cable for multiple key demographics including the all-important 18-34 age group.
With increasing ratings, multiple races stateside, and the likely inclusion of an American driver and another American team, F1 will continue to enjoy a growth in popularity here in the U.S.
One has to wonder what the rival and smaller NTT IndyCar Series will now do with the further encroachment into its American backyard by F1. Rumors have been floated for years that IndyCar might hold a race in Europe -- England's Brands Hatch and Belgium's Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, otherwise known simply as "Spa"-- have been rumored as potential locations targeted by IndyCar to compete upon.
However, talk about a European IndyCar race tapered off considerably once the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In an Autoweek story earlier this week, IndyCar president Jay Frye said an international race was unlikely in the immediate future.
“Right now, there's enough opportunity for us still in North America,” Frye told Autoweek. “To get to where we need to be or where we need to go next, really, the focus has been on North America.”
But with Wednesday night's news, plus with four of the current F1 tracks having their hosting agreements with the series expiring at year's end, one has to wonder if IndyCar may suddenly dust off those European plans now.
And fast!
Follow AutoRacingDigest.com writer Michael Eubanks on Twitter @MEubanks_writer