F1 News: 2023 Belgian Grand Prix Sees Spike In American Viewership

Formula 1 has been witnessing record-breaking viewership in the U.S. in 2023, despite no wins for non-Red Bull teams so far.

As per ESPN, the recent Belgian Grand Prix drew an average of 1.17 million viewers, a 11% increase from 2022 and the highest for the event. The race also attracted 492,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic, making it the most-viewed Sunday program on ESPN platforms for this group.

The viewership trend continued across the weekend with the Saturday sprint and Friday's qualifying session, attracting 555,000 and 405,000 viewers respectively on ESPN2. Thus far, the 2023 F1 season's first 12 races averaged 1.24 million viewers per race on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC, a slight increase from the overall 2022 season's average viewership of 1.21 million - the highest ever for F1 in the U.S.

The 2023 season has seen three of the four largest live audiences in U.S. television history. While the inaugural Miami GP in 2022 remains the most viewed at 2.6 million, this year's Miami (1.96m), Monaco (1.79m), and Canada (1.76m) races are the next highest in terms of live telecast audiences. Only two races, Australia (556K viewers) and Azerbaijan (959K viewers), averaged less than 1 million viewers this year.

"@ESPN got 1.17 million viewers for Sunday's @F1 race @CircuitSpa, up 11% from 1.05 million last year. At the summer break, F1 is averaging 1.24 million viewers on U.S. TV, down slightly from this point last year but up slightly from the 2022 full-season average."

🇧🇪@ESPN got 1.17 million viewers for Sunday's @F1 race @CircuitSpa, up 11% from 1.05 million last year.

🔲 At the summer break, F1 is averaging 1.24 million viewers on U.S. TV, down slightly from this point last year but up slightly from the 2022 full-season average. pic.twitter.com/OqPblbasac
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) August 2, 2023

The Austin Grand Prix is set to take place on 20 - 22 October with the inaugural and highly-anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix set to be the penultimate on the 2023 calendar on 16 - 18 November.

The popularity of Formula One has spiked since the release of Netflix's Drive to Survive and has clearly kept the momentum going with these recent increases. It's a promising sign especially amid comments from fans that the 2023 season has become "boring" due to Red Bull's ongoing dominance winning every race so far.

The next F1 race is set to take place after the summer break on 25 - 27 August for the Dutch Grand Prix.