Formula 1 Is An American Sport Now

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The NFL. The NBA. MLB. Formula 1. Several years ago, it would’ve been ridiculous to juxtapose top-level Formula racing with some of America’s favorite pro sports leagues. Spa used to only mean one thing to most Americans, and joking about Ferrari’s clown-tier pit stop planning at the dinner table would be met with blank faces. Now though? F1’s earned its seat at the big table with all of America’s biggest sports. Need more proof? Andretti Cadillac has moved onto the next stage of becoming a real F1 team.

Andretti Global And Cadillac

The FIA wrote in a statement, “Following the conclusion of a comprehensive application process for prospective teams seeking to participate at a competitive level in the FIA Formula One World Championship, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile has concluded that the application by Andretti Formula Racing LLC should progress to the next stage.”

While Andretti Cadillac still has to come to a commercial agreement with Formula One Management, this latest development is a huge step in the process of trying to field a scratch-built American F1 team, as it signified formal approval of intent.

Rd 17 Japanese Grand Prix Friday 22nd September 2023 Suzuka International Racing Course Japan

So, how did we get here? How did Europe’s most exclusive motor racing series gain a massive American fanbase and attention from American racing teams? Well, the Liberty Media era of Formula 1 has something the series previously lacked: Accessibility. In the Bernie Ecclestone era, it used to be a huge pain in the ass to watch F1. Odd hours, odd channels, and virtually no effort to market the sport to Americans meant that it remained a sport for devotees, the sort of people who’d stay awake at ungodly hours to watch the Japanese Grand Prix and learn about developments from European sports websites. American media just wasn’t incentivized to give much of a shit.

That all changed in 2018, when American company Liberty Media brought F1 back to ESPN, opening Europe’s highest tier of open-wheel racing up to a broader audience. The sort that wasn’t so keen to ply through sketchy streaming sources or always be in the know for where to go (or have NBC Sports). This certainly helped, but the kick-start F1 needed in America was yet to come.

Love it or hate it, the real masterstroke was the soap-ification of the sport. Netflix’s “Drive To Survive” was a masterstroke, a look behind the scenes into the personalities and rivalries of Formula 1. It added a level of humanity to a previously inaccessible sport, then brought it to a wider audience while everyone was stuck inside with nothing to do. Oh, and then Formula 1 capitalized on this new audience by holding a Grand Prix in Miami.

Guess what? According to sports media outlet The Athletic, the Miami Grand Prix was the most-watched Formula 1 race of 2022, with a staggering 2.583 million viewers tuning in through legal American TV channels, and probably many more tuning in through illegal ones. According to NBC News, the 2022 American Grand Prix in Austin, T.X. “smashed the all-time attendance record for a race with 440,000 fans.”

Miami Grand Prix 2023

Oh, and F1’s audience, particularly its American audience, is still growing. WTF1 reported in March that the fifth season of “Drive To Survive” was the best-performing yet, with a 40 percent jump in first-week viewing minutes. In addition, the 2023 season opener was the most-viewed F1 race on ESPN ever, with an average of 1,353,000 viewers tuning in on that channel alone.

Sure, it’s a sport made up of teams largely based in the United Kingdom or Europe. Sure, the only current American team, Haas, is comically near the bottom of the F1 ladder and would be there but for the grace of God (or the gracelessness of teams with names that rhyme with Alfa). And, yeah, there are way more Finnish drivers than American drivers in the sport. It doesn’t really matter. America is just one Olivia Rodrigo-level popstar dating Esteban Ocon away from completely taking over.

The latest Andretti Cadillac news is just more proof that Formula 1 has finally gained mainstream acceptance in America. Just like Major League Baseball or the NFL, a Grand Prix is just something normal people put on the TV these days. Hotdogs and apple pie are optional, of course.

Now, who’s staying up for the Las Vegas Grand Prix?

(Photo credits: Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1, Cadillac, BWT Alpine)

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43 thoughts on “Formula 1 Is An American Sport Now”

  1. My Williams team shirt got a “Albion’s killing it!” comment from a gate guard at work last week. My hat got a comment Saturday. Thing is, I do like Alex but I’m really a James Vowles fan.

    Now if someone recognizes my Red 5 shirt, I’ll be really impressed…

  3. I’m hoping the Andretti HQ here in Fishers Indiana will actually happen. Looks like a massive economic boost. And no UAW to go on strike.

  4. I remember the days when F1 was “inaccessible”. I’d get up at like 5am because the races were in Yurp and started at noon local. They were on Speedvision, which forced us into a sky-high cable package. Most of the drivers were emotionless automatons who never let us see them up close. Points were only awarded to the top finishers. It seemed like it rained all the time.
    And you know what? It was better.

    2. Now it’s inaccessible because Miami/Vegas are trying to outdo themselves for most expensive F1 race.

      Be better if you drove to Montreal, or flew to Bahrain.

    3. It’s still borderline inaccessible. Idk about you, but here in California if you want to watch an F1 race live, that means waking up at 5 or 6am to watch. If you don’t have cable, you have to buy a special streaming package. That means you can wait and watch later in the day, but by that time, you’ll already know the results because the internet loves spoiling things for people.

  6. I have tried for many years to enjoy F1. The starts and first couple of turns are fun.
    The race is usually decided by lap 3. Usually only 2 drivers have a realistic shot at winning. On the plus side, the cars are technological marvels and the drivers have super human reactions. I just can’t find a soul in the sport. I admit, I’m the one with a problem. I’m glad others enjoy it.

    1. I know this is going to sound like a soccer fan talking to an NFL fan, but the real excitement isn’t at the front of the field but in the cars from about 9th-12 place fighting for the last couple points. Fortunately Verstappen’s utter dominance has forced the broadcast feeds to focus a lot more on those guys.
      I also love the knock-out qualifying format. The crescendos at the end of the three qualifying stages is often as good as the race.

  7. America is just one Olivia Rodrigo-level popstar dating Esteban Ocon away from completely taking over.

    If the whole Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce thing is any indication, F1 should pay Olivia Rodrigo a few million dollars to spend a few races in Ocon’s garage and chat with his mom. They’ll get that money and more back in a few days via Ocon merch sales.

      1. It’s not him, it’s her. She’s got Trump-level control over her followers, they’d walk over hot coals barefoot for her. So when she says “Travis is cool”, it has a huge impact.

      2. I still maintain that after Brexit we should have towed the whole country down to the Caribbean. I’m sure all our ex-colonies would love the sight of the old motherland heaving over the horizon.
        /s

  9. coincidentally, a rumor of an exclusive apple tv streaming offer came out yesterday.
    that would kill both cable and free tv, potentially endangering the sports growth.
    no subscription?
    no f1 for you!
    but there are about two billion reasons per year for liberty media to take the risk (twice as many reasons as the existing global tv deals).

    2. Ugh, that would be a shot right in the dong and balls. Absolute idiocy.

      In other words, a typical motorsports TV deal. Frickin’ A. I was hoping F1 had learned better.

  10. “And, yeah, there are way more Finnish drivers than American drivers in the sport. It doesn’t really matter.”

    Speaking as an honorary Finn this is not a bad thing. With WRC steadily falling by the wayside the great Finnish drivers have to go somewhere. And who among us failed to appreciate the national treasure that was Kimi Raikkonen?

  11. We’ll see what Formula One Management (the commercial rights holder) does. While they can’t keep Andretti off the grid, they can make it economically unviable. And for some reason they don’t seem to want any more cars on the grid.

    Neither do the teams, who will have to spilt the pie one more way. They all agreed to allow up to two more teams with the last Concorde Agreement – but they all seem to have conveniently forgotten that.

    My favorite is some of the a-hole team principals saying “you should buy an existing team” when Andretti has been trying to do that for many years, and they all keep turning him down – something these pinheads know but think the rest of us don’t.

  12. I thought the other teams didn’t want a new team to join because of revenue or some such thing. Good ole Boys saying they own this sport and you “Mericans can’t play

  13. I am a long-time F1 fan and have attended actual races. Part of the appeal is the Monaco level of excess. While I applaud some of the Liberty Media changes, such as a streaming package, I really don’t want it to lose the Euro-flair mystique.

    We have the NFL and Nascar as our Ringling Brothers. Let’s keep F1 as Cirque du Soleil.

        1. I also forgot to mention, the F1TV footage of Monaco this year was AMAZING! They had some new camera angles that really showed the speed of the cars. It was the most fun I’ve ever had watching the actual race.

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