START YOUR ENGINES

Photos: EPA | Reuters By: MORGAN BOLTON

There has been a massive push in recent times to get Americans to enjoy Formula One.

THE United States Grand Prix is not one of Formula One’s most glamorous events on the race calendar, but there is no denying its importance in the growth and prosperity of the sport.

In short, the Land of the Free might not want F1, but F1 certainly needs the Home of the Brave.

There can be no denying that the sport has battled to capture the imagination of the US public and finds itself competing against the behemoth IndyCar and Nascar viewership ratings. Even so, the US-based consortium that owns F1, Liberty Media, has made it their mission to win over the locals and expand its brand amongst a country of 333 million people.

“Our strategy in the future will be to be more present in the US,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said earlier this year. “It’s a work in progress. But I can guarantee to you that there is now big interest in the USA with Formula 1.”

The reasons for the strategy are clear: The wealth that an American audience can bring to the sport is arguably unmatched by any other country. The dollar is still king!

As such, there has been a massive push by Liberty to get Americans more involved in the sport, and despite a cancelled 2020 GP at the Circuit of the Americas, there has been an upward trend in participation and viewership.

The 2019 event in Austin, for instance, enjoyed a 40 000 spectator increase over the previous year, while last year as viewership for the sport fell around the world due to Covid-19, the US held steady and even saw a marginal gain.

The biggest reason for this stability seems to be the free-rights that ESPN enjoys after Liberty cancelled a reportedly $4 million (R59.3m) contract with NBC – a tactic that concentrates on quantity over any financial considerations.

The F1 calendar will introduce a second GP to the United States in a 10-year deal.

To further facilitate this growth, the F1 calendar will introduce a second GP to the country in a 10-year deal, a street circuit around Miami next year, while Netflix’s Drive to Survive has also played its part in generating interest worldwide.

Perhaps the biggest concern, however, is the lack of an American driver. The last US driver to win a race was Michael Andretti at the Dutch GP in 1978, while Alexander Rossi had a five-event stint in 2015. Currently, there are no US drivers within F1, despite Haas F1 being owned by an American.

F1 needs to tackle this specific problem and continue to invest heavily in the US – it is key to their survival.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel enjoys the moment at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas in 2012.