Formula 1 is on the rise in the United States

2023-05-07 17:06:14

Last year, the Miami Grand Prix was “the place to be”. Its promoters had trumpeted it in all tones, celebrating the installation of their barnum in Florida for the first time in the history of Formula 1. And the publicity had worked perfectly: stars per kilometer, influencers at all turns, images from all directions on social networks and televisions, and hundreds of thousands of fans breaking on the tarmac.

Same madness this year? Not quite. The places for the Grand Prix on Sunday May 7 were not snapped up like in 2022. But what does it matter to Liberty Media, the American company that has owned Formula 1 since 2017. The axis of communication, this time, is elsewhere. In the fact that America is back in the game, really. The time when F1 did not fascinate the crowds in a country celebrating first, in automotive matters, the racing cars of Nascar on their oval tracks, is well and truly over. The proof: the F1 calendar has three dates in the United States this year. A first since 1982.

I gave birth to Las Vegas

After Miami this spring, the mechanical monsters will drive to Austin in October for the traditional United States Grand Prix, which has been back on the program since 2012. But above all, they will take over the “city of vice” in mid-November for a Las Vegas Grand Prix. object of all attention. And for good reason: it is Liberty Media that directly organizes it, unlike all the other events entrusted to external partners.

The stakes are therefore high, and Liberty Media is betting big in Las Vegas. The race must take the famous “Strip”, the emblematic boulevard of the city. Exceptionally, the Grand Prix is ​​scheduled for a Saturday evening, at night therefore, because it is beautiful in a city at night, and at prime time for television viewing. Glitter and tinsel on the menu, of course, and festivities that will be gradually unveiled, the organizers evoking a « show total », like what is done for the final of the American football championship. And maybe better. A study by the specialized firm Applied Analysis measures the economic impact of the next Superbowl 2024 in Paradise, the neighboring city of Las Vegas, at 550 million euros, half less than the 1.2 billion euros in revenue estimated for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with 100,000 daily visitors expected during the four days devoted to the race.

“Thanks to the event, there will be even more recognition for F1 in the United States, and the race will start a new round of interest from sponsors.”, recently assured Greg Maffei, the big boss of Liberty Media who rarely speaks about F1. For the group, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is ​​the flagship product to impose at the head of the gondola. With exemplary value for all Grand Prix promoters around the world. The case can only be a success, the local authorities having also recently voted a reserve of the “Strip” for the event over the next ten years. Suffice to say that Liberty Media must not miss out on surfing ever more on the enthusiasm of new F1 fans in the United States.

New players approaching

Thanks to the documentary series launched by Netflix in 2019, Drive to survive, Formula 1 has revived the interest of the American public, especially that of young people. But you still have to maintain it. If Günther Steiner, the Italian at the helm of the only American team, Haas, has become one of the “darlings” of the Netflix series, it is no coincidence. There is still a real local hero missing from the public across the Atlantic. First American at the wheel of an F1 since 2015, as second driver this year at Williams, Logan Sargeant is still a little young (22 years old), and could not do better than 12^e in Bahrain for the first four races of the season.

For the future, other actors are mobilizing in any case to hoist the star-spangled banner above the paddock. The manufacturer Ford announced last February its return as engine supplier to the Red Bull and Alpha Tauri teams in 2026, after more than 20 years of absence. And another major player is pawing at the door of F1: Michael Andretti, who hopes to clinch a place on the starting grid in two or three years with his Andretti Cadillac team. The son of Italian-American driver Mario Andretti, world champion in 1978, also once at the wheel, was the last American to stand on a podium in F1. In third place in the Italian Grand Prix in… 1993. Another time. Soon found?