Updated:07/05/2022 00:50h
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Always a consumer of its own products (NBA, American football, baseball), nationalist in sports matters, American society is now open to a sport that it has always appreciated with disinterest or detachment. As if it were an intern who must make merits, Formula 1 enters the United States with force from the hand of Liberty Media, the company that owns North American owners. The USA has gone from being a residual venue on the calendar, linked to commercial and dissemination reasons, to a strategic and priority point. The Miami Grand Prix opens this weekend, which, together with the existing one in Austin and the future annexation of Las Vegas, will make the country of stars and stripes the most prolific in F1 races (three) in 2023.
Just as the NBA is considered a world championship, the United States has its own automotive tradition. The Nascar, series prototypes on circuits, the Indy and its racing cars on ovals, the Indianapolis 500 as a motor legend, the endurance races at Daytona or Sebring… He has never missed Formula 1, which colonizes dozens of of nations around the world.
42 F1 Grand Prix have been disputed throughout history, although the distribution has been unequal and full of gaps. Nine years without races from 1975 to 1984. Another nine from 1991 to 2000. Five years between 2007 and 2012. The fantastic Austin track has been established as a preferred location for the World Cup organizers for a decade. With Liberty’s arrival in F1 ownership, America has skyrocketed: Miami debuts and Las Vegas waits.
On the outskirts of Miami, next to the Hard Rock stadium where the Dolphins of the American football league play, a 5.4-kilometer street circuit has been built that rotates counterclockwise, which has low-speed sectors , fast curves and a 1.2 kilometer straight where there is supposed to be overtaking. In its effort to imitate Monaco (as Abu Dhabi or Singapore already do), the track has a fake marina and fake water that looks ‘cool’ on television images.
F1 logistics has involved drivers in social integration in the country. Lewis Hamilton has shared hours and mornings of golf with NFL star Tom Brady (seven-time Super Bowl champion), Max Verstappen and ‘Checo’ Pérez came to practice baseball pitches on the Miami Marlins field. The myth Michael Jordan coincided in promotional events with Pierre Gasly, the pilot of AlphaTauri. Lando Norris will run in Miami with a helmet that imitates a basketball. George Russell went with his Andalusian girlfriend to see an NBA game. Legends to the rescue of a sport that never succeeded in the United States. The sense of spectacle that is so American spreads, the event that not only offers races but also a Sunday day of fun with family or friends.
The current warmth of reception stands in stark contrast to the days of the past, when Ecclestone scrambled unsuccessfully to find venues in the United States to attract fans, broadcasters and sponsors. Not surprisingly, the official currency of F1 is the majesty of the dollar.
Lewis Hamilton, who likes to delve into social nuances, had his say: “I grew up seeing that there was a huge disconnect in the United States and the rest of the world in terms of passion for F1, so it’s really amazing to see what we have achieved and that interest has grown.
Buoyed by record television ratings and the success of the series’Drive to Survive’ on Netflix, F1 enters the United States. Experts at SportBusiness.com calculate that 40% of the 127 sponsorship deals around F1 last year were with US-based brands.
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