Yahoo Sports Formula One's Boom Times Are (Still) Alive and Well
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“America is all about speed. Hot, nasty, badass speed.” I couldn't stop thinking about the quote—which opens the 2006 racing comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rick Bobby—during my weekend at the U.S. Grand Prix in late October.
The annual Formula One event in Austin, Texas, features everything a spectator could ask for in a three-day weekend packed with high-speed racing. Incredibly fast cars? Check. Outdoor barbecue? More brisket than I could eat in a lifetime. Heated competition? Hotter than a Carolina Reaper under a blistering ninety-five-degree sun. After the first car whizzed by me at over 200 miles per hour, I was ready to call the 21st-century chariot race my personal sporting event of the year. With this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix marking another major stateside moment for the sport, I have to ask: Why did it take so long for America to catch on?
Lewis Hamilton, the seven-time Formula One world champion, told The Athletic earlier this year that he “couldn’t fully understand” why American audiences didn’t love Formula One as much as football or basketball. “When I went to NFL and NBA games, seeing how passionate the Americans are about sport,” Hamilton said, he wondered “how they hadn’t yet caught the bug.”
Still, the sport’s popularity in America has boomed over the last five years, thanks to some major contributing factors. For starters, the Formula One calendar added a third race in the states last year, when a circuit through the Las Vegas strip followed the annual events at Miami and Austin. We can also point to Sirius XM and Live Nation’s umbrella company, Liberty Media, purchasing the Formula One Group in 2017. The deal moved the broadcasting headquarters for the sport stateside, as well as the promotional and organizational rights.
Around the same time, a Netflix documentary series titled Drive to Survive delivered a behind-the-scenes look at racing’s biggest stars—including Hamilton. Six seasons later, and now a significant portion of Formula One’s U.S. fanbase will likely tell you that their initial interest stemmed from the Netflix series.
A staggering 3.1 million viewers tuned into the Miami Grand Prix earlier this summer, according to ESPN, setting the all-time U.S. television record for a live Formula One telecast. The sports network reported that another 1.5 million viewers on average watched the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, while roughly 400,000 fans attended in person.
I was among the crowd that weekend at Austin's Circuit of the Americas—huffing the smell of burnt rubber tires and yelling over the noise of V6 turbo engines. I picked my jaw up off the ground when billionaire Mercedes Formula One CEO Toto Wolff sat down for breakfast at my hotel. And from my view at the finish line, the cars were so close to fans that it felt like I could reach out and touch them.
Actually, I did touch them. I joined a Pirelli-sponsored Formula One event called a “Hot Lap.” Hell, I even sat in a McLaren sports car for a quick drive. A professional driver whipped me around the track at over 140 miles per hour, as I held on to a little door handle for dear life. Exhilarating? Sure. Incredibly frightening? Yes. It’s like a rollercoaster, but if the person sitting right next to you is in control of the ride. You truly feel like you’re going to die. I nervously laughed the entire time.
After I hopped out of the car and regained control of my stomach, Flea (from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, of course) jumped into another car ahead of me. Later that weekend, I saw Gordon Ramsay curse his way through a quick lap. As you might’ve guessed by my company for this event, the Hot Lap wasn't cheap. The three-minute-ride cost fans around $10,000 this year; it's an extra perk included in the VIP ticket package. As you also might’ve guessed, I did not fork out $10,000 for the Hot Lap—the kind folks at American Express invited Esquire to Austin for the weekend.
If you're not familiar with American Express's ties to Formula One: They're expanding to become an official global partner for Formula One in 2025, with amenities including presale ticket windows and handy on-site radios. (U.S. Open Tennis fans will no doubt be familiar with the helpful gadgets.) American Express also sponsors women’s F1 Academy league driver Jessica Edgar, who is set to make a special appearance for card members this weekend in Las Vegas.
Following the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, the Las Vegas Grand Prix holds another chance to boost the popularity of Formula One even higher this weekend. The street race is one of the latest and most exciting additions to the sport, thanks to its nighttime kickoff and its obvious ties with the entertainment hub on the Vegas strip. Formula One is also working in collaboration with Top Gun: Maverick filmmaker Joseph Kosinski to produce a F1 film starring Brad Pitt out in theaters on June 25, 2025.
Now, can Formula One could add an American driver? Then we would really start cooking.
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