“Over the previous 5 years, we now have carried out a really focused technique to deliver Method 1 ever nearer to the American followers,” F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali tells Motorsport.com when discussing the expansion within the USA.
Has the technique been profitable? Effectively, if Shakira had been a mathematician, there is no such thing as a doubt she would have agreed that the numbers don’t lie as a result of, to eek extra out of the strangled musical metaphor, F1 has damaged into America very similar to The Beatles managed within the Nineteen Sixties.
Its personal figures recommend there are actually 52 million F1 followers in America, a rise of greater than 10% from 2024, whereas half of these supporters have adopted the collection within the final 5 years.
Viewership can also be up; ESPN won’t stay the house of F1 within the USA for for much longer, however its stay race viewers has doubled since 2018 and to date this yr there was a noticeable enhance in viewers for the opening 5 rounds of the championship.
“F1 has by no means been stronger globally, and the expansion in the USA has been one of many major drivers of our improvement lately,” Domenicali identified.
Stefano Domenicali
Picture by: Andrea Diodato – NurPhoto – Getty Photos
“Over the previous 5 years, we now have carried out a really focused technique to deliver Method 1 ever nearer to the American followers – not solely throughout race weekends, however all year long, by way of content material, occasions and new engagement platforms.
“The main focus is on persevering with to present our followers what they need in a type they wish to eat it. We should keep in mind that whereas we’re a sport we now have grown in attain and provide, and we’re not solely competing with different sports activities however types of leisure. This can be a massively aggressive area the place totally different age teams act in several methods and count on other ways to have interaction with manufacturers and leisure.
“Preserving F1 related all yr is significant. This yr we’ll see the F1 film launched, which will probably be an enormous second for our sport as we attain new followers globally and can have a big effect within the US. We have now new partnerships arising that can additional ingrain our model with the US client, and naturally we now have Cadillac, an iconic US model, becoming a member of the grid from 2026. We have now to be culturally related within the US, and that’s on the coronary heart of our technique.”
It’s a technique that additionally contains the ten present groups on the grid, and Aston Martin managing director of business and advertising and marketing Jefferson Slack has a novel perception into how F1 fandom has developed within the USA lately, having additionally seen the darkish days of Indianapolis 2005 when 14 Michelin drivers didn’t begin the race, for security causes.
The beginning of the race with solely six vehicles
Picture by: Steve Swope / Motorsport Photos
“Firstly, the game has, let’s consider, cracked the US market. I am American, and once I was younger, Method 1 simply wasn’t a part of our world,” he advised Motorsport.com.
“Bernie [Ecclestone] tried to do a number of issues, and I am going to always remember watching the race at Indy when, what’s it, 14 vehicles pulled off, and identical to: ‘Okay, this isn’t going to tug within the American sports activities client who has entry to the perfect on this planet, each domestically and internationally’.”
So what, in Slack’s thoughts, ultimately turned the tide in America? Plainly Netflix, the potential future house of F1 Stateside, performed an enormous half.
“Take a look at the entire Drive to Survive impact, which I feel has had a world influence however is very essential in the USA – and while you take a look at the demographics, the game has gotten youthful, it is gotten extra common,” he stated.
“I’ve conferences on a regular basis with guys like me, and I ask in the event that they like Method 1? And an American man will say: ‘No, I do not actually observe it, however my college-age daughter loves the game, so we watch it collectively’.”
Domenicali touched on Cadillac’s impending arrival and the F1 film, launched in June, with Slack highlighting Drive to Survive, which has been renewed for season eight. John Rowady, founder and CEO of US-based sports activities advertising and marketing company rEvolution, believes the three issues are intrinsically linked to F1 discovering a house in the USA.
“It is a wonderful sign that F1 has change into part of the American sports activities cloth, and it’s right here to remain,” he advised Motorsport.com.
“It’s the solely really world ‘tremendous league’ providing fandom from anyplace with out having to displace it from stick and ball sports activities. American sports activities followers gravitate in direction of authenticity – now that the game has re-entered the American market and zeitgeist in an genuine and significant means, followers are connecting, exploring and fascinating.”
Excited followers fill a grandstand
Picture by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Photos
The mannequin put in place by F1, which in fact contains three grands prix a season with Austin and Las Vegas on the calendar alongside Miami, attracts American manufacturers in addition to followers.
“We’re a expertise enterprise. We win or lose primarily based on our expertise. So you place these two issues collectively, you say to an organization: ‘Hey, hear, you need a world platform… there’s nothing prefer it,” provides Slack.
“Now it is as much as us to take good benefit of that but additionally ensure we do the proper issues on fan engagement and different issues to maintain folks . However at the least for the preliminary half, it has been extraordinarily profitable.
“There’s the macroeconomic points taking place on this planet as we speak, so I do not understand how that can have an effect on. It is not going to be useful. However placing that apart, the game simply continues to develop in that area, and if you happen to take a look at the highest 100 tech firms, I’d say 50 to 75 are within the sport. You are not going to search out that in another world platform.”
American manufacturers particularly have appeared to learn from F1’s increase of their house nation by partnering up with groups or the championship itself, with extra of them than ever now onboard up and down the pitlane.
“Since 2018, the variety of American-based companions has greater than doubled,” Bjorn Stenbacka of Spomotion Analytics defined to Motorsport.com.
“In 2024, it reached an all-time excessive with 115 and that has been matched in 2025. With new partnerships anticipated to be introduced forward of the upcoming races within the US, it is probably that 2025 will set a brand new file.
“Nonetheless, the fast progress seen lately seems to be slowing, suggesting the variety of U.S. companions is starting to stabilise at this elevated degree.
“To see the attain of American manufacturers, Ferrari is a good instance. Italy has been the primary nation on its partnership listing, most likely because the begin. However final yr US handed Italy – a historic swap – and this yr, to date Italy and US are equal.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Picture by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Photos
The outdated adage of ‘construct it and they’re going to come’ might be utilized to US fandom, and subsequent brand-rush, in F1 whereas additionally being true relating to the literal bricks and mortar used to create a full-time Las Vegas residency alongside the yearly grand prix.
“This dynamism has made Method 1 much more enticing for American industrial companions, who see in our sport not solely a direct reference to an more and more giant and various viewers, but additionally a privileged entry to a novel world community, with 24 races in 21 international locations. A chance that, within the world sports activities panorama, is unparalleled,” added Domenicali.
As Stenbacka suggests, there was a partnership plateau relating to US manufacturers getting into F1 as the expansion in that sector at the least begins to gradual.
So simply how far can F1 proceed to develop in America, particularly when it’s now trying to compete with the most important established sporting leagues such because the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL in addition to school sport and different race collection?
“It is not one or the opposite,” Slack stated on the topic. “The NFL is the perfect sports activities enterprise mannequin ever created, however it is extremely, very U.S-led, whereas what we’re tapping into is a world platform – and as nice because the NFL is, it isn’t a world platform.
“Method 1 reaches virtually each essential market on this planet. Not one of the U.S. sports activities try this. So it is only a completely totally different factor. Three races (within the US) appears to me adequate to me nevertheless it’s 25% of the world financial system, so you would clearly have one other race from an financial standpoint.”
Whereas Domenicali spoke of a “very focused technique” he additionally insisted F1 was conscious of the legacies behind the main US sports activities.
“We have to be respectful of extremely established US sports activities,” he stated.
“Firstly, we now have 24 occasions in a single yr, and different sports activities have a number of occasions and video games each week, so the provide is totally different. Our goal is to proceed our progress, constructing on our passionate fanbase and improbable industrial partnerships, and I’m formidable in what we are able to obtain.
“The final 5 years have proven what is feasible, and as a sport I consider we are able to attain locations culturally that different sports activities can’t and that we provide a world proposition, commercially, that’s distinctive. We love racing within the US, the followers have unbelievable ardour, and we’re solely simply getting began.”
Rowady, in the meantime, pinpointed the place F1 remains to be discovering shortcomings when in comparison with these lengthy since established American sporting manufacturers.
“Direct comparability to legacy US sports activities leagues the place groups are grounded in communities and native traditions inadvertently diminishes analysing the improbable outcomes F1 is having within the US,” he stated.
McLaren and Crimson Bull followers rejoice in a grandstand
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Photos
“I discover the actual story for F1’s progress trajectory is within the demographic seize. In comparison with the large 4 leagues, F1 boasts a youthful fanbase and is especially profitable in attracting 16-24-year-olds, a lot of them females. Within the U.S., the common F1 fan is between 32 and 35 years outdated, notably youthful than the NFL (common age 50), NBA (42), MLB (57), and NHL (49). F1 doesn’t must chase the 40–50-year-old demographic — it’s already cultivating Gen Z and Gen Alpha, the longer term leaders and shoppers in America. The long run lies with them.
“Moreover, with extra American firms getting concerned by way of sponsorship and industrial improvement, that brings with it the American financial engine for progress. F1’s start-and-stop US engagement phenomenon pre-2018 is over.
“Nonetheless, F1 continues to face obstacles in what we name fan monetization in comparison with what US sports activities leagues are in a position to provide. Licensed merchandise and leisure expertise [i.e. multiple F1 touchpoints for fan engagement] stay both troublesome to entry, non-existent and/or priced at a premium.
“Whereas F1’s “way of life” model is very aspirational in our tradition, it usually feels unapproachable for the broader public, making it a hurdle to construct the identical mass viewers scale seen in different main U.S. sports activities leagues.”
On this article
Mark Mann-Bryans
Method 1
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