Formula 1, as a global racing series, is immensely popular. It is, however, generally considered to not be a popular with an American audience, though its popularity seems to be growing in the States.
The perception is that F1 struggles — or, past tense, struggled — to gain a foothold in the States because so many races are held while most of us are sleeping, and there aren’t many American drivers, and the racing can be sometimes boring.
On the other hand, F1 has recently grown in popularity in this country, thanks in part to the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive. In fact, the series has gotten so popular in the U.S. that there are now three races within our borders this season. One in Miami, one in Austin, and one in Las Vegas. Canada, of course, has long had a stop on the circuit, for those F1 fans who wanted to watch a Grand Prix live without sacrificing sleep.
Miami took place last weekend, with Lando Norris finally notching his first victory. It was easy enough for American audiences to tune in — the race was broadcast on ABC and started around 3 pm CST.
Not only that, but race fans who follow more than one series didn’t have to divide their attention, thanks to Mother Nature. The NASCAR race at Kansas was scheduled to start before the F1 race but it was delayed by rain and didn’t start until well after the F1 race finished. IndyCar, meanwhile, was off.
So, I ask of you, B and B, how many of you tuned in? Despite being a casual F1 fan at best, I watched every lap, though at times the racing was dull enough that I started scrolling Twitter/X on my phone.
I don’t watch a ton of F1 because I a) don’t want to lose sleep and b) forget to DVR the races, but I watched this one. I will probably catch the end of the Monaco race before the Indy 500, and I will probably watch the Texas stop. I might even watch Vegas despite the odd 10 pm PST start time.
So while I tend to mostly stick to NASCAR and IndyCar, I definitely tuned in to this F1 race.
Did you?
Sound off below.
[Image: motorsports Photographer/Shutterstock.com]
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