In the United States, Formula 1 is still a relatively foreign sport and concept. This is in large part due to the popularity of NASCAR, and the fact that F1 conflicts with Major League Baseball and the National Football League–which fills up the entire scheduling lineup of most major sports networks on Sundays in the late summer and early fall. This is a challenging conflict because Sundays are also F1 race days. On top of that, America is home to one Formula 1 team–Haas–and the last time there was an American driver on the grid was in 2015 in Alexander Rossi.
While Formula 1 is rapidly growing in popularity in the U.S., if we want to compete with the rest of the world, we have a lot of work to do.
When most people think of Formula One, they immediately think about modern legends like seven-time World Champion, Lewis Hamilton. After all, everyone has an opinion about the man, good or bad. They also think about the drama of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive,” the decadent magnum-shaking podium celebrations, and the celebrities who make the news following pre-race run-ins with former Formula One driver and current Sky Sports commentator, Martin Brundle in the pit lane. While these are all varying components to the sport as a whole, there are so many levels to Formula One that American’s don’t really see on Netflix or on Sundays.
Formula One has been slow to gain momentum in the States for several reasons. For starters, on top of Sundays in the fall being reserved for the NFL, race start times are usually between 6am-9am pacific standard time. In America, that’s prime time for families who go to church and an ideal time to sleep in for everyone else. Even out of NFL season, to wake up that early for nine months requires dedication, and because of poor marketing, it’s been hard to turn casual Twitter spectators into television ratings and ticket sales. Moreover, Formula One hasn’t had the most storied history in the United States, and without a dedicated track that addressed safety concerns, the United States didn’t offer the most reliable venues.
Thankfully, the United States Grand Prix and the Circuit of the America’s have changed the issue of safety. But with two added races that don’t have dedicated circuits, and camera presence doubling in the sport, the pressure to offer a better product has been increasing exponentially.
During lockdown for the Coronavirus in 2020, American’s were quickly running out of things to binge watch, so ‘Drive to Survive’ hooked a large segment of the country. This was in part due to the enthusiasm by professional athletes such as Arizona Cardinals’ defensive lineman, JJ Watt, who amplified the sport on Twitter to his millions of followers. As of May 2022, Watt had 5.6 million followers and was ranked No. 66 on the NFL’s ‘Top 100 Players of 2021′, so Formula One was exposed to millions of people who might not have known about the sport. The endorsements among American professional athletes have also included Broncos’ quarterback Russell Wilson and NBA legend, LeBron James–to name a few.
This is ironic though, because for a very long time, Formula One failed to execute the marketing and promotions necessary to have a significant expansion of fans in America, and Netflix was able to accomplish this through a reality show. However, many would argue that the deceptive editing that created dramatic storylines did more harm than good, even if the drama hooked new fans.
For example, in the 2021 season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton were in an absolute nail-biter for the world championship. Obviously, tensions were rising in both garages, and Red Bull and Mercedes’ team principles Christian Horner and Toto Wolfe (respectably) were engaging in the Netflix storyline, but Verstappen’s refusal to partake in the interviews tells a different story. He’s the only driver in the lineup to opt out of the series and said in an interview that “I understand, of course, it needs to be like that for Netflix. It’s just not my thing.” Verstappen was referring to the drama in the series, and while he’s portrayed as the villain, fans need to remember that the editing in the series tells the story the producers want you to see.
Hamilton and Verstappen couldn’t be more opposite, but you can tell they respect each other. You just don’t see that because drama spikes the ratings. In fact, according to Parrot Analytics, the most popular TV genre in the United States in 2019 was drama, so naturally, television editing is going to trend where the trends are. One thing to remember with all reality television, however, is that we owe it to the main characters to let them establish who they are and on their terms.
Perhaps, one of the only storylines throughout the series that’s painted correctly is that in conjunction with talent, money and sponsorships are the most important component to a team and drivers’ success. Many drivers rely on sponsorship deals in their early karting days to even get on to junior team, Formula E, F3, and F2. This is because from the kart itself, to fuel, transportation, travel costs, and licensing requirements, top-to-bottom, it’s extremely cost prohibitive if you aren’t from a wealthy family. Remember, F1 is a global circus and is the most expensive sport in the world, so developmental aspects are no different.
Dovetailing back to what most new fans know about Formula 1 from Netflix, Lewis Hamilton said “cash is king” at the start the 2020 season just before the first confirmed case of Coronavirus shut down the Australian Grand Prix just days before the race. It doesn’t get any more honest than that. In the season prior, Sergio “Checo” Perez and Esteban Ocon were competing for the final seat for Force India (now Aston Martin). Despite several collisions and mechanical issues, by the end of the season, it was confirmed that Ocon was out. In the Netflix documentary, Ocon referenced Perez’s endorsement deals several times, because as we’ve discussed, it’s a sport that requires a lot of money, and the more a driver contributes, the better. And while that may have contributed, Perez finished with more points in the championship than Ocon at the end of the season. So while cash is king, so are points.
Fast forward a few seasons and Checo Perez just won his third race in Monaco with Red Bull, signaling that Christian Horner has two drivers who could easily be competing for the title. Not bad for a guy who thought his days of Formula 1 were numbered just a few seasons ago.
Back to sponsorships, from Telcel, Uralkali, Socios, British Petroleum, Petronas, Linde, and others, when American’s look at F1 livery, they see dozens of brands that are foreign to them. The only sponsorships that are truly recognizable to Americans are Pirelli, Rolex, Walmart, Hewlett Packard, Honda, Monster Energy, and Marriott Bonvoy–to name a few.
While more American sponsors are investing money into the sport, we still have a long way to go. It’s important to note that as global politics and conflicts are encroaching on racing in a very public way, teams and drivers have to be careful about who they partner with. For example, when President Vladimir Putin brought Russia into war with Ukraine and global sanctions were levied against Russian oligarchs, it put F1 into a precarious position. The Formula One Association (FOA) terminated its contract with the promoters of the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi which was scheduled for September. This indicates that the FOA has no plans on bringing the race back anytime soon. More importantly, Haas decided to terminate its contract with driver Nikita Mazepin and its primary sponsor Uralkali, because its owner, Dmitry Mazepin (Nikita’s father) had ties to Putin. Since then, Uralkali has demanded that Haas pay the $13 million in sponsorship money back on top of an additional $8.6 million in compensatory damages. Haas rejected the demand and legal action is yet to play out, but that reduced Haas’s sponsorships down to just 11. For comparison, Williams has 25 sponsorships this season. Remember, it’s estimated that a single F1 car costs $12.2 million, so these sponsorship deals are significant–especially in the cap era, and especially as teams are being forced to deal with inflation, rising costs of fuel, and rising interest rates. If they want to keep their employees and be able to “construct” their cars to be competitive, every single penny matters, so sponsorships have to be reliable.
Perhaps, the best thing to come out of that separation was that Haas brought back Kevin Magnussen to replace Mazepin this season. To put it into American sports terminology, Magnussen was an unrestricted free agent after the 2020 season. He came to the U.S. to compete in IndyCar and compete with the Peugeot’s World Endurance Championship in 2022, but with pre-season testing in Bahrain a few days after Mazepin was terminated, Haas felt its best chance was to bring back a veteran driver who would be ready for the Bahrain GP just a week later.
The decision has paid off and Magnussen currently sits in 10th place in the driver standings with 15 points.
In terms of Haas succeeding as the only American F1 team, if we know one thing about Americans and sports it’s that we bleed patriotism when the American team is up against the rest of the world. So with three stateside Grand Prix races on the calendar now, it’s imperative that American brands focus on bringing Haas up to a competitive level. With Tommy Hilfiger backing Mercedes, Calvin Klein would be a great fit for Haas. Likewise, Delta Airlines, Nike, Converse, Titos, Tesla, SpaceX, and more would offer tremendous value to the team. We also know that people are incredibly loyal to specific brands, so there would already be a fan base built into these brand sponsorships.
With F1 expanding its reach globally, now is the time to strike.
It’s also time that America establishes itself as a destination for karting schools so it can compete with the ones found in Europe. Ironically, American kart builder and engineer Art Ingels built the first kart in 1956 in California where it quickly gained in popularity and spread to Europe.
On the topic of engineering, there are only four power unit (engine) manufacturers in Formula 1 as of 2022 in Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, and Red Bull Powertrains–which is in its debut season. It’s important to note that Red Bull’s power units are still Honda’s intellectual property as of 2022, so they’re still providing assembly and support. Beginning in 2023, Red Bull will assume operational responsibility, but Honda will still be developing the engines.
Now imagine if SpaceX and Tesla got into Formula 1 engines. SpaceX already develops advanced rockets, and it’s already developed four families of rocket engines since 2002, so I’m sure their engineers would have some fun developing engines for land fighter pilots. I know I’m getting ahead of myself, but if the end game is to make the United States a destination for the sport, then there are no excuses for American companies to sit on the sideline.
Formula 1 has the potential to enter a golden era in the United States, and if we ever wanted to put our stamp on the sport and the engineering components that make it so fascinating, now is the time. Imagine if Calvin Klein sponsored a driver and he became the spokesmodel in CK ads. From millennials to new generations, Calvin Klein is a timeless brand with global staying power. The branding and marketing opportunities for Tesla and SpaceX could bolster global S.T.E.M. programs through racing–especially during the USGP in Austin where Tesla is now based. Plus, just as astronauts are escorted to the platform at Cape Canaveral in Tesla’s for space launches for the world to see, it would be a great opportunity for Elon Musk to put premium Tesla models, such as the Plaid, on track and in front of auto enthusiasts from around the world, too.
It’s estimated that F1 will generate $1.3 billion in 2022, so it behooves American brands to start making the United States feel like “home” to the sport. More importantly, it behooves Americans to continue boosting ratings and dialogue so brands know it’s a sport worth investing in.
