Why is the United States so important to Formula 1?

Have you ever wondered why the United States has been in so much focus in the Formula 1 world over the last couple of years?

The commercial rights for Formula 1 are currently owned by American company, Liberty Media, whose goal is to promote the sport in the United States After they purchased the rights in 2017 for an estimated $4.4 billion.

Ever since the takeover, announcements including the launch of the Netflix series 'Drive to Survive', as well as the Miami Grand Prix debuting in 2022 have headlined the sports bulletin.

Formula 1 has had a somewhat 'long' and 'grueling' relationship with the United States, where they have never been able to attract the attention they desire compared to other international sporting codes.

There are currently no American drivers in the Formula 1 lineup, although there have been two world champions in their history.

Mario Andretti was the 1978 world champion, winning 12 races. Phill Hill also won the world championship in 1961 driving for Ferrari.

Although there are no drivers in the current lineup, Gene Haas has developed the only American team in the sport: Haas Formula 1 Team. The only problem, they can't get themselves off the back row of the grid. Image: Mario Andretti, 1969.

So why is the United States so crucial to the growth of Formula 1?

The sporting market in the United States is one of the largest in the entire world, yet the ratings in North America have been surprisingly low. According to CBNC, almost 900,000 viewers tune in to the 2021 season opener in Bahrain on ESPN 2, up from an average of 554,000 viewers in 2018.

These ratings are showing the progress Liberty Media have achieved since taking over, yet are looking to further increase those numbers to put Formula 1 on the map for the long-run.

The announcement of the Miami Grand Prix joining the Formula 1 calendar in 2022 means there will now be four races in North America. Two being in the United States, one in Mexico and one in Canada.

It is safe to assume that the projected ratings for those grand prix's in particular will increase dramatically, and why wouldn't they?

Another contributing factor to the growth of the sport in the Unted States is the rapid rise of social and digital media.

Over the last decade, the transition into digital media has given sporting codes worldwide new opportunities to promote their product. While Formula 1 was already considered an international sport, the content that is produced online and on social media platforms allows for greater exposure to countries like the United States, leading to an unbelievable rise in engagement levels.

Image by Formula 1

The image above gives us a good indication of how much Formula 1 has benefited from digital and social media across multiple platforms, clearly outperforming all other major sporting leagues and codes around the world through 2019 and 2020.

Current trends indicate that Formula 1 is well on its way to the desired exposure in the United States, potentially becoming one of the largest markets the sport has ever seen.

What is missing?

The poor performances by the Haas team and the lack of drivers representing the United States in the formula racing system may arguably be the handbrake of the project, but when flipping the narrative, they can also be considered the only missing pieces in the puzzle. But the current state of the sport, there really is not much for Americans to cheer for on the grid.

There are currently five drivers representing the United States in Formula 3.

• Juan Manual Correa

• Jak Crawford

• Kaylen Frederick

• Hunter Yeany

• Logan Sargeant

While McLaren recently signed 13-year-old American go-karter, Ugo Ugochukwu, to a development contract.

Although, Logan Sargeant is the only driver currently in the frame showing any sort of potential, sitting ninth in the championship. Unfortunately, it does not look like there will be any American drivers coming through the usual system anytime soon.

No matter how hard Formula 1 is pushing teams to consider these drivers, it is understandably hard for teams to pass up on other upcoming stars like Nick De Vries, Oscar Piastri, Callum Illott and Guanyu Zhou unless a team who are financially struggling are willing to take on a driver for commercial purposes.

The United States is the key to the further growth of the sport as we head into a new era of Formula 1 in 2022, but whether or not the codes desired audiences are evident in the coming years, the sport is still on the way to competing against the big guns in American sport.