US moving Formula One into new era

With the circus around the sport, the fast cars, the attractive people — Formula One could easily have passed for an American sport.

While the sport's spiritual home will always be in the engineering of England or the speed of Italy, Formula One has found a new home from home in the US.

Max Verstappen might have won his second world title in Japan, but that didn't stop approximately 440,000 F1 fans going to Austin across the three days, a number remarkably up 10% on last year's attendance. According to race organizers, they even had to build a new road out to the circuit in order to meet demand.

After a somber start as the grid honored the passing of Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the 140,000 crowd in Austin and those tuned in around the world were treated to drama from the first corner, strategic chaos that only a safety car can bring and a not-so-gentle reminder of how dangerous this sport can be.

In the end, Max Verstappen roared back from a slow stop that threatened to spoil his day to secure race win number 13 of the season (equaling the record for most wins in a season), seal Red Bull the constructors' championship and deny Lewis Hamilton his first victory of the season.

This was Formula One racing as it was meant to be, and it will have done nothing but boost interest in a country that continues to fall in love with the pace, power and people that make F1.

US market grows

There will be three races in the US next season, with Las Vegas joining Miami and the long-standing Circuit of The Americas' (COTA). The latter remains the more traditional racing circuit, while the two newer tracks deliver the glitz and glamor.

Built off the rebranding of American mass media company Liberty Media, the sport has quickly and smartly locked in the US market. The creative storytelling of Netflix's show Drive To Survive made the drivers human beings rather than helmets behind a halo, and caught the attention of a young audience invested in a generation of young drivers who are on the same social media platforms as their new fans.

Formula One viewership numbers in Europe might not be the same as they were during the Michael Schumacher era when more of the sport was available on terrestrial television, but in the US the numbers reflect an invested market.

ESPN broadcasts F1 in the US and earlier this year they reported an average of over 300,000 viewers per race in the 12-34 age group through the first six races, an increase of 84% compared to the same time last year. And at the end of last season, F1 revealed that their US viewership was up 58% year on year.

The ties run deeper still. American team Haas have just signed a new deal with an American sponsor that puts them even more in their home market and, they hope, will also make them more competitive. Other teams have also signed deals with US companies, such as McLaren with Google Chrome and Red Bull with Oracle, increasing the cashflow into the sport from the some of the biggest brands in the world.

In a sport largely lead by European drivers, the likely arrival next season of the first US driver in seven years is the last piece of the puzzle for a market keen on a local hero to cheer for.

Formula 2 driver Logan Sargeant is on course to be Williams' second driver next year, so long as he finishes the season in the top six then he'll be in the seat next year. The 21-year-old is currently in third in the standings and spent the first practice session in Austin behind the wheel for Williams.

There's even an F1 film in the making with Brad Pitt reportedly in the lead role.

Racing matters

As important as all of the other parts are in making modern F1 the event that it is, the racing still needs to deliver. And the 2022 COTA race was exactly the product Formula One needed on a weekend in which the sport's roots grew deeper into the US sports market.

There is a reason that F1 drivers love COTA. Unlike Miami, COTA is a track specifically designed to be evocative of a series of classic F1 circuits from around the world, the result of which is a track that offers a real chance of spectacular racing.

And, fittingly for a sport obsessed with timing, the 2022 US Grand Prix delivered right when it needed to.