Surprising TV audience for Miami GP. Formula One appeared to have stumbled over the past season, with USA TV audiences down around 10% in 2023 it appeared the huge spike in interest across the pond was dwindling as the Max Verstappen era of dominance progressed. Certain races bucked the trend last year with Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Singapore and Mexico all recording a year on year increase in TV audience.

TJ13 reported back in March that the start of the new F1 season had revealed disappointing viewing numbers in the USA. The first three races saw a huge drop of 24% in the USA viewers while Japan and China a not comparable given one has been absent from the calendar since 2019 and the other has shifted from its Autumn date to early Spring.

 

 

 

F1 record breaking audience

Early numbers released from the US broadcasters suggest the 2024 Formula One Miami Grand Prix was the most watched race in the history of the sport. The TV audience was 3.1 million with a peak viewing number of 3.6 million, all of whom got to see the shock result of Lando Norris storming to his maiden F1 victory.

Viewership for the race in the Miami heat was up 48% on last year, although the inaugural race in Florida the year before held the previous record for a US TV audience. Since Liberty Media acquired the commercial rights to F1 in 2017, the fan base across the pond has more than doubled from the few hundred thousand who would previously tune in for the races and the improved numbers from Miami may be the turn in what was becoming a worrying trend.

The race weekend in Miami was of the Sprint format and again there was good news for F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. On Saturday some 946,000 viewers tuned in to ESPN to watch the one third Grand Prix distance race, the largest US Sprint audience since the format was introduced in 2021.

Also, there appears to be little drop off in interest from the celebrity A-listers which gives hope to F1 that its future in the USA is building longevity. F1 venues have come and gone and often as Martin Brundle suggested it is year three which is often a telling marker and the time when interest in the once new and shiny event begins to wane.

McLaren boss slams FIA rule change

 

 

 

Norris backlash over Trump approval

Donald Trump, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and Kendall Jenner were just a few of the famous faces who made appearances at Hard Rock Stadium throughout the weekend. Lando Norris found himself facing a backlash after calling for “respect” to be paid to the former president.

“There are a lot of special people or cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you’ve got to have a lot of respect for in many ways,” said Norris after the race.

“And yeah, for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you’ve got to be thankful for that. And I was. So yeah, a cool moment. And that’s all.”

McLaren came under fire on social media for hosting Donald Trump so the team issued the following statement: “McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States.”

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Fans round on McLaren

One post read: “It’s not like Trump bought tickets to go to the GP. He was INVITED by a MAJOR team. Absolutely shameful by the whole McLaren organization.”

Another fan voiced frustration over the apparent double standards, saying: “So Trump is allowed to gee up a crowd and start political advertisements at a Grand Prix. Yet, when Vettel or Hamilton said/say something, they’re told to shut it. Nice one, F1… What an embarrassing OG for McLaren.”

However, there was plenty of support for the former president including local fans in the grandstands. Videos from the pit lane show Trump leading fans in chants of “USA… USA”.

From Trump’s perspective he was appreciative publicly to McLaren for having hosted him at the Miami racer posting on X: “It was a great honor to see my friends at McLaren win the big Miami Formula 1 race.”

Ricciardo out for Imola Grand Prix

 

 

 

Trump milks “winning” choice

“It was the car I visited before the race, and Endorsed—that’s what we need for our Country—WINNING!” the presumptive Republican candidate opportunistically added.

As Formula One begins the European season in the heartland of the sport, US TV audiences may be challenged more by the time difference.  Races in Europe can be anything from five hours to nine hours ahead in time which means certain US fans getting up at the crack of dawn to watch F1 until the teams return to the autumn flyaways after the summer break.

McLaren will be delighted with F1’s first trip across the pond this season which will include weekends in Montreal, Austin, Las Vegas and Mexico City. The team were a little surprised at how competitive the car was ‘out of the box’ given there was just one hour of practice for them to understand the new upgrades.

Marko paves the way for Verstappen BIG exit

 

 

 

Not the best circuit for McLaren

However, Lando Norris’ race engineer was bullish about future making the surprising claim that, “The package should favour other circuits more than it does here in Miami. We shall see.”

McLaren noticeably concentrated on setting up the MCL38 to handle the slow speed sections of the Miami Autodrome – something the car has been poor at previously. In qualifying the car had noticeably dropped some of its top speed in the high speed sections of the circuit, but was quick enough to compensate in the slower corners.

 Norris’ Race Engineer Will Joseph said that despite the win the car looks even better suited to other circuits. He said after the Grand Prix: “We discussed at length what risks we were taking, and how we would try to put those risks aside. And, when things behave it is easy, and if things don’t behave then it’s difficult.

Ferrari big upgrade doubts for Imola

 

 

 

Big Norris snub in Miam

Lando Norris snubs the most exclusive golf club. Lando Norris is finally a Formula One Grand Prix winner at the 110th time of asking. The British driver was filmed earlier this year taking a ‘lie detector’ test for Sky F1 and he admitted to making a more positive mindset for 2024 to help him claim his maiden F1 victory.

The McLaren driver held the dubious F1 record for the number of podiums without scoring a victory with a score of 15 prior to his win in the Miami heat. Prior to arriving in the state of Florida, Norris had planned to take a flight up to Georgia after the Grand Prix was finished because he had booked an early T-off time at the world famous Augusta National Golf Club, which hosts the annual grand slam tournament known as ‘The Masters.’…. READ MORE