Jenson Button explains why U.S. is an important market for F1
While Bernie Ecclestone may beg to differ, Jenson Button made a note last weekend of why the United States should be an important market to Formula One.
“I think once you get the audience in America, it will attract fans in other countries to Formula One,” said the McLaren F1 driver.
Good point. The United States certainly can have a huge influence over world culture, with many of its successful brands, sports and shows making an impact across the globe. Once the U.S. domino falls, many others can fall behind it.
The conflict, of course, arises in the fact that Formula One is a motorsport born out of Europe. It’s core fan base is European.
Most of the teams are based in England, and most of the races are held in European countries. Most of its drivers come from the continent, and worked their ways up through classes that toured across Europe.
To mess with that could be detrimental to the popularity of the sport.
However, all throughout last weekend at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, various drivers and team personnel echoed the same sentiments as Button, stating that:
A) The United States is an important market for Formula One to break into and; B) There is a huge potential fan base here, that just needs to be tapped into.
So how do you tap into that base?
A track could do it. A huge crowd of 269,889 was on hand for last weekend’s U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. It was the largest number of attendees in the circuit’s five years of hosting the event. By comparison, 117,429 were on hand for its first race in 2012.
A team could do it. The Haas F1 Team, based in North Carolina, is the first U.S.-based team to race in the sport in 30 years. This year, its French driver Romain Grosjean has scored 29 points, with a season-best finish of fifth at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Having built up a championship-winning team over time in NASCAR, a similar accomplishment by Gene Haas in Formula One could give American fans a front-running team to root for.
And, of course, a driver could do it. California native Alexander Rossi started five races last year, finishing 12th in just his third race in front of his home fans. However, he seems to have found a home -- at least for now -- in the IndyCar Series, and there don’t seem to be many American drivers ready to step back into the cockpit of a Formula One car.
Connecticut native Santino Ferrucci currently does some test driving for the Haas F1 Team. But with Ferrucci currently sitting 12th in the GP3 Series, he may have a little way to go before he makes it to the top class.
At the end of the day, it will always be a bit tricky for Formula One in the United States as, to please most of the fans in Europe, you need the races to be on during the middle of their day. Meanwhile, it would be 8 a.m. on the East Coast in America, and there will always be a large number of people who just won’t want to get up that early on Sunday to watch a live sporting event on television.
At least, not without some added motivation.
