All eyes are on Miami this Mother’s Day weekend as the South Florida city becomes the 11th venue in the US to host an F1 World Championship event. The F1 Miami Grand Prix will take place on May 8 at Miami Gardens’ Hard Rock Stadium. It is the only brand-new event on the 2022 F1 calendar and the second race held in the U.S. this year, along with Austin’s Circuit of The Americas. The F1 docuseries Drive to Survive is a big reason the mostly European sport has found a foothold in the United States.
What is Formula One?
Formula One (or Formula 1) is an international auto racing sport. It is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars. Formula One cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic down force. This style of racing originated during the 1920-30s in Europe from other similar racing competitions.
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A series of Formula One races are conducted over a period, usually over a year called the ‘Formula One World Championship season’. Each race in a season is called a ‘Grand Prix’ or GP and all the races in a season combined are called ‘Grands Prix’ (plural of Grand Prix).
The term ‘Grand Prix’ is derived from French, which means ‘great prize’.
The Drive to Survive effect
So why is an almost 100-year-old international auto racing sport finally becoming popular in the United States? Netflix. The docuseries Drive to Survive is a collaborative production between Netflix and Formula One that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the drivers, managers, teams and races of the Formula One World Championship. It was an idea dreamed up to get fresh eyes on the Formula 1 sport, and it’s working.
According to Axios, since the series premiered in 2019, an increasing amount of Americans have been converted into Formula 1 fans. Ratings are up, with races averaging nearly twice as many viewers on ESPN this year compared to2018. The U.S. now represents F1’s fastest-growing market, with 36 million fans and a TV reach of 28 million, per Sportico. It’s so successful that other, traditionally less dramatic sports, are looking to produce a similar product. Apparently, the PGA tour is interested in creating a Netflix series.
The F1 Miami Grand Prix
This weekend Miami will get the chance to host their first race, the F1 Miami Grand Prix. The official race time is May 8 at 3:30 p.m. This is the first time since 1984 that the U.S. has had two races in an F1 season. According to the official FiA site, drivers have been enjoying their time in Miami. They have been jet-skiing, eating delicious Cuban food and golfing. There is an extensive list of celebrities attending, including Serena and Venus Williams Michael Jordan, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
