Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali insists the championship is only scratching the surface of its commercial potential in the United States.
Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange Miami, Domenicali reflected on a period of impressive expansion for F1 in the United States, revealing that there was interest in hosting more than the current three American races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas.
“If you think back, F1 has always been in the US, but randomly, I would say, in terms of presence,” Domenicali explained. “We were in Detroit, we were in Indianapolis, we were in Austin. And the last time we were in Austin, not 100 years ago, but just eight years ago, we had around 60,000 people.
“And now we have three races where the average attendance is huge. That means that the evolution of the love of Formula 1 in this country has been phenomenal.
“When we wanted to be in Miami, we thought there was the right place, the right point of view in a city that is basically very, very aligned with all that F1 wants to be: a glamour place, the right economic environment, the right place that has to take the lead on developing the growth of the business in the US.
“And now, I think that funnily enough, three races and there is a lot of requests to be more in the US and this is something that we need to manage, of course, with care.”
While he acknowledged the growth that the championship has already experienced in the United States, the F1 chief argued it is only the beginning of the journey.
“But we are just at the beginning of our journey in the US. We are not yet [there]. And I always said that sport in the US, which we respect a lot, is part of culture,” he added.
“And to change a culture or to evolve the culture takes time. So we just need to keep hammering what we want to do together with our partners, with our promoters, because the US gives us an opportunity to grow that is tremendous and is big.
“And the dimension of the business that you find in the US, you don’t find anywhere else in the world. Of course, we are a worldwide sport that needs to capture the attention of all the businesses and the sports around the world.
“But definitely this market, and this country, represent for us an area where we keep investing, and we will do, with the right partners. But that’s something that will take time to go to another step of growth.
“And we don’t give up. We will stay there. We know that the biggest sports in the US are still far away, but we are racers. And so, we are not shy and we’re going into attack mode, respectfully, of course, of other sports, but we’re going to be in the culture of American fans sooner than what you think.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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