Formula One returns to Australia this weekend after a two-year absence since the sport’s blase attitude toward the oncoming pandemic left it reeling when the meeting in Melbourne fell apart. Mismanagement and hubris had brought F1 low but, finally back at Albert Park, it could not be in ruder health.
F1’s insistence on pushing on with holding the race was wildly over-ambitious, up to and including allowing fans to turn up at the gates, only not to be admitted as the event was called off with Covid cases among the teams. That weekend was a nadir for F1’s owners and the FIA. But the recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. As other sports floundered, F1 put on 17 races in 2020 and 22 in 2021, including one of the great championship fights.
This season the plan is to hold 23 races and, last week, F1 announced a race in Las Vegas next year. The significance of which goes far beyond the mere publicity and glamour of staging a race on the Strip. The Las Vegas GP will take place in November, on a Saturday at 10pm local time, the usual Sunday afternoon scheduling summarily dismissed in order to hit prime time TV in the United States. With Miami and Texas already on the calendar, the US will host three meetings in 2023. Given the sport’s recent history there, this is an extraordinary feat.
F1 enjoyed great popularity in the US in the 60s and 70s, with Watkins Glen, New York rammed with fans, but it has struggled since then. From the 1980s on there were periods without a GP, while the brief spell at Indianapolis between 2000 and 2007 ended in ignominy. Racing returned in 2012 at Austin, a meeting that for some time struggled to bring in the numbers.
Bernie Ecclestone had long tried to pull off a GP in Las Vegas but never succeeded. Since Liberty Media took over the sport in 2017, however, its efforts to drag F1 into the modern age have paid off and Vegas is the definitive evidence.
A concerted effort has been made to attract a new, younger audience, targeting social media as part of making the sport accessible and aiming at a large, inclusive global demographic, rather than relying on a traditional, ageing fanbase. Part of that strategy was allowing Netflix to make the Drive To Survive series about the sport.
Its success has been a vindication and a priceless marketing tool, especially in the US, as recognised by F1’s CEO, Stefano Domenicali. “The beauty of the growth of our sport in this country is we are reaching a lot of young people that are starting to be thrilled by our sport,” he said. “To think that next year we’re going to have three races in the US, if you think back a couple of years ago, you would say you are crazy.”
Yet three races there will be as F1’s numbers come up. Austin drew in 400,000 fans over the weekend last year, while last season the US broadcaster ESPN enjoyed consistently rising viewing figures, including the sport’s highest since 1995. Austin and Miami are expected to be sellouts this year.
Liberty has long made a point of wanting to expand in the US and, in the case of Las Vegas, it has boldly stepped up to make it a reality. The race is being promoted by F1 in conjunction with the city and a group of hotels and casinos. F1 has put itself up to take any potential losses should the event prove unpopular. It is a brave decision and something Liberty would not have dared try without the increase in the sport’s popularity.
Las Vegas last hosted two, unloved, GPs in 1981 and 1982 on a terrible circuit built in the car park of the Caesars Palace casino, attracting poor crowds and viewing figures despite hosting championship deciders. This time it is hard to imagine the meeting being a failure. The 3.8-mile track will stretch around the city’s landmarks, the Strip, the Bellagio fountains, Caesars, the Paris Casino. Visually, at the very least, this is the backdrop F1’s owners have fantasised about.
But it comes at a price. The season is capped at 24 races according to the commercial agreement with the teams, a number 2023 is already set to exceed. It appears that, largely, European races are in the danger.
With Vegas, Qatar and China all set to race in 2023, there would be 25 meetings and that does not include the determination to add a meeting in Africa as soon as possible. Domenicali has already mooted the idea that some races will have to be on and off the calendar on a rota basis in future.
Belgium, France and Mexico have no contract for next year and none of them can compete financially with the big money being hurled around in the Middle East. Monaco, too, must be considered as at risk. The track is wholly unsuited to the large, heavy modern F1 cars and its former special status in not having to pay a hosting fee has been removed by F1.
For many European fans this is the unacceptable cost of expansion in the US, but it is the reality of a success story that sits in stark contrast to the painful humility of Australia in 2020. F1 is vibrant, popular and expanding globally. Bringing Las Vegas on board is the sign of a sport utterly confident in this roll of the dice.
