Joining the calendar as the second U.S. race in 2022, Miami couldn’t have had better timing. F1 was trendy: Chanel’s spring-summer collection included a $4,450 F1 t-shirt that took TikTok by storm, racing jackets became a staple, and the sport—still riding a high from the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive—had inspired a thriving online fan community. The hype drew the largest live U.S. TV audience in F1’s history. Lifestyle influencers, with chronically online audiences reaching into the millions, made the perfect glitzy addition to the race’s guest list. But last year, few of the community of content creators who regularly post about F1 in accessible and entertaining ways made the cut.
“F1 Miami had more influencers than ever before and it made people angry. People who make F1 content daily weren’t invited, while others were,” Alex Martinez, a motorsport content creator and car builder, shared with his followers. “I was one of those people initially invited, then I got ghosted.”
