Max Verstappen won the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, and drivers were not happy with the track service. Sebastian Vettel sounds more and more like an IndyCar driver, and Bobby Rahal has offered a test at Road America for the four-time world champion. Dinner is on Christian Lundgaard for the entire month of May. Eli Tomac took off from the Supercross finale with a knee injury. Unexpectedly, it rained at Spa-Francorchamps. A red flag shorted the midweek Super GT race. But all eyes were on South Florida this weekend, and we need to speak about it. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Formula One in Miami
The long-awaited second American Formula One race finally arrived this weekend and the interest was high for Miami's Formula One debut.
All three days sold out with about 80,000 spectators flocking to the circuit. Tickets for race day alone averaged a staggering $2,179, an average price level unheard of for any other American race prior, and America has a few notable races, such as over 100 Indianapolis 500s and over 60 Daytona 500s.
Formula One has been emerging in the United States over the last two years, and this doesn't even feel like the mountaintop. The grand global racing series has become a cultural touchpoint at the start of the 2020s in this country. A Formula One grand prix is a place to be seen. It is attracting the carpe diem crowd that sees no price as a limitation for an experience. No one wants to miss the first time. That is driving the prices up, but the interest far greater than we have seen for nearly every other race on the Formula One schedule.
Miami isn't going anywhere anytime soon. We can chalk it up as one of Formula One's many new money events of the 21st century, but unlike some of those new money races that are nothing but a paycheck from an authoritarian government looking to sportwash its country's identity, this is a gathering of the Drive to Survive generation and proof in the pudding Formula One can succeed anywhere.
It is breathtaking to see such a race emerge in the United States. Austin has had good crowds for Formula One, but not like this at this price point. This is the upper echelons of society gathering at a motor race. The Super Bowl is the benchmark for major American sporting events. Nothing comes close to the Super Bowl in the United States but not many other events attract the kind of crowd Miami had. It was frequently compared to a Super Bowl. Like it or not, America's newest race is on the same level as the Indianapolis 500, a century-plus worth of history be damned. Will it last? Only time will tell, but year one was a smashing success.
The buildup to Miami has always pointed to this. No one was stunned at the crowd nor the prices. This was a tough ticket to get months ago. Even the wealthiest individuals found themselves on the outside with the rest of us commoners, but this buzz leading into Miami always had me questioning what this race meant for Formula One and motorsports in general in this country.
This is the first step in Formula One's American expansion, but who is this race reaching?
No Formula One race is cheap to attend, but Miami isn't even reachable for the average person. The crowd that flocks to Silverstone each year is full of everyday people who get one weekend a year to see Formula One and keep up a family tradition for some. It costs a pretty penny, but it is why we save them. Miami tickets cost more than many of us make in a month. A week's wages is tough to part with, but we can quickly get over that. A week of work seems to do the trick A month? That is harder to part with over something so trivial.
It is one thing to be in the United States, but if the race is priced out to the average viewer, that audience is being neglected. The average Drive to Survive viewer isn't making high six-figures each year. Formula One is here but as inaccessible to the core of the American fan base as when its races are in Europe and other parts of the world.
Grand prix attendance is not a right, but it should at least be somewhat feasible, and any race organizer should want that as well. For Miami, nothing is going to change as long as people are willing to spend $2,000. That is supply and demand. The ticket prices aren't going to drop to $500 a pop for the charity of the fan base, but are these prices sustainable? There is a belief this is a Formula One bubble we are experiencing in the United States and it will eventually burst. People will get tired of Drive to Survive, they will lose interest in the races, and there will be a market correction. Can Miami exist at a discounted rate? Time will tell.
Miami, and every other Formula One race held in this country for that matter, standing out from anything else in American motorsports has me questioning if this is a rising tide at all. This is a new event at a new venue in a city that has some motorsports history but is not known for its interest in motorsports. People attending Miami or watching Miami did not see what American motorsports actually is. They saw what Formula One is when it comes to the United States. This is a disconnect from what occurs every weekend across this country for a variety of series.
With that disconnect I find it hard to believe Formula One will turn the new American viewers into general motorsports fans. Not every race is like Miami. There is no other Miami. Anything less than that would be a big shock should a fan decide to attend the NASCAR race at Homestead or the IndyCar race at Belle Isle or the IMSA race at Virginia International Raceway. It is a different flavor and not one they have been sampling.
To call Miami a celebration of the best American motorsports would be disingenuous. It is nothing like it. And that is kind of the sad thing about Formula One's expansion into the United States. It isn't showcasing the best of American motorsports. Road America isn't being put on display for the world to see. Watkins Glen isn't returning to the schedule. Sebring isn't testing the durability of these machines. Miami's identity is built entirely on money and glamour. It is Formula One-in-a-can and opened in South Florida. We are going to see the same in Las Vegas next year. It is all about being attractive to the eye and negating being good for the soul.
I wish one of Formula One's soon-to-be three American races embraced American motorsports culture. Credit to Austin for being around for a decade and being a fine circuit, but the world isn't getting to see how deep American motorsports is. Overlooked are the communities where motorsports is intertwined, the places where three generations have visited for decades and with their own quaint intricacies. The drivers aren't getting to race on this country's best circuits. Formula One three races run the risk of all feeling the same.
Fancy city, shiny buildings, large party, high prices.
That's not American motorsports in its entirety. You look around the Formula One calendar and many of these events have their own culture. From Silverstone to Monza, Melbourne to Suzuka, Interlagos to Zandvoort, all these venues have their own identity but the same passion. If America is going to have three races, at least one should feel different, with its own traits and charm, but still carry the magnitude of a world championship race. Unfortunately, I do not see that happening, and I don't think anyone cares. The European base isn't looking for something authentic. It wants an American vacation.
Formula One's identity in the United States will be making money and producing atmospheres that could be created anywhere else in the world.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Max Verstappen, but did you know.
The #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López won in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #31 Team WRT Oreca-Gibson of Sean Gelael, Robin Frijns and René Rast won in LMP2. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado won in GTE-Pro. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Christian Ried, Sebastian Priaulx and Harry Tincknell won in GTE-Am.
The #8 ARTA Honda of Tomoki Nojiri and Nirei Fukuzumi won the Super GT race from Fuji. The #10 GAINER Nissan of Riki Okusa, Ryuichiro Tomita and Yusuke Shiotsu won in GT300.
Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup race from Darlington. Justin Allagier won the Grand National Series race. John Hunter Nemechek won the Truck race.
Jason Anderson won the Supercross race from Salt Lake City, his seventh victory of the season and his fourth consecutive victory to close the season.
Vladislav Lomko won the Pau Grand Prix.
Néstor Girolami and Mikel Azcona split the World Touring Car Cup races from Pau.
Coming Up This Weekend
IndyCar's Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The Bathurst 12 Hour is back!
Formula E has its most signature event in Berlin.
MotoGP is at Le Mans.
The European Le Mans Series is at Imola.
IMSA has four of five classes at Mid-Ohio.
NASCAR is at Kansas, the final race before the all-star break.
GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup has its second round at Magny-Cours.
