Drive to Survive’s (DTS) impact on the American F1 audience has been remarkable since the series debuted in 2019. The Netflix docu-series may have its critics due to the over-dramatization of certain events, but it still hit the right chord of the masses in America and led to a massive growth in F1’s fandom. Former Ferrari driver Derek Bell also gave his take on how the current boom of the sport in the USA was one of his producer’s dreams back in the 1980s.
Bell, who raced occasionally in F1, also won the 24 Hours of Le Mans on five different occasions. During his spare time, he also indulged in commentary stints for broadcasters like ESPN, Fox TV, and the Speed channel. Working as a commentator in motorsports gave him an insight into the level of priority that American broadcasters gave to different sports including F1.
Bell recently recalled an incident when a producer showed him the screens in the production room. “There were like 50 screens on this big wall. And these production rooms and there was one screen which had Formula 1 on it. Rest were all about football, NASCAR, and everything else that was an American sport,” he said on the Drive to Wynn podcast.
The producer mentioned that he would have liked for F1 to receive more coverage, but at the time, viewership for other sports in the U.S. was much higher, and there wasn’t much effort to promote F1.
The arrival of Drive to Survive in 2019, however, changed it for good. Bell stated that in the 1980s, there were around four million people watching F1 in America, a number that has increased significantly today.
Drive to Survive “completely changed the face of Formula 1 and people’s viewing in America,” he added.
How American F1 viewership has increased over the years
The rise in popularity of F1 around the world and an increase in viewership in the USA have a direct proportion. DTS has been the major factor and it has contributed to the sport’s growth in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa as well.
But naturally, the American market serves as a big growth opportunity for F1’s commercial rights holder, Liberty Media and they have done a perfect job in capitalizing on the same. After the first two seasons of the show, F1 saw an excellent surge in live race viewership in the States.
This post-pandemic boom saw the average live race viewership jump from 608,000 in 2020 to 949,000 in 2021, per The Athletic. In 2022, it further grew to over 1.2 million per race and has stayed in that territory in the last seasons.
F1 viewership in the US hit 1.21 million per race in 2022, a record high! The Miami GP alone drew 3.1 million viewers in 2024. Something to keep an eye on. #F1Stats #RacingFans pic.twitter.com/655WzpbInL
— Shaun Modi (@ShaunModi) October 25, 2024
Having a million viewers tune in for every race naturally is a big deal, particularly in a country where NASCAR has often been viewed as more popular. This rise also prompted Liberty Media to add more races in America besides its main US Grand Prix—which takes place in Austin, Texas—in Miami and Las Vegas.
They have been well received by the American public, despite some criticism for focusing heavily on entertainment. Last year’s Las Vegas GP also delivered exciting racing action and generated positive commercial returns which helped the city and the state of Nevada.
