HOW F1 FINALLY CRACKED AMERICA
Aquarter of a million people pre-registered to buy the 80,000 available tickets for this weekend’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix. Little wonder they have since been trading for over $2000 – that’s 150% more than a grandstand seat at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas, which attracted 400,000 spectators last year for the US GP. They are selling for nearly seven times the cost of entry to the Indianapolis 500, and eight times the fee to see the Daytona 500 – the blue-riband IndyCar and NASCAR events that, last century, went a long way to capping Formula 1’s US appeal.
It’s the first time since Dallas and Detroit in 1984 that two American rounds have featured in a single F1 season. A night race on the iconic Las Vegas Strip will join the calendar in 2023. For that, in an extraordinary move, F1 and its owner Liberty Media will promote the race rather than hand responsibility to a local organiser.
