At the Miami GP, F1 continues to cash in on its American boom

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Grand Prix was the first major symbol of Formula One’s expansion in the United States when it joined the calendar in 2022.

Now into its third year, the event has ironed out some of the early kinks to establish itself as one of the most significant races on the calendar, serving as the first of three American rounds this season ahead of Austin in October and November’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

F1 has always had a reputation for its big spending and big branding. But as F1 teams move to take advantage of the continued surge in American interest, particularly from incoming sponsors and partners, Miami is an important early point in all their seasons.

As Oliver Hughes, the chief marketing officer of Red Bull Racing, put it, “This is where people want to come and do business.”

The increase in fan interest for F1, fueled by the success of “Drive to Survive,” has transformed every aspect of the sport under Liberty Media. That includes making it far more appealing to brands looking for a wider reach than F1 may have previously offered.

F1’s boom has opened the door for more American companies to join the sport. According to Williams, there were 23 new branding partners across the 10 F1 teams at the start of this season, 48% of which were headquartered in the United States. Two-thirds of Williams’s major partners are U.S.-based, with brands such as Duracell, Michelob Ultra and MyProtein starting to work with the team in recent years.

The growing significance of the American market has also prompted Williams to get a permanent foothold in the market by establishing a commercial office in New York City, which is also the base for its owner, investment firm Dorilton Capital.

“There are some organizations where maybe F1 hasn’t made sense, because it wasn’t truly global because it wasn’t big enough in the US,” said James Bower, the commercial director of Williams. “Now it is, that’s made F1 a more relevant proposition to them.” Bower points to the partnership with THG through its MyProtein brand, announced last year in Austin, as an example of a company that had “big ambitions in the U.S., and the growth of F1 in the U.S. led them to come in with us to exploit the U.S. more.”

It’s a very different scenario to F1 prior to Liberty Media’s takeover, when there was only one American race on the calendar and fans were not able to access the sport in the same way.

“You were scrapping around trying to convince anyone in the U.S. that F1 was something they needed to think about,” Hughes said. “Fast forward a few years later, with the ‘Drive to Survive’ factor, and suddenly every American tech brand is seeing this is the perfect place to demonstrate our technology in action.”

The influx of the American brands has made Miami one of the busiest races of the year, particularly for announcing new partnerships.

Ferrari picked Miami to launch its new title sponsorship with HP, which has included the blue and white colors being tied into a historical nod for the car livery this weekend. McLaren announced a new partnership with eBay, as did Williams with Keeper, a cybersecurity company.

Hughes’ own travel schedule reflects the added importance of Miami. He’ll typically arrive at a race on a Thursday, but got into Miami on Tuesday. The team’s title sponsor, Oracle, is based in the United States, and the team has a raft of other American brands on its sponsor deck, including Hard Rock and Visa. Its sister team, RB, signed deals with Visa and Cash App as title partners in a rebrand for this year.

“This is definitely a very business-friendly place,” Hughes said of Miami, noting Florida’s tax benefits for companies and CEOs. “You’re just seeing with the sport in general, the eyeballs in the U.S., the direction the sport is going, all the big deals at the moment are big, American tech companies, whether it’s us with Oracle or another big, American tech company in HP coming to Ferrari. McLaren has got a number of new tech companies from the U.S. It’s definitely having a huge, positive impact on the sport.”

RB unveiled its Miami livery with an event on Wednesday held at a car wash near the Wynwood art district. The unusual location was part of a push to try and connect with more Gen Z fans, particularly given Cash App’s resonance among that demographic — the idea being that the livery looked like it was being washed onto the car.

“We’re sitting down going, how do we communicate with this generation?” Hughes said. “Cash App bring a very different approach to everything. Customized liveries are not a new thing, but when they say we’re going to do a livery, how do we unveil it, at a car wash? I don’t think we’ve ever seen an F1 car in a car wash before!”

Miami has not only given a lot to the F1 ecosystem since 2022; F1’s ecosystem has given a lot to Miami.

According to an independent economic report commissioned by the Miami Grand Prix last year, the local economy benefited by $449 million from the 2023 race, up 29% from the first running of the event. Visitor spending in the Greater Miami region surpassed $195 million compared to $150 million in 2022, and provided employment opportunities reaching $150 million.

“We’ve done almost $800 million in economic impact over the first two years, and we’re certainly proud of that,” said Tyler Epp, the president of the Miami Grand Prix. “Is there an opportunity to continue to grow that? Of course, and we’ll continue to.”

One area that Miami has been focusing on for its third year is expanding its fan base outside of South Florida, trying to appeal to a more international audience who may look to incorporate the race into a visit to Miami and helping lift that spend. “There’s nothing wrong with having that base,” Epp said. “We want to make sure that we’re being very welcoming to people who want to use Miami as a destination, and add the grand prix as another experience when they want to come.”

Epp said being part of the Miami Dolphins’ portfolio and having the race at the Hard Rock Stadium, which remains busy outside of the football season with tennis, concerts, and this year’s Copa America tournament final, gave a wealth of knowledge for the promoters to tap into.

But he also felt the race was continuing to mature and learn what its fans wanted, particularly after remedying some of the teething problems in year one. Drivers were unhappy with the track surface and layout, while off-track, the hospitality offering fell well below standards. By year two, a new, permanent garage building had been constructed, while the paddock had been moved inside the stadium.

“In year three, it starts to get a little bit more, let’s dig into who we are and what we do, and what we represent, and let’s actually engage in that a little bit,” Epp said. “What that means is listening to the customer base, listening to what is meaningful for them and giving them a reason to come back.”

F1 has now got a strong foothold in the United States with the races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas. But amid an unprecedented period of dominance from Max Verstappen and Red Bull, there have been concerns about the sustainability of this growth should fans grow disillusioned with the on-track product.

F1 marketers remain optimistic they can continue to expand stateside, even in light of a 9.1% viewership drop last year. “I don’t see a real tailing off in terms of U.S. interest at the moment,” said Bower. “Clearly there has been a building narrative around things like audience figures, but we have a bit of a paradox at the moment where we had Red Bull doing an incredible job and being very competitive.

“But it’s also the closest championship it has been beyond that for arguably 10 years. I definitely think the championship continues to evolve and be very exciting and compelling, globally but particularly in the U.S.”

Hughes said the fact F1 got “three bites of the cherry” each year in the United States was only good news for the sport, particularly with the placement of the races on the calendar and their different identities. He hailed Miami as being “brilliant” and said Austin had “matured a lot,” and felt the second running of the Las Vegas race could be another step commercially.

“I don’t think we’ve cracked Vegas yet,” Hughes said. “I think when we do, that’ll be a different level.”

(Lead photo of a Ferrari team member: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)