New study reveals stunning Gen Z popularity surge in major F1 market

A new study has revealed the incredible growth Formula 1 has experienced among the Gen Z age group in the United States.

According to the study published by Civic Science, almost half of Americans aged 18-29 now follow F1 to some extent.

New figures suggest almost half of all Americans now follow Formula 1

According to Civic Science, a quarter of the population now follows the world championship ‘somewhat’ or ‘very closely’, based on the 1949 respondents to a survey conducted earlier this month.

That includes 45 per cent of Gen Z (aged 18-29) and 31 per cent of Millennials.

“A deeper dive finds that the majority (77%) of F1 fans report having a more general interest that is not tied to specific drivers or teams,” Civic Science stated.

“Twenty-three per cent, meanwhile, led by fans aged 30 to 44, say they follow the sport for a particular driver or team.”

In addition to revealing the growing interest in F1 within the United States, the study also detailed other aspects of an ‘American F1 fan’.

That included their tendency to travel – 12 per cent up on non-fans – and, bizarrely, their need to replace a household appliance in the coming months.

The report also affords some insight into the impact of the Netflix docuseries, Drive to Survive.

Long credited as one of the key drivers behind the explosion of interest in the United States, the study reveals that 42 per cent of respondents admitted that they have become more interested in a sport through a behind-the-scenes docuseries.

That figure rises to 57 per cent for Gen Z, and 45 per cent for Millennials (ages 30-44).

“The pull is slightly stronger among women and particularly notable among younger audiences, though even 36% of adults aged 45 to 64 say a docuseries inspired them to give the sport a shot,” the Civic Science summary noted.

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The United States has historically been a closed book for F1, which spent decades attempting to crack the market – especially under Bernie Ecclestone’s reign in charge of its commercial interests.

That led to a series of failed street races in Long Beach (though it has proved successful national level event), Caesers Palace, Dallas, Detroit, and Phoenix.

There was also the ill-fated United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, the farcical six-car 2005 event doing much to destroy any goodwill that had been created.

After a hiatus, F1 returned to the US in 2012 with a race at Circuit of The Americas, which has become popular with both drivers and fans.

Arguably, the decisive change was the influence of Liberty Media, an American organisation which adopted a more relaxed approach to social media an embraced both new media and the fan base like never before, opening the door for Drive to Survive.

There are now three races in the United States; Miami and Las Vegas (both promoted in part of entirely by Liberty Media) adding to the North American flavour.

That has led to stronger television numbers, though they remain comparatively modest.

“Sunday’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix on ABC attracted the largest live U.S. television audience ever for the iconic event, and F1’s third-largest live U.S. television audience on record,” an ESPN statement following the Monaco GP boasted.

“Only the 2024 Miami Grand Prix (3.1 million average viewers) and the inaugural Miami event in 2022 (2.6 million) have attracted larger live U.S. television audiences for F1.

“ESPN’s telecast of F1 qualifying at Monaco averaged 933,000 viewers, up 28 per cent over 2024.”

News of the rising interest in F1 in the United States comes at a useful time for Liberty Media, which is in the throes of negotiating its next broadcast deal in the US.

ESPN has held the rights since 2018, initially at no cost, but that grew to $5 million a year in 2020 until 2022.

Last December, NASCAR announced a seven-year, $7.7 billion broadcast deal with NBC, Fox, Warner Bros Discovery and Amazon. Meanwhile, the current IndyCar deal is reportedly worth $25 million annually.

“We’re obviously looking for a partner that can help us continue to grow the fan base,” Derek Chang, Liberty Media’s CEO, said in May.

“I believe we are in the US still pretty early on. Especially when you compare against other US domestic leagues, where we sit in the Pantheon, it’s pretty low, still.

“That means there’s a lot of headroom and it’s up to us to go out and capitalise on that.”

Read next: Explained: What Liberty Media’s huge $4.8b MotoGP takeover means for F1 fans