Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race Results

F1 needs more races as well as Haas to crack US

Formula One needs more races in the United States as well as the arrival of the Haas F1 Team to make an impact in America.

The United States remains a major market for F1, with a number of manufacturers keen to increase exposure and interest in the US. Bernie Ecclestone has been known to have encouraged a number of race projects in America but at present there is only the United States Grand Prix in Austin, which is also facing an uncertain future.

IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay - who raced alongside the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Nico Hulkenberg at the 2015 Race of Champions - says the addition of Haas to the grid will not be enough to increase interest on its own.

"It is so hard to crack the sporting market in the United States because it is so saturated," Hunter-Reay told Sky Sports. "We have football, basketball, baseball - there are so many options you have to capture the fans' attention.

"I think Formula 1 racing in general can do it, but it is going to take more of a presence in the United States other than just a team that calls itself 'USF1' even though it is based in the UK, which it has to be I think.

"Hopefully we can get some more races over there, I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm a fan of any success of motorsport in the United States."

Back in November, American businessman Tavo Hellund announced he is working on a project to bring a second F1 race to the United States, with California the expected destination.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.