Big rise in US GP ratings shows 'Drive to Survive' impact

Figures released by ESPN suggest that last weekend's United States Grand Prix was the second most-viewed US Formula 1 race of all time.

The sports network says that the full telecast on ABC averaged 1.2 million viewers putting it second to the 2007 event held at Indianapolis which recorded an average audience of 1.4m when shown on FOX.

And in terms of all-time Grand Prix audiences, Sunday's race was the third-best of all time dating back to 2001 and the fourth most-viewed grand prix on ESPN Networks on record since 1994

• Read also: Hamilton, Norris defend 'Drive to Survive' after Verstappen snub

Around 1.5 million viewers were watching from lights out to the conclusion of of the podium ceremony beating previous season highs of 1.1m for the French GP and 1.0m for the British race at Silverstone.

The race was 42 per cent up on the last US GP in 2019. The season as a whole is up 55 per cent on 2020 with an average of 945,000 viewers per race.

“We’ve seen a very positive progression over the last four seasons," ESPN’s director of programming and acquisitions John Suchenski told The Washington Post.

"We’ve been able each year to grow that audience by double digits particularly this season,” he added. “But to see four consecutive years of double-digit growth, I don’t know if I could single out something that compares to that."

A large part of the credit for the surge in F1's popularity in the US has gone to the impact of the documentary series Drive to Survive made by streaming service Netflix.

“I think there’s a variety of different contributors," Suchenski stated. “A lot of people have asked about the Netflix series, and while there’s no way to quantify what audience Netflix brought in, it’s clearly helping.”

However the show hasn't been popular in all parts of the paddock, with Max Verstappen announcing recently that he would no longer be taking part in future seasons because of the way it played up feuds and controversies.

"From my side as a driver I don’t like being part of it," the Red Bull driver stated recently. “They faked a few rivalries which don’t really exist, so I decided to not be a part of it and did not give any more interviews after that, because then there is nothing you can show."

But former F1 driver Romain Grosjean - now driving full time in the NTT IndyCar Series, and in his time himself a critic of the Drive to Survive formula - insists that the show's contribution to F1 has been worth the occasional downside.

“The series is fantastic in the sense that it opened Formula 1 to people who did not necessarily know about it,” he told RTL. "Now we have a fan base that has increased.

"It’s made to be American, with special effects, sounds effects," he pointed out. "I find that for Formula 1 it has been a very good thing.

“The first season was very hard for me. I didn’t watch that one," he admitted. “The next two were a little nicer, especially obviously with the accident [in Bahrain] last year."

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