- Stefano Domenicali says F1’s American expansion is only just beginning.
- Apple TV viewership is already up, and more US cities want a grand prix.
- Cadillac, Colton Herta and a cultural push could redefine F1’s place in American sport.
Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali says the sport’s growth in the United States has much further to run.
Speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange in Miami ahead of the 2026 Miami Grand Prix, he told an audience of industry figures that F1 is still in the early stages of its American push, despite significant commercial and cultural gains already made.
The evidence of that growth is difficult to ignore. F1 now holds three US races annually, in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas.
Apple TV has replaced ESPN as the sport’s exclusive American broadcaster in a deal reportedly worth $150 million per year.
Cadillac has joined the grid as the 11th constructor, positioning itself as a distinctly American team. Yet Domenicali was clear that none of this represents an arrival.
“We are just at the beginning of our journey in the US,” he told the audience, as reported by Motorsport.com. “We are not yet [there].”
From 60,000 to sold-out weekends
Domenicali used Austin as a reference point to show how much has changed. When the Texas circuit was F1’s only US venue, race weekend attendance sat at around 60,000.
All three American events now consistently draw far larger crowds. “The evolution of the love of Formula 1 in this country has been phenomenal,” he said.
He also described Miami as a deliberate strategic choice. The city’s economic profile and reputation for glamour made it, in his view, a natural fit for what F1 wanted to project.
And interest in hosting the sport has continued to build. Domenicali revealed that cities beyond the current three have already submitted requests to hold a grand prix.
“There is a lot of requests to be more in the US,” he said, per Motorsport.com. “And this is something that we need to manage, of course, with care.”
Domenicali framed the challenge ahead in cultural rather than purely commercial terms. American sport, he argued, is embedded in national identity in a way that takes years to penetrate.
“To change a culture or to evolve the culture takes time,” he said.
He acknowledged that the NFL, NBA and other major leagues hold a depth of cultural presence that F1 has not yet reached. But he was direct about his intentions.
“We are racers,” he said. “We are not shy, and we’re going into attack mode, respectfully, of course, of other sports, but we’re going to be in the culture of American fans sooner than what you think.”
The Apple effect and a viewership boom
The early returns from the Apple TV deal have given Domenicali reason to be confident.
Apple’s senior vice president Eddy Cue, also speaking at the Autosport Business Exchange, said viewership across the first three races of 2026 was “way up” compared to ESPN’s figures from the prior year.
The growth extended beyond race day too. Audiences were tuning in for practice and qualifying sessions at higher rates, something Apple had specifically targeted when it acquired the broadcast rights.
Cue also reported encouraging shifts in audience makeup, with younger viewers and more women engaging with F1 content on the platform.
Domenicali told Motorsport.com separately that he was “extremely happy with the way that Apple is promoted.”
He was candid, though, about the limits of scheduling. Racing cannot go head-to-head with the NFL in prime time, he acknowledged.
He framed this as a tactical consideration rather than a ceiling on the sport’s broader ambitions.
Cadillac and the American identity on the grid
The arrival of Cadillac, backed by General Motors and TWG Motorsports, has added a new dimension to F1’s American story.
The team paid a $450 million expansion fee to join the grid and operates facilities across Indiana, North Carolina and Michigan, in addition to its racing base in Silverstone.
For the Miami Grand Prix, its first race on home soil, Cadillac is running a special livery featuring 50 stars on the front wing and “USA” on the rear wing.
Team chief executive Dan Towriss told reporters that racing in America represented “a major milestone.” He described the team’s identity as rooted in its American character.
Behind the scenes, IndyCar graduate Colton Herta is on a development path through Formula 2 with Cadillac’s support, and is widely expected to eventually take one of the team’s race seats.
His arrival in F1 would give the sport its only American driver on the grid, a factor many consider essential for sustaining fan interest domestically.
The Netflix legacy and what comes next
The foundation for all of this was laid by Netflix’s Drive to Survive. Domenicali has acknowledged the docuseries as a turning point on multiple occasions.
Nielsen data showed that more than 360,000 viewers who had never previously watched F1 began following the sport after watching the show.
US race viewership rose 54% between 2018 and 2021. The fanbase also became younger and more diverse during that period.
The content ecosystem around F1 in America has since grown considerably. Netflix and Apple are now jointly streaming material, including a simulcast of Drive to Survive’s eighth season alongside the Canadian Grand Prix.
According to BlackBook Motorsport, global television audiences for the first three races of 2026 rose by at least 20% year on year in Australia, China and Japan, indicating that the sport’s momentum stretches well beyond North America.
Domenicali spoke in Miami with his position clear. The three US races, the Apple partnership, the Cadillac entry and the audience growth built around Drive to Survive are the opening moves in a longer strategy, not its conclusion.
Whether F1 can genuinely compete with the NFL, NBA and MLB for space in American sporting culture remains the central question of his tenure.
His answer, delivered simply and without qualification, was: “We don’t give up.”
