Natalia Whitaker appreciates the full menu of American sports, from the NBA to the NHL. Now, she’s added another competitive event to her list of favorites: F1, or Formula 1, largely considered the world's most ferocious and high-tech form of auto racing.
“I went to the Miami Grand Prix recently and, oh my, it was the best weekend ever,” says Whitaker, 25, who works for a wealth management firm in Los Angeles. “The emotion, the speed, the noise – fantastic. But there was so much going on that it would have been fun even without the races.”
Make no mistake, we’re witnessing an F1 invasion on soil long dominated by NASCAR and Indy Car, with the number of U.S. fans jumping 10% year over year in 2024 to 52 million and social media followers up 29%, according to Formula 1 metrics.
Leveraging both legacy and social media, off-track entertainment, and even a buildout of F1 Arcade restaurants to accommodate fans who can’t make it to the races, the mission is to make F1 nothing less than a new American pastime.
The onslaught really revs up June 27, when “F1 The Movie,” the Apple Original Films release starring Brad Pitt, hits theaters and IMAX. The actor, 61, ripped a page from the Tom Cruise script and drove 180 mph for his role as talented-but-peaked racer Sonny Hayes, who accepts a do-or-die comeback challenge from team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) while trying to bond with his unimpressed rookie teammate Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris).
