COTA attracts second largest USGP TV audience in history

F1 has revealed the United States Grand Prix which saw Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton participate in a stunning battle for victory was the second most viewed iteration of the race in US broadcasting history.

Verstappen fended off a late-race charge from Hamilton to take his eighth victory of the season and with it, extend his championship lead to 12 points with five races remaining.

The rise in popularity of the sport in the US was made clear for all viewing, with 400,000 fans in attendance at COTA, with track boss Bobby Epstein claiming Netflix's 'Drive to Survive' series was "rocket fuel added to a fire" that was already burning.

This is reflected in the television ratings, with an average of 1.2 million viewers watching on ESPN, the most viewed race on the network since rights were reacquired in 2018.

Only the 2007 US Grand Prix, won by Hamilton at Indianapolis, has attracted more viewers, whilst this year's race is now the most viewed grand prix of the season, gaining a larger audience than the French [1.1 million] and British [one million] races.

The rise in awareness of the sport was highlighted by drivers, including Lando Norris who explained how the attitudes towards competitors away from the race track had changed.

"It has been crazy like just away from the circuit, even in the hotel every morning and evening, they are waiting there so I feel like they never sleep, or they sleep in the lobby of the hotel," said the McLaren driver.

"Just walking around and in the hotel and so on, you feel like a lot more people around, notice you in their McLaren or team tops so it is cool to see how much it has engaged people in America. It is pretty awesome."

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