Why FanDuel Is Ramping Up F1 Betting Content as U.S. Interest Grows

If you’d told someone in 2018 that Formula 1 would one day be discussed beside American football and baseball on Sunday afternoons, the suggestion might have earned a polite laugh or a shake of the head. Yet here we are, with the sport’s profile in the United States rising not through sheer force of throttle but methodically, almost imperceptibly, through culture, media and spectacle. Part of this growth can be charted through numbers and reports: U.S. viewership for F1 races broadcast on ESPN has doubled since the middle of the last decade, with current averages around 1.3 million per race, up from roughly 554,000 in 2018, demonstrating a shift in how many Americans now stop to watch the quixotic dance of high downforce and high drama.

This expanding audience has caught the notice of commercial operators. FanDuel, primarily known for its deck-and-dice presence in mainstream American sports, is now devoting significantly more editorial space, odds markets and analytical depth to F1 betting content. In essence, it’s responding to a fanbase that has grown comfortable with wagering on touchdowns and home runs as well as pole positions and podiums. The growth of this audience has its origins in several curious cultural inflections, which we might explore as if strolling along a paddock rather than straining to keep pace with a 200-mph car.

In that vein, many casual fans and bettors alike use a FanDuel promo code to explore and evaluate F1 betting markets. These promotions — free bets or enhanced odds — are as much educational aids as they are enticements, inviting users gently into a territory that once would have felt alien to the American sports viewer.

Documentary Storytelling and Personality

Few developments have done more to reshape Americans’ relationship with Formula 1 than Netflix’s documentary series Drive to Survive. Launched in 2019, the show did what all good storytelling should: it took something complex and made it human. Rather than opening with aerodynamics and tyre compounds, it dwelt on faces, ambitions, rivalries and the contradictory mix of fear and exhilaration that defines racing. According to industry analytics, the show has driven growth in the U.S. fanbase so dramatically that average race viewership more than doubled in just a few years.

Drive to Survive diversified the sport's audience. Younger fans, women and those previously uninterested in motorsport suddenly found a way in, becoming invested in the fates of drivers and teams. The global fanbase swelled to an estimated seven hundred million worldwide, a figure bolstered by interest from regions that once gave the sport only a passing glance. Fans accustomed to documentary drama soon stumbled on social media clips, debates and memes; learning race formats, team strategies and even basic physics as part of the entertainment. This was storytelling on wheels, a kind of narrative engine that powered interest far beyond race weekends.

Films, Fandom and the Broader Cultural Push

If a docuseries can humanise the paddock, a feature film can dramatise the thrill of it. In 2025, F1 The Movie, a Hollywood production starring Brad Pitt, grossed over $628 million worldwide, according to box office reporting, and is widely credited with bringing yet another wave of casual viewers into the sport’s orbit. For many Americans, this was a chance to share in the mythos of racing. The heroes and villains, triumph and heartbreak, all distilled into a cinematic experience.

The U.S. as a Racing Host and Its Impact

This shift matters because it brings the sport into the lived world of the fan. A Las Vegas weekend is a spectacle, a concert, a tourism package and a conversation starter. It invites active engagement — the same engagement that can lead someone, after watching practice or qualifying, to wonder about the probability of a podium finish or who starts on pole. And that wonder is, of course, precisely where betting content thrives.

A Sport Under Negotiation with America

The American sports market remains competitive and idiosyncratic. Motorsport has long been dominated domestically by NASCAR and IndyCar, with their own histories and traditions. Formula 1, by contrast, was once relegated to early mornings on cable and niche corners of the internet. Now, through strategic storytelling and media expansion, it finds itself closer to the mainstream.

ESPN, which has held broadcast rights through 2025, helped this transition by exposing new viewers to the sport without charging rights fees that might have restricted access. Between 2018 and 2025, viewership more than doubled, averaging around 1.3 million per race in recent seasons — figures that rival other major sports broadcasts. As the broadcast landscape evolves — with Apple TV taking over rights from 2026 — the reach of Formula 1 is poised to grow even further.

It is a market under negotiation, both commercially and culturally. Formula 1 seeks to balance its European heritage with American appetite. Too much spectacle, some traditionalists grumble, risks diluting the sport’s essence. Yet the success of Drive to Survive, F1 The Movie and the wave of live races suggests that storytelling and accessibility need not be enemies of sporting purity.

Betting Goes Where the Fans Are

For FanDuel, the significance of this expansion is at once practical and symbolic. By allocating more space and attention to F1 betting content — previews, odds breakdowns, driver form analysis — it acknowledges a shifting audience. Bettors who once logged in only for the Super Bowl or March Madness now have a reason to consider Sunday afternoon’s qualifying session or Sunday night’s grand prix.

FanDuel’s Operational Push into Formula 1 Markets

Ramping up F1 content is not only about writing more previews. FanDuel is actively expanding the number of betting markets available for American users. New offerings include wagers on qualifying sessions, fastest laps, head-to-head driver matchups, and constructor results. These markets require constant odds adjustments and specialized editorial coverage to help new bettors understand race formats.

The company has also built dedicated pages and hubs focused solely on Formula 1 analysis. By treating F1 similarly to NFL or NBA markets, FanDuel normalizes the sport within the broader U.S. betting landscape. More articles, podcasts, and analytical tools are now produced around major Grand Prix weekends. This strategic investment ensures that when American interest peaks, FanDuel already has the necessary content ready.

Apple TV Rights Deal Shapes the Future of U.S. F1 Betting

From 2026 onward, Apple TV holds exclusive broadcasting rights for Formula 1 in the United States. This transition represents more than just a change in where races are watched—it signals a deeper digital integration of the sport into everyday American media habits. Streaming platforms provide richer data overlays, interactive features, and personalized viewing experiences that traditional cable broadcasts could never fully deliver.

For betting operators like FanDuel, this matters because modern bettors consume odds content directly through the same devices and services they use to watch the events. A unified streaming ecosystem makes it easier to present live F1 markets, driver statistics, and in-race wagering tools. The closer the sport moves toward real-time digital consumption, the greater the need for high-speed funding and editorial support—precisely the kind of infrastructure improvements TRON integration helps enable.

Conclusion

FanDuel’s decision to devote more resources to Formula 1 betting content is a natural response to the sport’s rapid cultural rise in the United States. Growth fueled by Netflix storytelling, Hollywood films, and high-profile American races has turned F1 into a mainstream talking point. Betting operators must follow that momentum to remain relevant.

As media rights evolve and digital funding options expand, FanDuel is positioning itself as a primary hub for American F1 bettors. More markets require more education, and that education increasingly comes through well-structured odds content. The platform’s ramp-up shows one clear truth: in U.S. sports wagering, attention goes where the fans are.

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