F1 Canadian Grand Prix delivers another big US television audience

Much has been said and written about the market for Formula 1 in the United States. A massive wave of new fans, prompted by the success of the Netflix docuseries “Drive to Survive,” has seen the sport continue to seek the United States market. That movement includes now three races in the United States, including last season’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix. But would those new fans stick around with the sport, particularly if Max Verstappen kept winning?

It seems they are.

ABC just released viewership numbers for last Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix, and they are another big number for the sport in the United States. According to the network it was the largest broadcast of the Canadian Grand Prix ever, “as an average of 1.8 million viewers watched the race-only portion of the telecast from 2-4 p.m. ET.”

In addition, viewership peaked at 1.97 million viewers between 3-3:15 p.m, as Lando Norris, George Russell, and Verstappen were in a fight at the front of the field.

These big numbers from ABC have been a trend this F1 season. According to the network “[v]iewership records have now been set in three of the last four F1 races this season and all three races that have aired on ABC have set records for the events. The Miami Grand Prix in early May set the all-time F1 record for a live telecast with 3.1 million average viewers.”

Helping matters this season might be the fact that while Verstappen remains in the driver’s seat for a fourth-straight Drivers’ Championship, the field has certainly closed in on him. A fight is shaping up between Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and Norris for the Drivers’ Championship, and on the Constructors’ side of things Red Bull enjoys a lead — but not an insurmountable one — over Ferrari and McLaren.

F1 is off this week, but will be back on June 23rd with the Spanish Grand Prix.