Why doesn't the american public like formula1?

Question

The Americans want more and more formula one races, but there is never a decent crowd at the current venue.

Answer 1

F1 is not boring. This seson, if you would have watched it, was the most breathtaking in years. A tooth-and-nail fight to the end of the season for the title. Not that Americane would like to separate from their "racing", that oval nonsense merry-go-round.
There shouldn't be allowed more than a race in a country, and the FIa has started axing the races that are in the same country as another race. The European GP(Germany) went first, then the San Marino GP(Italy).
The crowd is around 130,000 at Indy.

To Nascar fans: FORMULA ONE HELPED THE USA PULL THROUGH AFTER THE 9/11 ATTACKS. THE AMERICAN GP WAS THE FIRST MAJOR SPORTING EVENTAFTER THE ATTACKS AND THE RACE, WHICH WAS A THRILLER, WAS HELPED BY A HUGE BANNER IN THE CROWD SAYING: "F1-THANKS FOR COMING!"

The 2005 clichee was the downside of the American F1 experience. But it was just a nasty one-off. And don't give me stuff like "F1 is boring", "they play follow the leader" and so on. And please don't give me a thumbs-down.

Answer 2

Some Americans obviously like Formula One racing. While the Indianapolis Speedway, a privately-owned facility, doesn't release attendance figures for any event, the race-day crowd for the most recent U.S. Grand Prix was estimated at 130,000 and that's more than the number of spectators for this year's British and French Grands Prix, two countries, arguably with a longer tradition in F1 racing. I think you might change your mind and agree that 130,000 is a `decent crowd.'
True, like all Grands Prix, there were people at the race who live outside the U.S. but it's a well-known fact the majority of those flag-waving Colombians live in the U.S.
A couple of facts, the U.S. has produced two world driving champions - Phil Hill and Mario Andretti - and that's two more than many European countries. Also, the U.S. is the only country to host three Grands Prix in a single year: Long Beach, Detroit and Las Vegas in 1982.
By the way, I'm not American, but I cringe when I see drivel and misinformation posted, usually by people who only recently discovered F1 racing and have never actually been to a race.

Answer 3

The US Grand Prix at Indy gets a few hundred thousand spectators... but almost all of them come from other countries.

Americans don't like F1 because there are few Americans competing, because the top speeds are lower than our "Indy Car" circuits, because there is little passing, and Michael Schumacher showed that it really isn't a very competitive sport. The same two or three drives will be on the podium almost every race.

Also, our open-wheel racing system was destroyed about 10 years ago when Tony George (the owner of the Indy 500 track) started his own racing circuit ("Indy Car"), thus dividing the sport into two sections. Hard-core fans either followed their favorite drivers or their favorite teams, but most of the country decided to just pay attention to NASCAR instead. They'll eventually reunite, but by then, it will be too late. NASCAR will have twice the audience with numbers continuing to increase, and Indy Car racing will just be another distraction like F-1... nice to watch when no other sports are available.

Answer 4

Most Americans don't like F1 because they don't understand it. For some stupid reason, Americans can't just appreciate the skill involved in driving a race car -- they have to be able to relate to the personality of the driver. And, of course, if they can't pronounce the driver's name, nothing else matters. They'll make no effort at all to learn about the driver's personality, whether they'd actually be able to relate to him or not.

Motor racing fans from other parts of the world are just as nationalistic as Americans, but they don't suffer from the character defect that prevents them from appreciating drivers from other countries like most Americans do.

F1 draws good crowds at Indianapolis, but a fairly high percentage of those fans are international visitors. There is practically no crossover with the fans at the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400.

That won't change until there is a highly successful American driver in F1, but there are very few young American drivers who are willing to make the commitment necessary to succeed in F1. Scott Speed did things the right way, but I'm just not convinced he's fully capable of being one of the elite drivers in F1. If Graham Rahal is successful in Champ Car he might get a look. Other than that, the cupboard is pretty bare here in the States.

Answer 5

Both Nascar & F1 are full of $hit.Watching Nascar with all the unskilled redneck drivers causing crashes is like watching kids with bumper cars.F1 is too damn boring,with all the hairpin turns & slow circuits there's not enough passing or stragedy,usually the pole sitter wins the race.

Open wheel Indy racing is more exciting,until Indy track owner Tony George decided he was god.Indy 500 is still the most watched race in the world, case closed

Answer 6

One of the main reasons is time. The only races that are on TV at a decent hour are the Grand Prix's of USA, Canada, and South America. All the races in Europe start around 7am on the east coast, and the races in Asia start around midnight on the east coast.

Answer 7

Formula one has always been slow to take off, since it's more stategic and less all-action than it's main rival NASCAR.

F1 was just beginning to get a decent reputation with the Indy F1 races, until that stupid race where only six cars took part due to the wrong tyres been brought by Michellin. That has put the progress back.

Add to that most races are around europe and asia you can't put it in a permanent time slot on television and it gets less interesting for them.

I'd think the americans would prefer if all the F1 races were in america and they call it "world series cars" or something.

Answer 8

Are you kidding me? All NASCAR does is press down the gas pedal and make left turns for three hours. How can you find that not boring? F1 is exciting they make hairpins seem so easy and it takes more skill and money then NASCAR. Your just so ignorant that you can't admit that NASCAR is a joke. I'd rather watch F1 any day then NASCAR, even if it was at 7 in the morning.

Answer 9

I'm American and I love F1 racing. I too think nascar is stupid however I don't care for all the anti-American sentimate from some of you euros. I spend a lot of my time trying to educate my fellow redneck Americans, but get just as offended as they do when you bad mouth us as a whole. Oh and if you need to trash talk compare a euro motocross track to a US one!

Answer 10

No top American drivers for one. Follow the leader racing for two. No American auto manufacturers for three.