The stunning start to the Formula 1 2022 season just received some added glitz — Vegas style.
As if all-new cars, a resurgent Ferrari, and two exciting races to start the season wasn’t’ enough, the Formula One (FWONK) group (the holding company for the Formula 1 world championship) announced it would be adding a street race in the heart of Las Vegas, at night no less, running through the iconic Las Vegas strip.
As an American running the legendary, UK-based McLaren Racing team, Zak Brown’s eyes lit up like a casino marquee when talking about the Las Vegas race, which is coming next year.
“I think it’s going to be unbelievable,” Brown said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “I mean, Las Vegas — I believe the race is going to be around 10:00 at night. You’re going to go down the strip. You’re going to see Formula 1 at its best.”
It will be the third competition to come to the U.S., following this year’s new race in Miami and the current U.S. Grand Prix that takes place in Austin every year. For many years Formula 1 tried to crack the nut that is the America market, to no avail. But now, for a number of reasons, Formula 1 is on fire here in the states.
“If you look at all the metrics in Formula 1— TV ratings, sponsorship, viewing figures, demand for races— and you’ve even got teams, new teams, that want to come into the sport. So every metric is up. The demand is strong; I couldn’t be happier with the future of Formula 1.”
One of the big reasons why Formula 1 was able to breakthrough here in the U.S. is due to the popular Netflix (NFLX). show “Drive to Survive,” that showcases the sport from behind the scenes, with all the drama between competitive team drivers and all the glitz and glamor of races in places like Monte Carlo and Singapore.
For a born marketer like Brown, he knows what sells: a good story and even better characters. “I think that’s one of the things that Netflix has done so well, is it’s brought forward all the personalities in the sport,” Brown says. “Where a lot of other sports are almost exclusively played on the field, there’s as much sport that takes place off the racetrack as on, and I think Netflix has kind of captured that dynamic of the sport.”
The popularity of the sport with ratings, ticket sales, and the Netflix audience has also boosted the bottom line where race teams really feel it – sponsorships and partnerships. “It’s beyond pre-pandemic levels, it’s been outstanding. You know, there’s probably more commercial partnerships in Formula 1 than I’ve ever seen,” Brown says.
Just a couple weeks back before the season opening race at Bahrain, McLaren announced a multi-year partnership with Google (GOOG, GOOGL). The McLaren team will use Google software products, and leverage 5G-enabled Android devices across its operations. The McLaren cars will display Android and Google chrome branding and on the driver’s helmets and race suits.
The big tech sponsorships make sense for Formula 1 teams that leverage technology so extensively. But McLaren also has big sponsorships with Dell (DELL), Cisco (CSCO), and British cybersecurity firm Darktrace.
Add it all up, and the business of racing is really paying off. “The commercial side of the sport— in my 20 years being around Formula 1 and six years running McLaren, I’ve never seen the sport stronger.”
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Pras Subramanian is the senior autos reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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