planetf1.com

For those of us who don't live in America, those who do are invited to describe US media coverage of this weekend's race.

What sort of exposure has been generated at state and national level? Has F1 enjoyed an enthusiastic welcome back? How would you characterise the prevailing tone among commentators?

Your impressions and insights please.

If not for Speed and Speed crew member comments on Twitter, I would have not seen ANY coverage by US media at all. The comms have sounded very excited in their time in Austin of course, but I don't understand why Speed send them there early this week, and then made them return to the studio in Charlotte to cover the on track sessions like they usually do. Seems retarded. This is, of course, why I follow european coverage.

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Ya, nothing as far as coverage around me really. I did see a commercial with Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart (NASCAR driver) on another channel (not speed) and thought it was odd, its the only commercial I've ever seen with a F1 driver in it.

From what I hear in Austin its obviously BIG news but around the rest of the country I dont think I have heard anyone talking about it. The people I talk to during the day dont know anything about it either, just F1 fans.

It is as I expected: Little to no mention of it outside of the Austin region. On Speed, almost literally, after the P2 broadcast concluded, it was back to NASCAR. The first step to making F1 popular in the states (or at least try) was building the track. The second, publicity of the event. It might get more mention on Sunday with the race, but if Six-Pack-Joe is to know about the race and F1 itself, he should at least see some mention of it on his national news. Hell, even NASCAR gets mentioned often on the big news networks.

Why is joe six pack the target? If I were F1 I'd be looking at the well educated upper middle class demographic. People who watch tennis. That sort of thing. F1 will never win the nascar crowd, why try? Its a glamorous sport...appeal to people who want to be glamorous.

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F1 in USA..where? just kidding..Down here in Miami, not a beep.

Figures...

There's a global event happening in the USA that doesn't involve America winning!

"What's a 'global'?"

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Seems F1 does need an America star for them to follow more across the country, but not looking like any potential future American F1 talent to help lift the profile?

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RSR Racing

I have seen literally nothing here.

It may have something to do with me having to TV service though

I honestly dont think Americans need American participation to be fans. Have never understood that argument.

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Maybe Scott Speed's still knocking around somewhere...

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Connor Daily perhaps?

anyways.... i asked my cousin if there was anything mentioned in California where he lives, and he told me that the only reason he knows about it is because i talk about it all the time haha.

Not so much. I don't see it being broadcasted live on Fox Sports; even Speed won't show it live. My local sports channel isn't even showing it live because of football so I'm going to have to turn to a live stream to watch this one.

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Supporter of:

Fernando Alonso
Pastor Maldonado
Sergio Perez
Michael Schumacher
Lewis Hamilton

In fairness Speed just lost the rights to F1 and are down to the last 2 races now. Next year NBC which is the biggest network in America will get F1 and I am sure they will push it more. Problem is NBC cannot cover it until next year and Speed has no reason to push it too much losing it...

Long and the short of it, the place is sold out for Sunday which is awesome... and the track is top 5 in F1 for sure

Will the track be top 5 when there are no non-DRS passes on sunday?

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WAIT. WHAT?! Are your serious? That sucks..... I know Speed lost its rights but I always thought they will wrap up the 2012 season first....

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I live in canada and the race will not be shown live as well. TSN will show the race 8 hours later......
Ridiculous......
Also, even though I pay to get speed coverage, f1 on speed is blocked for canadian users, how about that!
I miss the european coverage.....

To publicise F1 in the US Bernie should have started ages ago with a focussed programme getting some well-known Indy drivers to try out and get familiar with F1 cars; plenty of old models for hire, could promote Red Bull and other companies.
When Brabham got Rick Mears to try out in California in 1981 against Nelson Piquet snr, Rick was faster. Top drivers in all categories are good and most would enjoy trying other forms.

Get a couple of active, name drivers, well-known to US tv audiences, and interview them after driving.....

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http://grandprixratings.blogspot.com

Well Speed has almost always never shown F1 live, so instead I turn to my local sports network, TSN, who always shows F1 live but not this weekend because in Canada the Grey Cup is happening, which is a Canadian football championship which is quite a big deal. The timing of this event sucks. NASCAR and the Grey Cup are happening this weekend, and it from the proposed 2013 calendar the USGP will be in the same spot causing potentially the same conflicts.

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Supporter of:

Fernando Alonso
Pastor Maldonado
Sergio Perez
Michael Schumacher
Lewis Hamilton

Well,

Imagine if we sent to two American baseball teams to play a game in Germany, except no one in Germany cared except for a handful of locals that were really weird and had followed baseball for some odd reason.

That's F1 in the USA right now.

Didn'tknow that...... just migrated from europe this summer to canada.

I haven't really seen much on TV besides on Speed. But it has been about the same as any other race. The best way you're going to get some coverage is after the race. If something exciting happens that ESPN or some other networks would want to talk about. TV coverage wise, not sure if November is the best time. Sundays in Fall (Autumn) are filled with NFL games which is the #1 sport in America. This is the main reason why the race is shown only on Speed instead of FOX which has smaller viewership.



I do agree F1 should go for the upper middle class fans. It's going to be hard to win over the NASCAR fanbase. At the same time, I do think F1 should also take the approach of the Indy 500. IndyCar in general isn't the most watched series, but the 500 is one of the greatest spectacles in motorsports. They should try to make the Austin/US GP a spectacle of its own. F1 will have better luck this way to get more fans. The regular races being held in the middle of the night in US doesn't help the fanbase.



I disagree

I do think a GOOD American driver or team is necessary for Americans to start following F1. There are a couple reasons behind that.

First, us Americans love winners. The same reason the general public and media pays attention to cycling or swimming, because Lance Armstrong* and Michael Phelps are the best in the world and they're American.

Next, there are already established motorsports (NASCAR, IndyCar) and other sports (american football, baseball, basketball) that all are based in the US. What these sports offer are localized appeal to the sports based on the players being from the college the fan likes, the city, etc.

F1 currently doesn't do that. Why would anyone in the States cheer for RedBull or Ferrari if you're an average fan of F1? A perfect example of this is how F1 became huge in Spain. It wasn't popular until Alonso came to the sport and won 2 WDCs. Now Spain has 2 races.

What do you think my fellow statesman?

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Kimi Raikkonen / Red Bull Racing / Lotus F1

What they should have done was looked into seeing if NASCAR would host a round of their 2012 season at Austin, on the same day as the Grand Prix. Like you'd have a GP2 race before the event, it might draw in the American crowd a bit more. If it'd help with publicity, maybe even put NASCAR after the F1 (i hear gasps and an elderly woman in the corner exclaiming 'heavens!' as she peers down her theater binoculars), as you might catch a fair few people tuning in to see the start of the NASCAR and get them to watch the end of the race. Wouldn't be great for 2012 figures, but it might help for 2013 and beyond.

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I also have one of these.

Mixing NASCAR fans and F1 fans would be a nightmare. I remember when I was working in the ALMS and Dale Jr came to Sonoma to drive a factory vette as a one-off experience. The regular sports car racing fans were so appalled by the extra traffic and the demeanor of the Jr fans that they were seriously turned off by the whole thing. Nascar will never play a support role anyway...they require all the track side resources of the headliner.

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But then, what about the right turns?

[quote][/quote][quote="metamorphomisk"]
  Post subject:  Re: How's it looking Stateside?  
I live in canada and the race will not be shown live as well. TSN will show the race 8 hours later......
Ridiculous......
Also, even though I pay to get speed coverage, f1 on speed is blocked for canadian users, how about that!
I miss the european coverage....

I too live in Canada and, until I read this I'm thinking "OK. Have a bit of lunch settle back to watch race" What the ***** are TSN up to? Now I have to spend the entire afternoon avoiding hearing a result on radio or other network. And yes, Speed blacked out in my area also. This is NOT the way to gain viewers!

To Lite992 and bitmonx.
I found a live broadcast scheduled on the Bell HD satellite network. It is Channel # 1054 ,TCTV2.
Hope this helps. Don,t know what happens on Rogers,
Chris

I'd say to get the better known Connor Daly in a couple of years.

It's a shame USF1 failed, but next best thing give the 13th team spot to a manufacturer like GM to try and build a team that's not focused on American drivers, but at least promotes them.

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"We can not drive slower, just to make the races more exciting." Alain Prost

Well there is some press coverage......



http://www.dallasnews.com/travel/texas/ ... y-home.ece

Is there no driver from the u.s looking to break into f1?

Alexander Rossi is Caterhams test driver but for some reason they chose not to use him yesterday.

U think thats bad, he was supposed to be a special guest at Will Buxtons F1 bash last night in Austin and coz he;s under 21, he got bounced, we were all gutted!!

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Brand new circuit that neither Petrov nor Kovalainen had ever driven probably a factor.

Caterham needs their race drivers so they can take 10th from Marussia.

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Supporter of:

Fernando Alonso
Pastor Maldonado
Sergio Perez
Michael Schumacher
Lewis Hamilton

In Canada for P1 and P2 it's really only available online ie: skybox. For once it was on speedtv which was very nice (and not at 4am). TSN aired quali with the BBC feed as usual. But the reporting on the news is the same as always....non existent. I hope that there are two races in the colonies again the popularity will pick up

Speed says off air like on all fp and quali but I think that they will show it

Ummm.. Grey cup is next weekend, this is just west and east finals btw