Miami’s Political Power Play
The wheels of democracy accompanied F1’s red, white and blue love fest on Sunday
Exactly halfway through his home race, Logan Sargeant spun off the track.
As Kevin Magnussen’s left front tire kissed his sidepod, the Floridian’s hopes of scoring points just 30 miles from his hometown were crushed into the street circuit’s Rolex-branded walls. The subsequent safety car allowed Lando Norris’ McLaren to sprint to its first Formula 1 win.
But amid the champagne, Norris’ permanent grin and the deafening cheers of American fans, the nation’s love affair with F1 last week was bookended with policy pushing and political campaigns.
On Wednesday, Andretti’s F1 entry bid rejection drove both Republican and Democratic members of Congress to raise antitrust concerns about the Formula One Management Group (FOM).
“FOM’s rejection appears to be driven by the current line-up of European Formula 1 race teams, many of which are affiliated with foreign automobile manufacturers that directly compete with American automotive companies like GM,” the complaint read.
As former F1 world champion Mario Andretti publicly addressed F1 on the steps of Capitol Hill alongside three representatives from racing’s U.S. epicenters — Michigan and Indiana — the sport’s true dedication to developing the country as an F1 stronghold was tested.
Andretti’s courting of F1 was cut short in January when the FOM rejected the auto manufacturing and racing giant’s attempts to join the sport, even after the sport’s ruling body approved it. The Indiana-based team planned to partner with engine supplier General Motors Cadillac to create an all-American team in F1 for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. If approved, Andretti would join the grid as the 11th team.
F1 argued that neither an additional team nor the Andretti brand would bring value to the sport. Ahead of the decision, McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown said that an 11th team would be welcome and advance the racing product while other teams questioned how Andretti’s entry would impact the end-of-season championship prize money split.
“For many teams, it is big dilution that can make the difference between big losses and less losses,” Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff said in November.
A top team in Extreme E, Formula E and IndyCar, Andretti has roots throughout single-seater motorsport.
F1 remains the final frontier.
The FOM, F1’s commercial rights holder, has successfully infected the American masses with F1 fever. When the Miami Grand Prix joined the calendar in 2022 as the second U.S. race, the first weekend in May was a sign of both the demand for the sport and its future as a status symbol stateside. The paddock, typically adorned with a smattering of celebrities but mostly hard-core racing fans during European race weekends, was bloated with influencer invitees, Silicon Valley’s top techies and everyone from A-list to E-list celebrities — all eating $280 lobster rolls.
But this year, that crowd included politicians.
Before drivers touched down in the Miami heat, damage control was already underway. On Tuesday, the organizers of the Miami Grand Prix prevented a VIP suite fundraiser from occurring in support of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to The Washington Post, Trump’s friend Steven Witkoff — a New York real estate investor who recently testified in support of the former president in his fraud case — allegedly attempted to reserve the rooftop suite of the F1 Paddock Club for the fundraiser with a $250,000 entry fee.
While the Miami Grand Prix sent a cease-and-desist letter to the fundraiser host, Trump showed face on Sunday in the McLaren garage before the number four car crossed the checkered flag for the first time.
The team faced backlash online for inviting Trump. The Republican presidential candidate faces three indictments for federal and state election interference and classified document retention along with a hush money case currently in court.
“McLaren is a non-political organization. However, we recognize and respect the office of the President of the United States,” the team’s statement read on Monday. “So, when the request was made to visit our garage on race day, we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO of Liberty Media and Formula 1.”
On a weekend oozing with patriotism and personalities, F1’s grip on America seemed to only tighten. Sunday’s race topped the charts as the most-watched F1 race on live U.S. TV with 3.1 million viewers according to ESPN, snatching the title from 2022’s record-high 2.6 million viewers.
Norris’ win reinvigorated the masses who were beginning to tune out as “The Verstappen Problem” caused Miami Grand Prix audiences to drop 24 percent last year.
But with the memory of the equally extravagant Las Vegas Grand Prix still fresh, a pattern seems to emerge: stateside races are an over-the-top affair where celebrity culture reigns supreme.
In the American publicity ploy that is increasingly becoming synonymous with the sport, politicians are the latest to capitalize on the global attention a paddock pass earns them. But when the circuit becomes the new small Midwestern town of the campaign trail, Europeans’ appetite for the show business that comes with speed is destined to wane.
As the sport reaches renewed heights in popularity, it’s hard not to peek over the summit towards the possibility of a quick and successive fall. Like most pastimes du jour, is the sport’s mainstream trendiness hitting a high right before it inevitably becomes “so last year” to wear racing jackets on the runway?
The only American driver’s early cruise into the barriers, Trump’s visit to the McLaren garage and Andretti’s bid rejection all point in one direction: F1 investment in the U.S. is more a business venture than a cultural shift.
In other news:
Alpine’s cryptocurrency sponsor Binance went to court last week. The company’s founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. He was sentenced to four months in prison while two executives were detained in Nigeria. This week, Oregon became the sixth U.S. state to ban Binance, the largest crypto trading platform. Alpine announced ahead of the Miami Grand Prix that ApeCoin, a cryptocurrency “decentralized autonomous organization” or blockchain, joined the team in a multi-year partnership contract.
I wrote about the relationship between the Miami GP and F1 content creators for Motorsport: “They'll be like, ‘Yeah, you can come on behalf of this F1 sponsor, but please do not post any cars on track. Do not talk about any drivers.’ What do you think people want to see?”