In the sixth round of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, McLaren’s Lando Norris secured an exciting victory in Formula 1. Red Bull’s three-time world champion Max Verstappen took second place, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third.
Verstappen’s impressive performance, winning four of the previous five races and securing six consecutive pole positions, raised concerns that his dominance was discouraging viewership. This came after an increase in interest generated by the Netflix documentary series ‘Drive to Survive’.
The 2022 Miami Grand Prix held the previous record for the highest television audience in the United States, with 2.6 million viewers. Miami now occupies the top three positions for live Formula 1 television audiences in the United States, as the 2023 race attracted 2.1 million viewers.
ESPN reported that their coverage of the Saturday Sprint Race in Miami attracted an average of 946,000 viewers. This is the highest audience for this format since the introduction of sprints in 2021. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin)