NASCAR DESTROYS F1 despite US Grand Prix drama
The viewership numbers come in after the NASCAR Cup Series took on Formula 1 last weekend – and the numbers aren’t good for the latter.
Last weekend Formula 1 hit Austin, Texas United States Grand Prix and Round 18 of the 2024 season.
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The weekend included the usual Grand Prix on Sunday, but interestingly it was also a sprint weekend, adding extra drama to the event.
Fascinatingly, however, the Texas race also overlapped with that NASCAR Cup Series race in Las Vegas.
The South Point 400 was the first race of the Cup Series playoff round. Joey Logano secured the win and his place in the fourth round of the championship.
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NASCAR vs F1
The Formula 1 race was broadcast live on ABC, while NASCAR could be watched live on NBC, the ratings are now in.
Even in the USA, according to statistics from Blackbook Motorsport, there was absolutely no question that was more popular with spectators.
According to their report, 2.23 million viewers saw Logano take the win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, compared to just 1.3 million viewers who saw Formula 1 and Charles Leclerc take the checkered flag in Austin.
While this figure represents a slight increase over 2023 for F1 (1.17m), the 2024 figure still remains lower than the 2022 (1.34m) and 2021 (1.41m) data.
With that in mind, F1 viewership in the US appears to be stagnating, having surpassed the million mark following the hit Netflix series Drive to Survive.
NASCAR numbers for the Vegas race have remained consistent in recent years, all reaching the two million mark or above, with the exception of 2020, which narrowly missed the mark (1.97 million).
While perhaps not surprising, the above data reaffirms that Formula 1 still has a long way to go before it can match NASCAR in terms of popularity in the United States, especially given that F1 Numbers come from a US race.
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