Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix resulted in record viewership in the United States, according to cable broadcaster ESPN.
The Formula 1 race at the Baku City Circuit surpassed the previous round in Monaco as the most-watched race of the 2021 or 2020 F1 season in the US, with a peak audience of 1.04 million.
It was also the fourth most-watched grand prix televised on a cable channel in US history, despite starting at 08:00 local time on the East coast, and 05:00 in the west of the country.
The dramatic race, in which title rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton failed to score, was won by Mexico’s Sergio Perez, and drew an average audience of 956,000, which is up on the 2021 average of 911,000.
However the broadcast peaked at 1.04m for the final few laps when the race was restarted as a result of Verstappen’s tyre failure.
That made it the most-watched Azerbaijan GP in the country since it debuted on the calendar in 2016.
F1 has seen an upward viewership trend in the US in recent seasons, with 2021’s average up 50 per cent on 2020 and up 36 per cent on 2019.
