The winners’ podium (from left to right): Andrea Stella, the McLaren Team Principal from Italy; Lando Norris, the race winner from Great Britain; Max Verstappen, the second-place finisher from the Netherlands; and Charles Leclerc, the third-place finisher from Monaco. This took place on May 5, 2024, at the Miami Grand Prix in Miami, Florida, USA, during the 6th round of the Formula 1 World Championship.
The 2024 edition of the Miami Grand Prix was a phenomenal success, with an unexpected victor in Lando Norris. The Formula 1 race captivated American audiences, setting a new record for viewership.
According to ESPN, the live broadcast of the Miami Grand Prix on ABC attracted a staggering audience of 3.1 million viewers. This marks the highest viewership ever recorded for an F1 event on American television. The previous record of 2.6 million viewers was set during the inaugural Miami GP in 2022, making this a remarkable 48% increase compared to last year’s race.
At its peak, the race garnered 3.6 million viewers, with an average of 1.3 million viewers in the 18-49 age demographic throughout the broadcast. Furthermore, the Miami GP weekend also set a new record for the most-watched Sprint race in the United States since its introduction in 2021. An average of 946,000 viewers tuned in to witness Max Verstappen’s victory over Charles Leclerc during Saturday’s Sprint, surpassing the previous record set by Azerbaijan in 2023 (883,000 viewers).
Qualifying drew in over half a million viewers, with an average of 625,000 tuning in to catch the action on Saturday afternoon. Additionally, Miami Dolphins CEO and Miami Grand Prix managing partner, Tom Garfinkel, announced that the weekend’s attendance reached a minimum of 275,000 people, and tickets sold out for the third consecutive year.
The combination of record-breaking television viewership and a sold-out crowd, coupled with the unexpected outcome of the race, undoubtedly brought immense joy to Garfinkel and his Miami GP management team. This further solidifies Formula 1’s growing presence in the United States.
Miami now joins Austin, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nevada as one of the three Grand Prix events held in the United States. The Miami International Autodrome still has a decade remaining on its initial contract, but Garfinkel envisions the Hard Rock Stadium becoming a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar.
“We plan to stay here for a long time,” Garfinkel stated in an interview with USA Today. “I fully expect us to continue hosting the race even beyond the initial 10-year contract.”
Given the overwhelming success of the Miami Grand Prix this weekend, Garfinkel’s prediction is likely to come true.