Briatore sees F1 target group getting younger: ‘There are extraordinary champions like Verstappen’

Flavio Briatore, former Benetton and Renault team boss, sees a huge increase in popularity for Formula 1 in the United States, among other places. In particular, first-class owner Liberty Media has been a major contributor to its appeal in the country. With three races in the United States next season, namely in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas, the popularity will only increase.

Briatore was not allowed to work around Formula 1 for some time due to the crashgate scandal. “Two years ago I came back to Formula 1, which now has huge appeal because the United States is an amazing driving force,” said the Italian. ANSA news agency. He definitely sees a difference from a few years ago. “It was very difficult to get into it before that,” he adds.

Although Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing managed to clinch the title early last season, there were record numbers in terms of both public attendance and revenue. Briatore sees that this is largely due to Liberty Media’s involvement. “Formula 1 is a spectacle, let’s go to America and get the 500,000, 600,000 people through,” the former team boss said.

Briatore: “There are extraordinary young drivers, like Verstappen”

A large percentage of new American fans come from the Netflix series Formula 1: drive to survive. Drama is a big theme of the show and a lot of things happened again last season. The events at Ferrari were almost like a soap opera and it eventually led to the sacking of Mattia Binotto. Briatore has high hopes for his replacement. “At Ferrari there is now (Frédéric) Vasseur who is a friend of mine and we hope he does well,” said the Italian.

The Formula 1 target group is also getting younger. Something that, according to Briatore, also partly has to do with the pilots. “There are extraordinary and fantastic young drivers. These are people who communicate with the media in a different way. There are extraordinary champions like (Max) Verstappen, like (Lewis) Hamilton, like (George) Russell, a group of fantastic young people. And a bunch of older people like Alonso who weren’t even in good shape when he was running with me.”