After a history of boom and bust, Formula 1 is finally basking in a prolonged period of success in the United States. In a little over a decade the sport has gone from having no races in the US to having three established grands prix, with Miami and Las Vegas joining key pillar Austin to span the North American continent. American sponsorship has also exploded. Four of the grid’s title partners are American businesses. Formula 1 counts three US businesses among its global partners and another three among its official partnership portfolio. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™, LIVE in 4K with no ad-breaks during racing. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. Autosport has reported the number of American sponsors in Formula 1 has doubled since 2018, with 115 companies partnering either a team or with the sport itself, and that number is expected to grow during the season. Ferrari reportedly has as many American sponsors as it does Italian ones. Television ratings are through the roof. According to BlackBook Motorsport, the Bahrain Grand Prix attracted 1.27 million viewers, more than double the 552,000 people who watched the historic IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach. NASCAR, the undisputed motorsport leader in the US, managed just under double F1’s figures for its round at Homestead in Florida as the gap between the two sports continues to narrow. Next year Formula 1 will even boast two American teams, when the long-established Haas squad will be joined by Cadillac in a coup for the sport, this representing the first involvement of auto giant General Motors. There’s now really only one thing missing: an American driver. But Cadillac’s arrival could change that too, and with GM signalling it will begin serious consideration of candidates this weekend in Miami, it could change very quickly. PIT TALK PODCAST: Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari dream has turned into a nightmare, and the seven-time champion says he can’t see light at the end of the tunnel this season. How did it all go so wrong in just five grands prix? Plus Christian Horner and George Russell have reportedly sounded each other out over 2026 availability in an early start to the silly season. F1 AMERICAN STYLE Floridian Logan Sargeant was the last to represent the USA in F1, racing for Williams in 2023 and most of last season before being dropped in favour of reserve bolter Franco Colapinto after a crash-prone campaign. He was the first since Alexander Rossi had his five-race stint for Manor in 2015; before that you’d have to go all the way back to Scott Speed’s 28-race run with Toro Rosso in 2006–07. The last American to win a grand prix was Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion, the bulk of whose career took place in the 1970s. It’s Andretti and his son Michael — who also raced in Formula 1, in 1993 — who spearheaded the entry bid behind the team now known as Cadillac. Andretti Global, as it was to be known, sold itself as the definitive American F1 team — notwithstanding Haas’s longstanding participation — and had the stated intention of bringing a talented young American to the grid. But the Andretti bid was derailed by politics, the culmination of which was Michael Andretti divesting from the business. The bid became part of TWG Motorsport, which will operate the Cadillac factory team from next season across three bases — its technical headquarters in Indiana, its administrative base with General Motors in Michigan and its race team in Silverstone. It’s largely the same structure set up by Michael Andretti — in fact there’s plenty that’s been held over under despite what effectively amounts to a rebranding exercise. That includes Mario Andretti as a director, a role he’s described as being akin to the late Niki Lauda’s advisory role at Mercedes. It also includes the team’s philosophical approach to F1, with Mario Andretti telling NBC that bringing an American to the sport remains a priority. “From our standpoint I think the play at the beginning would be to have one experienced driver — nationality doesn’t matter — and then a young American talent,” he said late last year. “These are the objectives at the moment. Andretti proffered that adding a nationalism element to the sport would help to drive sustainable excitement in the United States for the international but fundamentally still European Formula 1. “Formula 1 is really the Olympics of motorsports, because of the international nature of it, and so there’s a lot of national pride that goes with it,” he said. “We have three races like no other country on the planet has, and to have your own team playing, just like when you have our own performers in the Olympics — the national anthem will play when you’re the top step of the podium. So that’s what you’re looking for. “Let’s face it, that’s what you’re in the business for. That creates that type of excitement. The fans will expect a lot from us, and we understand that. We expect a lot from ourselves.” A competitive American in a competitive team would surely see interest in the US reach new heights, allowing Formula 1 to carve a permanent place for itself in the biggest sport-commercial landscape in the world. Whether Cadillac can be competitive early is a major question that only 2026 can answer. But whether it can find a competitive American driver is an even bigger and more pressing issue. 'WOW!' Piastri stuns with Lewis overtake | 00:43 WHO ARE THE OPTIONS? Americans have been historically under-represented in Formula 1, particularly in the modern era. Despite its size, population and wealth, the American motorsport scene is relatively insular, where the FIA’s presence — and therefore the pull of the categories that would lead to Formula 1 — is overshadowed by the independent IndyCar and NASCAR series, which hoover up all the best talent. There are therefore few obvious candidates for an immediate step up to Formula 1, with just three drivers racing under the American flag in the junior categories. Formula 2 driver Jak Crawford, 19 years old, has the highest profile as a former Red Bull junior and current member of the Aston Martin development team, with which he entered the post-season test last year. But his F2 results aren’t compelling. After two seasons he’s collected just two wins and a best title finish of fifth. He’s now in his third campaign in the underclass, when drivers generally need to do something extraordinary to talk their way into F1. So far he’s finished in the points just once — second place in Saudi Arabia. New York-born Max Esterson competes alongside him in Formula 2, but the 22-year-old is less convincing, albeit having raced for F3 backmarker Jenzer last year and F2 backmarker Trident this season. The most compelling junior is likely at least two seasons away. Ugo Ugochukwu, 18 years old, is backed by the McLaren junior driver program but has just started his first Formula 3 season with powerhouse team Prema, though the introduction of a new chassis combined with an all-new driver line-up appears to have tripped up the Italian squad this season. But Ugochukwu already has one major victory to his name, winning the prestigious Macau Grand Prix late last year to mark himself out as a rising star. That’s the extent of the young American talent who have clear line of sight to the Formula 1 paddock. For other options we’d have to start bending some definitions. 'F**** lovely' - Max FUMES after penalty | 01:41 Colton Herta’s name has been kicked around the F1 paddock for years now. The 25-year-old Californian had tried his hand in Europe as a junior, collecting a couple of third-place title finishes in British Formula 4 and Euroformula Open and a runner-up finish in Spanish Formula 3 before switching back to the American system to join the IndyCar pathway. His IndyCar career has been highly rated but patchy in terms of results, bouncing between a third-place finish in his second season to fifth and then a pair of 10ths before finishing runner-up last season. A career-long association with Andretti’s IndyCar operation would appear to make him an obvious choice, but he’d need to finish fourth in this year’s campaign to accrue enough super licence points to qualify for a drive. But Herta himself sounded cold on the possibility when asked earlier this season after years of on-again, off-again transatlantic switches. “I’ve kind of been dragged around in this talk for it feels like half a decade now,” he said earlier this year. “I’ve had the carrot in front of me for a while. “I’m kind of tired of that being the case, and I just want to drive at this point and focus on IndyCar this year and focus on winning a championship, and if something arises out of that, I’d have to think about it. “It’s still not a for-sure thing. All my friends and family are here in the US, and I don’t know anybody where I’m [potentially] going, so it’s a big decision to make — if I have to make that decision.” Other IndyCar stars with the potential to switch include three-time champion Álex Palou and multiple race winner Pato O’Ward, both of whom have had associations with McLaren — but neither is American, with the former a Spaniard and the latter a Mexican. In other words, it’s slim pickings ready-made US F1 drivers, which is why team principal Graeme Lowdown played down the chance of an American racing for his team next season, albeit as diplomatically as possible. “We definitely select on merit,” he said, per Autosport. “Formula 1, it’s not a playground, this is the pinnacle of world motorsport. “Personally I see no reason why an American driver can’t be selected on merit as well. It’s certainly something that the fans would like to see, and I see no reason why that can’t happen. “But the overriding objective is merit. We’ve got a job to do here. “What I’m trying to emphasise is just because someone’s American doesn’t mean that they can’t be a good Formula 1 driver.” Max silent in cooldown after Oscar's win | 01:24 WHO ELSE IS ON THE RADAR? Lowdon said earlier this year he had more than six candidates to fill his two seats, and there are some obvious standouts, particularly with the need for experience in mind. Sergio Pérez has been sidelined this year after a painful and protracted fade-out at Red Bull Racing, but the six-time race winner and veteran of 281 starts shouldn’t be underestimated just because he was obliterated by Max Verstappen at a team that’s since clearly been shown up to have some deep-rooted issues. Pérez claimed earlier this year he’d been talking to “a few” teams over a return and that he would consider a comeback if he found the project motivating. He has massive appeal not just in his native Mexico but also in the United States, particularly among the Latin American population, which might get him into the seat reserved for American stars on a technicality. The odds of Pérez being announced as a foundation Cadillac driver were boosted by news this week that his home Mexico City Grand Prix has had its contract renewed for another three seasons, taking it to the end of 2028. While race organisers said last year that they were prepared for a future without Pérez — a bona fide sporting hero in his home country — it’s hard not to read this early announcement as a sign of what must surely be well-informed hope that the Guadalajara prospect has a decent chance of breaking back onto the grid. If he has any competition, it will come from Valtteri Bottas, the 10-time grand prix winner who returned to Mercedes as a reserve driver this year after being dropped — or perhaps saved — from Sauber’s dire straits. Aside from his searing one-lap pace, Bottas would bring intimate and contemporary knowledge from one of the sport’s biggest teams that start-up Cadillac would find invaluable. But if the team is committed to fielding youth — American or not — Zhou Guanyu could be an intriguing alternative. China’s first F1 driver acquitted himself well alongside Bottas at the now Sauber team, with his 2024 fade-out more to do with the diabolic car than his abilities. He’s taken refuge at Ferrari as a reserve driver this year, and with the Scuderia supplying Cadillac with engines for the next three seasons before GM debuts its own motor, Zhou could be a politically and even economically expedient choice. He would also have the longevity to build the team around him in a way a more experienced driver might not. It gives Lowdown and his fledgling Formula 1 team plenty to think about this weekend in Miami, where it’s begun ramping up its presence ahead of its 2026 debut. It will reveal its 2026 livery on Saturday (Sunday morning AEST) in a star-studded event it says will be the “cultural centrepiece” of the weekend. It’s big talk from a team with big ambitions to make a big impact on behalf of a big country in Formula 1. If it succeeds, it could take F1 to the next level in the United States.