Leading out of an NBA Game 7, the annual Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix set a viewership record in its third year of existence and topped a rain-delayed NASCAR Cup Series race.
Sunday’s F1 Miami Grand Prix averaged a 1.7 rating and 3.07 million viewers on ABC, marking the largest F1 audience ever on U.S. television. The previous high was 2.78 million for taped coverage of the 2002 Monaco Grand Prix and the previous high for a live race was 2.58 million for the inaugural Miami GP two years ago.
Lando Norris’ win jumped 51% in ratings and 48% in viewership from last year (1.0, 2.1M).
Unlike the two previous runnings of the Miami GP, this year’s race had a direct lead-in from the NBA Playoffs. The preceding Magic-Cavaliers first round Game 7 averaged a 2.4 and 4.32 million.
In all three years of the Miami GP, ABC has aired the race in lieu of its featured 3:30 PM ET NBA game. This year’s record audience trails every single NBA playoff game ABC has ever aired in that Sunday afternoon window, the least-watched of which was Clippers-Mavericks Game 4 in the 2020 “bubble” at 3.33 million, a game that aired in late August opposite the Indy 500.
A week prior to this year’s race, the NBA drew 5.56 million in that window for another Clippers-Mavericks Game 4.
Host market Miami was the top market for the race with a 3.37 rating, followed by fellow Florida market Ft. Myers (3.09M), Richmond, Va. (2.91), Louisville (2.90) and Ohio markets Columbus (2.82) and Cleveland (2.70) — no surprise given the Cavaliers lead-in. Orlando placed ninth (2.42).
In a rarity, if not a first, F1 averaged a larger audience than a NASCAR Cup Series race the same day, as rain-delayed Cup Series racing from Kansas drew 1.3 and 2.30 million on FS1. Beyond the rain delay and the fact that the race aired on cable, NASCAR also had no meaningful lead-in.
For the weekend, the Miami GP ranked fourth among sporting events behind two NBA games, Maple Leafs-Bruins Game 7 in the NHL and the Kentucky Derby. It won a timeslot that included the Stanley Cup Playoffs on ESPN and PGA Tour on CBS.
Including prerace coverage, ABC’s coverage averaged a 1.5 and 2.90 million.
In other action from Miami, Saturday’s Sprint race there averaged a 0.50 and 946,000 on ESPN — the most-watched Sprint race in the three-year existence of the format and up considerably from a practice session in a similar window last year (0.33, 599K). Qualifying later in the day had a 0.30 and 625,000, down from last year’s 0.39 and 751,000.
