spiking even further this year, with races from the 2022 season raking in some of the highest-ever F1 cable rat- ings in the United States. In March, Formula 1 announced that a race in Las Vegas would be added in 2023 — making it the first year since the early 1980s that three U.S. races will be held in a single season. On the track, Red Bull Racing’s team THE COUNTY AND THE DOLPHINS SHOVED THAT STADIUM DOWN RESIDENTS’ THROATS. — ATTORNEY SAMUEL DUBBIN is looking to re-establish dominance in the sport after watching its rival Mercedes win the team cham- pionship every year since 2014. Red Bull had a strong run prior to that, locking up Constructors’ Championships from 2010 to 2013. But it struggled to keep pace with Mercedes after Formula 1 instituted sweeping engine-design changes the following year. The 2021 season saw the F1 championship come down to the final race, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Red Bull’s 24-year- old wheelman Max Verstappen beat out seven-time F1 cham- pion Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes team on the heels of a controversial restart prompted by a late-race crash. Going in, the men were tied in the points race, and Verstappen’s win se- cured him the driver’s championship. (Mercedes edged Red Bull for the team championship). Journalist and author Maurice Hamilton says that beyond the intrigue surrounding Red Bull’s resurgence, the rising popularity of F1 in the United States can be attributed to Liberty Media’s “more open outlook about how Formula 1 should be promoted.” In addition to F1, Liberty Media owns the Atlanta Braves, Sir- iusXM Satellite Radio, and event promoter LiveNation, among other assets. (The company is controlled by John Malone, a self- described libertarian who is one of the largest private landown- ers in the United States. He served as an electrical engineer at Bell Laboratories in the 1960s before taking a CEO position with cable company Tele-Communications Inc. and rising into the ranks of the nation’s wealthiest media executives.) Before the Liberty Media buyout, Ecclestone was credited with tightening up the brand and helping F1 grow into a multibillion-dollar sport with global TV viewership. But according to Hamilton, Ecclestone strove to keep the politics and inner workings of Formula 1 out of the public eye. “[Prior to the acquisition], film cam- eras had to pay a fortune to get in to film anything,” Hamilton says. “Liberty Me- dia has opened it right up. And they’ve encouraged people to come and film.” Under Liberty Media’s ownership, Formula 1 authorized the popular Netflix series Drive to Survive, which has helped popularize the European- dominated F1 among American audiences, Hamilton says. The series includes in-depth interviews with team members and chronicles behind-the-scenes drama and midrace antics. “They have unlimited access to the teams. In the days of Bernie Ecclestone, that would be unheard-of, simply would not be allowed,” Hamilton surmises. “It has given Formula 1 a human face, which it didn’t really have before.” Adds Hamilton: “The timing of the Miami Grand Prix is perfect from that point of view.” [email protected] 9 9 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 MAY 5-11, 2022
