The growing relevance and popularity of Formula 1 in the US has been stable in Colorado-based Liberty Media as a sports commercial rights holder. We have three races in the country. This is a layered team in the US. It’s two seconds away in the form of a Cadillac. Netflix has also seen a rise in the public awareness of the mainstream.
Nevertheless, the presence of sustainable American drivers remains elusive. Logan Sargeant managed one full season before letting go just after the halfway point last year. Before him, Alexander Rossi made a five-race cameo at the end of 2015. There was also a similarly long gap before Rossi, with Red Bull’s Toro Rosso team in 2006 and 2007, and Scott Speedras in the half season.
“I love that a lot of people here know what it is,” Speed tells the racers. “When I did it, it was very unknown. When I returned to America, when I raced Formula 1 and then returned to NASCAR, no one really knew.
Speed, who has reached the top ranks of F1 and NASCAR, knows well how difficult it is to reach the top and stay there. Today, along with fellow Red Bull alumni Josh Weisse, Speed runs a performance consultancy that will help prepare the next generation of professional racers. In the US, Formula 1 is bigger than ever, but there are still some good routes for younger drivers in the country. This does not require millions of dollars to lay.
“I think the reality of the situation is that you’re a young kid, 14 or 15, and you want to come out of the go-kart and make a career in motor racing. “We’re doing this now with kids like Connor Zilish. The path is well established. Basically, if you’re talented and willing to do it, you don’t need tens of millions of dollars to make it in NASCAR.”
Nevertheless, Speed argues that it is not impossible for Americans to succeed in Formula 1 if that is what young people want to do, but the established NASCAR route is difficult to refuse.
“I believe you can do whatever you want, and if you really want to make it in Formula 1, you’ll find a way,” he insists. “I really believe it, especially from my situation where I got there with literally zero US dollars in my racing career, I hate how people say something is impossible.
“So, me know you can. If you really want something bad, you can make it happen. It’s much easier to go on the stock car route. Here, stock car racing is still bigger than Formula 1, so I think it’s a big driver. The entry barrier is very high and it doesn’t have the same weight as stock car racing here in the US. ”
When Cadillac arrives next year, there will be a lot of talk, mainly from teams employing American drivers. IndyCar driver Colton Helta has been a longtime favorite in the team’s seat, but Speed wants to know if a suitable talented pipeline can develop over the long term.
“I think that’s something I’m very interested in myself. Hopefully, I’ll have some kind of involvement and learn more about what the process looks like,” he says. “But at this point, my main job is to bring my kids to groom for stock cars, and in the future you can learn more about what that process will look like.
After building a relationship with Red Bull and emerged from the American driver search program in the 2000s, speed has crossed the Atlantic, suggesting that similar initiatives could increase the country’s on-track representation in Europe’s open-wheel racing and Formula 1.
“I think it helps to connect relationships and have something like the Red Bull Driver search program we had, to support the kids there, and I think there will be plenty of opportunities to do that.
One of the big differences between Speed’s time and today is the emergence of off-tracks such as social media and Netflix’s “Survive To Survive To Survive” docusaries. They’re definitely going up F1, but Speed admits he’s relieved that it’s not something he had to deal with.
“Oh, man, I’m incredibly grateful to have grown up in the F1 era without social media,” he says. “I value my privacy so much. It’s an incredibly big challenge for these people and I think it’s a great thank you. There’s the lack of privacy that many people have access to you and the accompanying lack of privacy and the lack of privacy that comes with judgment and coping on social media.
“We didn’t have to do that, and now there are so many different challenges guys face, so we’re happy we didn’t have to.”
The focus is on bringing American drivers back into Formula 1, but the new Cadillac team opens the door for talent in other roles. The Cadillac’s operations will be heavily based away from the traditional “Motorsport Valley” in the UK, playing 9 out of nine of the other 10 teams, fully or partially.
With him and Wise working at GM Charlotte Technical Center, Speed took an early peek into the development of a new team. He is impressed with what he has seen so far, and does not believe that the decision to base his team from the traditional talent pool in Formula 1 would be a drawback, especially in Formula 1’s revitalized business model.
“It’s going to be difficult,” he admits. “It’s no different from NASCAR here in America. All NASCAR teams are based here in Mooresville, North Carolina or Concord, so when you do that, you get this environment in this area where a lot of people from the industry are in this area and it can grow talent and get a lot of stuff done.
“That being said, Ferrari did quite well in Italy on its own, so that’s not an insurmountable job for one team. It’s certainly not an easy job, but we’ll see.
“It’s really, really exciting. It’s cool to see what it’s all going on and the level of engagement at that level. It’s kind of easy, now Formula 1 has a budget cap and it’s an incredible business model.
“It’s really cool for an American team to get in there right now, as this series looks incredibly healthy. And I think this will be very important for American sports too.”
Since his Formula 1 adventure, Speed has continued to compete in NASCAR. At NASCAR, he competed in 163 races in NASCAR’s three national series, winning three X-game gold medals and four championship titles, as well as Formula E, which won the podium in his debut in Miami 10 years ago. His F1 stints are highly ranked, but he is also grateful for the opportunity to sample other areas.
“Whether it’s NASCAR, the most competitive racing series for me, it’s easy for me, or even rallycross, or even drag racing, I think I love experiencing and understanding a variety of motor racing cultures these days,” he says.
Speed had the opportunity to sample some of its diversity when he attended Red Bull’s recent showrun in Kuritiba, Brazil.
“What’s unique about Brazilian showruns is that Brazilian motor racing fans are incredibly passionate. “100,000 people came out to see cars roaming the road. That’s pretty special.”
This event was the first fast time when I was driving a Grand Prix car at Nurburgring at the 2007 European Grand Prix.
“It brought many memories,” he says with a smile. “Obviously, Formula 1 cars are very different from stock cars and rallycross cars. So it was kind of cool to remember how I felt in every way. I wasn’t physically in a car, I wasn’t just in that environment, I was so lucky to be grateful for such an amazing career and experience all these different racial cultures.”
It may have been almost 20 years, but returning to the saddle was a well-known experience for Californians.
“Formula 1 cars are Messulpels, and stock cars and rallycross cars look like chainsaws,” he says. “The way you feel inside, how much movement you have and how tight you have, it varies quite a bit.
“I do some pre-tests, feel the car again, get used to the controls, accelerate and brake. Honestly, if it were the same car I drove, it wouldn’t have made that much difference.
The run led to a reunion with one of his former Red Bull Junior team sparring partners.
“The cool thing is that Patrick Free Football was there too. I’ve known Patrick since my first day at Red Bull,” he says. “Patrick was like a Red Bull racing driver for one or two in the junior program, so it was cool to have him, and he did so many showruns.
There was one interesting memory that brought about. It wasn’t all that I didn’t think was so impressive.
“Buckling again was fun,” he admitted. “All my whole career, when I got into a race car, it was buckling someone. And when I went to stock car racing, I remember my first race, I remember riding my car at Talladega, and I was waiting for them to give in, and they said, ‘Hey, do you buckle?’ “What does that mean?” I put on the helmet, I’m supposed to do this myself.
“It’s part of a big process, right? It’s part of your process, as it’s the last moment before you go out. Is it you sitting there and someone giving in to you, or you’re actually giving in to yourself, or the last thing you’re doing before you go.
Returning to Formula 1 cars 20 years after Red Bull’s debut at the 2005 Canadian Grand Prix, and reaching Formula 1 in the first place is a proud achievement of speed, and the rise in popularity in Formula 1 homes only solidifies it.
“A lot of people know about it since Netflix showed the show. It’s cool to me because at the end of the day it’s always my biggest achievement in motor racing,” he says. “I went to Europe as an American, won the championship and competed perfectly for a Formula 1 team with the best Red Bull junior driver in the world.
“It’s always the peak of my motor racing career due to landslides, so it’s cool that people in my country are beginning to figure out what it means, how cool and how big it is.