Austin, Miami and Las Vegas: Formula One’s 20-year journey to be an overnight success in America by finally cracking the code
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton in action during practice for Sunday’s US Grand Prix. Photo: AP
The setting is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: home to the world-famous Indy 500 race. Ahead of the 2005 United States Grand Prix, at a circuit modified for Formula One, ITV pundit and former F1 driver Martin Brundle is interviewing the sport’s long-term supremo and commander-in-chief Bernie Ecclestone on the grid. And you may well say, nothing unusual about that.
What is more unusual is Brundle’s direct, bordering on combative, line of questioning. Camera crews and journalists huddle around, eager for answers. Because F1’s only race in the land of the free is about to become a farce. Out of 20 cars, only six are set to take to the start line. For the sport and its tempestuous 55-year relationship with the US, it is the ultimate moment of “lunacy”, as Brundle depicts it. “The future of Formula One in America?” asks Brundle. “Not good,” Ecclestone replies.