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Mario Andretti may have been born in Italy, but his racing roots are firmly based in the US. This, however, does not deter the F1 world champion in firmly believing that Formula One is an integral part for America. F1PULSE.com spoke with the man himself to get his insights on what ails F1 in the US.
Formula One and the USA have a love-hate relationship. Why do you think Formula One is not accepted in the US as much as it is in Europe?
I think mainly because there are so many other disciplines of motor racing in the United States. It’s probably the only country in the world that possesses the popularity of NASCAR and IndyCars. So, many great drivers here in the United States that could be successful in Formula One, don’t need to go there. They have a very satisfying career right here. This is a large country and it has so much to offer to a driver. That’s why in most other countries in the world, when it comes to motor racing Formula One is the absolute. It’s not in the United States. It’s popular, no question, it’s very popular here as well. But Formula One in the United States has competition from other disciplines.
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The Indianapolis circuit last hosted a Formula One race in 2007
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If you say F1 is popular, why is there no US Grand Prix? Has F1 failed to capture public imagination in the US?
I think F1 definitely has a very strong fan base in the United States. But the reason it’s difficult to stage a race here is because US as a country has got a free enterprise system. None of the sport activities is ever backed by the governments. And in Formula One now, the big trend is to have governments finance these events. Bernie Ecclestone is a very clever man and he is obviously able to command a much higher sanctioning price for the events and the private sectors cannot sustain that. He owns the TV and commercial rights. So when it comes to the promoter here, he gets revenue only from the tickets and that’s not enough! You need almost a government sanction here to come in finance these events and you are not going to find that here.
It’s unfortunate because this country is very important to Formula One as well because the manufacturers involved consider US a very strong market for them. A lot of them do not realise that US has a very strong Formula One fan base. I just hope that somehow they find a way to come back to the States because F1 needs to be here as well.
Is it the other way round as well, does the US need Formula One?
I think the US definitely needs it. I feel very strongly about that it belongs to the US as well. The United States should definitely be one of the countries hosting such an event. Absolutely, absolutely!
But when it comes to drivers, only Phil Hill and yourself have succeeded in the sport. The rest of the 150-odd drivers from the US have not made any mark. Why do you think there have been no successful American drivers?
It’s all about whatever drives the individual. The desire to be there. Many of the drivers as I said earlier would have
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Andretti during the announcement of USF1 with Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor
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the talent to really excel in F1 don’t really feel the need to be there. They are just satisfied by racing here earning any substantial amount of money and be satisfied with a very full career. That’s the problem again. Maybe a US Formula One team will encourage some of the young drivers to go for it. It would be great to have an American in F1 to represent this country. It would be good for the sport, the US, for motor racing, period. But you cannot force these things, they either happen or they don’t.
Do you think USF1 would have helped in changing the scenario?
I think so, I really do. For a US Formula One team based here in the United States, it would have had a continuous presence and a continuous conversation. The press would talk about it and so on and so forth. That creates excitement in itself. And I think for sure that would have helped tremendously in cultivating the driver base that would have participated in the sport in the future.