As F1 heads to Miami, Lewis Hamilton believes the sport has finally won over the United States.

Before a wheel has turned or a driver has walked the track, Miami fever is upon us.

On social media there is no escaping, be it the endless posts from the organisers’ social media teams or the likes of Williams and Aston Martin attempting to flog their special Miami-themed team wear.

Seemingly, long gone are the days when the sport was almost like a cult, such were the limited numbers of devoted fans - fans, who despite their love of the sport had been so badly treated by it over the years.

But under Liberty Media all that has changed, and with the help of social media (again) and Netflix, a whole new generation has fallen in love with the sport.

Even without Drive to Survive, courtesy of his work outside the cockpit, Lewis Hamilton was one of the few F1 stars that many Americans recognised in his civvies, however as we head to Miami, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and a whole load of others have become 'stars' in their own right.

Speaking to ABC's Good Morning America ahead of this weekend's big event in Florida, Hamilton talked of his delight that the sport finally appears to have "cracked" America.

"The first race I had out here was Indianapolis in 2000," he said. "But now, with the Netflix series Drive To Survive growing, we have two Grands Prix in the States, and then we have another one in Vegas next year.

"It's going to be huge," he enthused.

"Everyone knew NASCAR and, obviously, you've got such huge sports fans out here," he added. "But, as I said, the Netflix show, particularly through the pandemic, has just brought massive awareness to the sport, and now it's booming.

"Growing up knowing how amazing the sport is and seeing that there was still quite a disconnect between the US and the rest of the world in terms of the passion for this sport, it’s really amazing to see that we’ve cracked it," said the seven-time champion.

"There’s a growing love in the States, there are massive sporting fans out there," he added. "And I mean, Miami is going to be an experience for all of us, for the racing community, for those that are the fans out there that are watching, the fans that are going to be flying in that maybe have never been there before.

"The US has a lot to offer in that space... so it’s super exciting."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 08/05/2022 10:45

"@ Roli...thank you but I must decline your kind offer. For that money I can buy a few cases of decent Bordeaux and a few Provencal Saumon for my wife. "

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2. Posted by KKK, 06/05/2022 15:48

"@kenji - Ive got one bottle of 1980 Grange, £500 if you want it !"

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3. Posted by Editor, 05/05/2022 11:00

"Lasted less than a minute into the opening ceremony..."

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4. Posted by kenji, 05/05/2022 10:02

"@Max...Six bottles Grange for A$330? Are you sure it was real and not a cheap Chinese rip off hahaha. My foray was A$1800 for two, courtesy of a company director who happened to get his 'American' hands on the wine list at a small dinner I hosted for our US shareholders many years ago. What a waste...he'd of been just as happy with a Napa Valley Zinfandel. Red preferences are still Lois Latour.

"

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5. Posted by Max Noble, 05/05/2022 3:47

"@Kenji - yup just re-read it. Apologies, auto correct, and poor grammar combine to kill the message. Let me try again:

There is much energy in every change, but it pulls in differing directions. The leadership group has to first harness the energy, and then, without causing an implosion, focus that energy in one positive direction. Then continue to drive in that positive direction, while continuing to build the energy state higher.

“Crossing the beams” is a GhostBusters 1.0 movie reference about how not to focus the energy :-)

…there is still so much energy in, and around F1. It is just Liberty, and the FIA that fail to get it all moving in mostly the same direction, at the same time…!

I then ramble about one person’s necessity being another’s dream luxury… Agree Grange is over priced. Got half a dozen bottles at $55AUD (yes fifty-five) per bottle some years back, and used one each year for special occasions for, well you guessed, six years. Then returned to find that year’s release at $295 a bottle… Ouch… I believe this year’s is around $700. It is *just* possible to find a fine red from France (and California to be honest) for a touch less than $700AUD… No I do not have any Grange currently next to the cat food in the PitPass fridge… (leave it out here in Aust, and you have fine red wine vinegar with 48 hours…)
"

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6. Posted by kenji, 04/05/2022 22:55

"@ Ed. The best references you'll ever get are those that you write yourself...."

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7. Posted by kenji, 04/05/2022 22:50

"@ Liam111...thank you for your response. I guess it's where you derive your information from that counts. I'm constantly in touch with friends and ex business colleagues from quite a few different US states who tell me that overall things are much the same in many areas as they always have been, with one exception...the immediacy of communications that allows the minorities to have a more strident voice. My reference to the ' melting pot' was simply an expression to confirm that many different races/cultures occupy the same space despite their socio political differences."

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8. Posted by Editor, 04/05/2022 18:00

"Before a wheel has turned, Motorsport.com is currently running 5 - count 'em FIVE - articles extolling the benefits of Miami to the F1 schedle, not a single word of negativity.

Surely it is pure coincidence that Motorsport Network is headquartered in... er, Miami."

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9. Posted by LiamIII, 04/05/2022 14:31

"@ Kenji.. Unfortunately this is no longer true. Back when I was in elementary school (70'S) they taught us we lived in melting pot. This is no longer the case. Every race, class and group is more divided and separated than a rich chocolate cake at a swanky wedding. :) Assimilating and adopting the culture is a thing of the past. Keeping your third world culture and trying to impose it on those around seems to be the norm now. Sorry. I'll stop. My roots can be traced to the UK and my family arrived early at the Jamestown settlement.

Cheers."

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10. Posted by kenji, 04/05/2022 14:02

"@ Max....your opening few lines have totally confused me? Have you been at the Grange as well? i have, on two occasions enjoyed the Grange but must admit, IMO, it wasn't worth the money. I prefer more subtle/smooth French reds than the bold and heavy Australian ones. "

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11. Posted by kenji, 04/05/2022 13:45

"@ Egalitarian....Since when is an alternate opinion phrased without malice, a case of 'bullying'? For your education America is what it is...AMERICA ,and it always has been. The US is a melting pot, a nation of controversial characteristics that are in lots of cases unfathomable. I spent a great deal of time in the USA over a span of some 40 years and never quite figured it out but I never try to impose my own values and morals on another people or country. Those who attempt that approach are living in 'the enchanted forest'. I must admit though that current Russian atrocities are the excetion rather than the rule.

Unfortunately F1 has become the plaything of the social engineers who would change everything in order to impose their own irrational and minority concepts. I have followed F1 my whole life and I don't want to see it turned into something it was never meant to be, but maybe it's too late. It most likely would help things along to refrain alluding to the dreaded 'H' word which you have seen fit to have introduced. My suggestion is simply this, move on and enjoy the next round in Miami but if your sensibilities are offended by 'the broken society' hosting F1 next weekend then a few extra hours in the garden should calm your 'wa'. Enjoy the rest of your day.
"

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12. Posted by Max Noble, 04/05/2022 10:55

"@Egalitarian, @Kenji - the beauty of change, and channeled is to get the passion going in the right direction without “Crossing the Beams”. Yes, F1 is a bubble with no remit to fit humanity… Yet (dang here I go…) Putin uses Sport as a weapon, and he is desperate to have Russians play Wimbledon this year… so Rafa (whom I admire) is doing the hard work for him in “…the name of sport…” Yee Gads Rafa, you are personally aiding a despot. For all the “right” reasons doing the “wrong” thing. Sigh… And where did all the money from the Met Gala go this year…? Or Aston’s profits… or Rolls Royce…? Social responsibility belongs to us all. Once you have seriously done your bit, based on a full understanding of the issues, well. Then enjoy your Patek Philippe, and your 1970’s Grange. As previously noted by Martin Luther King Jr. “We are defined by what we are willing to walk past…” Hello, and welcome Miami 2022…"

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13. Posted by Burton, 04/05/2022 7:25

"No Lewis, you haven't cracked ****, you haven't even turned a wheel."

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14. Posted by Egalitarian, 04/05/2022 4:52

"Oh goody - more bullying. Thanks for that. You can either read my post for what it is, or take the opportunity to sink the boot again.
I thought you of all people would be all over Hamilton for perhaps not speaking out about how rubbish things are in the US. And you speak of cancel culture. The word starts with the letter 'h'.
"

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15. Posted by kenji, 04/05/2022 2:06

"@ Egalitarian...What on earth has 'American Society' ,broken or otherwise, your words not mine, got to do with F1 racing in Miami for the very first time ? These are straw issues surely. The only salient point is that F1 arrives, unpacks the boxes, races, packs the boxes back up, and leaves. The politics of 'society' are beyond the F1 remit and those who attempt to introduce them are simply messing in other peoples problems as a misguided attempt at 'woke' globalism. The anti Murdoch gibe is what gives it all away. "

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"We've cracked it," says Hamilton of F1 in America

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