US supporters hailed

AUSTIN: Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second but Formula One’s most successful driver said Monday’s Grand Prix in Austin felt like a breakthrough for his sport.

The crowd of 140,000 at the Circuit of the Americas surpassed the 135,000 who attended the Indianapolis 500 in May, then the largest sporting event in the US since the start of the pandemic.

The threeday crowd figure for the race in Texas was given as 400,000.

‘‘It feels like this is our acceptance into the US,’’ Hamilton, a fivetimes winner in Austin, said as he surveyed the scenes after the race.

‘‘I hope we get more races out here and I hope that the sport continues to grow because you can tell just how great the fans are out here.’’

There was no race in Austin last year due to the Covid19 pandemic but Formula One will have two United States rounds next year, with Miami making its debut.

There has also been talk of further expansion, with Las Vegas seen as the most likely candidate.

While there are no US drivers, the sport has been owned since 2017 by USbased Liberty Media. The sport struggled to make inroads in the past, particularly after an infamous sixcar race at Indianapolis in 2005 left huge reputational damage.

The Texas weekend offered evidence of Formula One’s growing popularity, with many crediting the Netflix Drive to Survive documentary series.

‘‘I think Netflix has been outstanding for Formula One. It’s driven a younger fan base, it’s driven a much larger fan base. It’s really had an impact in America,’’ McLaren’s American boss Zak Brown said.

Hamilton’s Mercedes boss Toto Wolff agreed.

‘‘We were not keen at the beginning of Netflix because we wanted to concentrate on ontrack performance and I was wrong. It’s clearly a big success,’’ he said.

Attendance may also have been boosted by the lack of a race last year and the pandemic effect, with bottledup demand for mass gatherings.

The thrilling battle between seventimes world champion Hamilton and Red Bull’s race winner and overall leader Max Verstappen has drawn new fans as well. — Reuters