John Riordan: Surviving and thriving as US fans embrace F1 drama

With America hosting two F1 races this year, is reality TV partly responsible for a post-lockdown explosion in popularity across the country?

BIG IN THE USA@ Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner poses for a photo with Shaquille O'Neal on the grid before the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. 

I was always of the firm belief that there was no room for Formula 1 in the American psyche.

Speaking in purely general terms - always unwise when considering a nation of around 350 million people - there has long been a fascinated suspicion in Amercians of what is considered 'Eurotrash'. Just as much as the US is painted with broad brushstrokes on the other side of the Atlantic, Europeans, too, have long been tarred in the States because of simplistic imagery derived from the Eurovision and long lunches, street cafes and questionable fashion choices on Mediterranean beaches. All the good things in life, basically.