Formula One fans will remember the days when American drivers were strong contenders for top honours.
By Graham Duxbury
Perhaps surprisingly, F1 and the United States were closely linked at the dawn of the F1 Drivers’ Championship when, from 1950 to ’60, results at the famous Indianapolis 500 actually counted towards the title.
However, it was only in the post-1960 era when F1 drivers and teams began taking in an interest in the “Brickyard” – as the iconic Indy 500 circuit is still known – and American IndyCar drivers began looking towards F1.
American legend Mario Andretti raced in IndyCars from 1964, winning four titles and the Indy 500 in 1969. After making his F1 debut with Lotus in 1968, his first win came for Ferrari at the South African GP at Kyalami in ‘71. Returning to Lotus, he won six races in 1978 to claim the F1 world championship title.
Andretti was not the first American F1 champion. This distinction falls to successful sports car racer Phil Hill who won his title driving the fabulous shark-nose Ferrari in 1961.
Highly regarded American driver Dan Gurney holds the record for posting debut wins for three F1 constructors – Porsche in 1962, Brabham in ’64 and his own All American Eagles team in ’67. Incidentally, he is credited with starting the champaign-spraying tradition on the podium, but that’s another story.
Peter Revson, heir to the Revlon cosmetics fortune, was another American IndyCar racer who moved on to F1. After finishing second in the 1971 Indy 500, he scored four podium finishes in his first full F1 season in ’72. He went on to win the ’73 British and Canadian GPs, but sadly, while practicing for the 1974 SA GP, a suspension failure resulted in a crash with fatal results.
Other American drivers with noteworthy F1 careers include Eddie Cheever, who started more F1 races than any of his compatriots, and Richie Ginther who will be remembered for giving Honda its first F1 win in the 1965 Mexican GP.
Perhaps surprisingly, there are 57 American drivers listed in the F1 record books, the last of whom is Alexander Rossi who raced in five GPs for the ill-fated Marussia team in 2015. No American has competed in F1 since.
Prior to that, Scot Speed enjoyed 28 race starts with Toro Rosso, but was fired partway through the 2007 season, making way for Sebastian Vettel.
Now, with American giant Liberty Media at the helm of F1 and three American GPs on the 2023 calendar, interest in F1 in America is at an all-time high. Obviously, questions are being asked as to why there aren’t any American drivers on the grid.
There are young American drivers apparently keen make the move. One of them is Colton Herta (22) who is linked with Michael Andretti’s bit to join the F1 circus in 2024.
The son of former IndyCar racer and 1993 Indy Lights champion Bryan Herta, Colton is regarded as a star of the future, becoming the youngest IndyCar winner when he triumphed at the Circuit of the Americas in 2019. Winning three races in 2021, he claimed fifth position in the IndyCar championship.
Of course, Michael Andretti, Colton’s mentor and team owner, is no stranger to F1 having driven alongside Ayrton Senna at McLaren in 1993.
Another American driver who could be poised for success in F1 is Logan Sergeant (21) who will compete in F2 in 2022 under the Williams F1 Driver Academy banner. His career includes third- and seventh-place finishes in the 2020 and 2021 FIA F3 Championships. Despite these less-than-stellar results the youngster is highly rated.
There is little doubt that F1’s big teams are aware of the future value of an American driver. McLaren, for example, will be giving Herta a limited testing programme this year to get him acclimatised to F1. This comes about as a result of the friendship – and business partnership – that exists between Andretti and McLaren Racing CEO Zac Brown.
McLaren has also recently signed the 14-year-old American karter, Ugo Ugochukwu, to a career development contract. Born in Lagos Nigeria and raised in New York City, he is the son of supermodel Oluchi Onweagba-Orlandi.
Ugochukwu is a successful junior racer with a number of successes to his name including a win in the 2020 FIA European Karting Championship.
Could he be the next Lewis Hamilton?