In Europe, Scuderia Ferrari’s Formula 1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are like rock stars. In the U.S., they’re a little more like the lead singer and guitarist of an indie band that’s just about to break. The two talented drivers are sensing a sea change: Formula 1 is surging here in the States, with the enormously successful Netflix series Drive to Survive spurring record ratings for races on ESPN.
In a recent interview for gq.com, Charles and Carlos discussed the sport’s growing popularity in the US.
There are no American drivers in F1, so a lot of new fans in the States are trying to pick a team and driver to support based on the show. Why do you think Americans should support you and Ferrari?
Charles Leclerc: For me, Ferrari is the most iconic team ever in Formula 1 – they’ve achieved so much and have been there from the beginning. They’re such an incredible team, and have had most of the legends of the sport. Why support me? Well, I don’t know…I’m trying to do the best job possible, and if they like my personality from interviews and Netflix, then why not? But I’m not very good at selling myself, so hopefully my skills on the race track are good enough for them to start supporting me.
Carlos Sainz: The season three episode [of Drive to Survive] about Ferrari is not so great, and I was relatively disappointed when I watched it because Ferrari is a lot cooler, a lot bigger, a lot better, than how it appears [in that episode]. We were just going through a rough patch, and I think all great teams in every single sport go through difficult years. And now we are on our way back up. We are doing everything we can to make this team great again and champions again, and I think we have a really good team atmosphere going on with Charles and the engineers, and we are a serious contender for the future. And I mean, it’s Ferrari – who doesn’t like Ferrari in normal life?
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