The globe-trotting Formula 1 series has perhaps never been so popular in the United States, and that includes action at the best online sports betting sites.
The Netflix show “Drive To Survive” has boosted interest and there are now three races in America. On the 2024 schedule, U.S. events include the Miami Grand Prix (May 5), the United States Grand Prix (Oct. 20 in Austin, Texas) and the Las Vegas Grand Prix (Nov. 23).
So USBettingReport.com asked: Who are the most talked-about F1 drivers in America?
USBR took the top 10 rankings from the 2023 Formula 1 season standings, then used SemRush to rank those drivers in terms of total search volume throughout the United States. The search volume numbers we list here are from March 1 to March 27. Legal online sportsbooks have futures odds on the 2024 F1 champion as well as lines and props for individual races.
Most Popular Formula 1 Drivers in America
Lewis Hamilton Most Searched F1 Driver
The all-time leader in Formula 1 victories is also the leader in our measurement of driver searches on the internet.
Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion who has a record 103 career wins, leads the way with 301,000 searches from March 1 to March 27, according to SemRush. Hamilton has been associated with Mercedes his entire F1 career – either with McLaren-Mercedes or with the Mercedes team – but he announced recently that he’ll drive for Ferrari starting in 2025. Hamilton has not won a race since 2021 and is at +8000 odds with Caesars Sportsbook to win this year’s championship.
Not far behind in our search volume chart, at 246,000, is a driver not accustomed to trailing anybody lately: Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver has won the past three series championships and shows no signs of slowing, even after falling out of last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. Verstappen, at only 26 years old, is third on the all-time wins list with 56, including a record-breaking 19 last season. He is such a prohibitive favorite to repeat as world champion that wagers on him offer very little return; he carries odds of -1000 or shorter with US sports betting apps.
Other drivers trail well behind on our list: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is at 135,000 search volume, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (110,000) and McLaren’s Lando Norris (90.5k).
About American F1 Driver Logan Sargeant
Logan Sargeant, a second-year F1 driver and the first American in the series since Alexander Rossi in 2015, missed our list because he wasn’t among the top 10 drivers in points last season. He drives for the once-powerful Williams team, which has fallen on hard times in recent years. The 23-year-old native of Boca Raton, Florida, earned just one point in his rookie year of 2023.
However, Sargeant has drawn some interest among American fans. His search volume number was 49,500 for the time we measured; that is even with veterans Sergio Perez and George Russell, who tied for seventh on our list.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team is -1600 to win another constructors championship with FanDuel Sportsbook as of Wednesday afternoon.
