By Genius Sports 
Over 3.1 million viewers tuned into ABC to watch Lando Norris win his maiden race at the Miami Grand Prix in May, the largest live TV audience on record for a Formula 1 race in the United States.
Despite enjoying all-time high engagement – driven by the success of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ – Formula 1 teams have faced roadblocks when it comes to targeting and monetising fans. Fans typically follow F1 as a sport and show great interest in individual drivers; engaging on social media and far beyond the race weekend itself. However, only a small portion of fans closely align with constructors, meaning F1 teams must go further to build engagement and long-lasting connections.
With Grand Prix races now in 21 countries across five continents, Formula 1’s fanbase is highly international. In 2022, F1 recorded year-on-year audience growth in the USA (+58% YoY), France (+48% YoY), Italy (+40% YoY) and the UK (+39% YoY). In the same year, F1 revealed 40% of its global fanbase were female.
For F1 teams, this makes a fan data strategy crucial. With an ownable and identifiable database of fans, teams like BWT Alpine F1 Team can attract lucrative new sponsors, increase commercial revenues through merchandising and deliver segmented, fan-centric marketing and content.
Spin to Win delivers for BWT Alpine F1 Team
Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Genius Sports built BWT Alpine F1 Team’s brand new Spin to Win game. Free to enter, the light-touch F1 game allows fans to spin for the chance to win a mixture of prizes. Crucially, this provides BWT Alpine F1 Team with first-party fan data on the users who play.
The custom-built gamification product launched just days before the Grand Prix. A sell-out crowd of 275,000 fans attended the Miami International Autodrome circuit over the course of the weekend, the largest since it began hosting the Miami GP in 2022, providing an ideal opportunity.
Fans attending the Grand Prix were able to take part in-person, scanning one of the numerous QR codes placed around the paddock itself and across various Formula 1 activations in the city of Miami. The game also launched online, allowing fans from around the world to play.
A number of pop-up stores in South Beach were equipped with Microsoft Surface Go 3 tablets in-store, creating a unique, interactive and memorable fan experience.
Meanwhile, based on geo-location, fans played for different prizes. Fans attending the Grand Prix or present in Miami were in with the chance of grabbing local, race-specific prizes, including a driver meet-and-greet, for example.
BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Spin to Win gives fans the opportunity to win limited edition BWT Alpine F1 Team merchandise, race paddock tours and other rewards. All that’s required to enter is basic first-party data, expanding the particularly the email database of the Formula 1 team.
Spin to Win was a resounding success, achieving significant interest both in-person and digitally across the Miami Grand Prix weekend. The game will continue to engage fans across the full Formula 1 calendar.
Riding the wave of global growth, F1 teams have a unique fan monetisation opportunity. Unlocking it requires first-party data. For BWT Alpine F1 Team, gamification is driving the team closer to the finish line.
To learn how Genius Sports can help engage your league or team engage fans, book a demo.
Play Spin to Win: https://games.alpinef1.com/spin
