Inside the Tension Between F1’s Miami GP and Content Creators

Joining the calendar as the second U.S. race in 2022, Miami couldn’t have had better timing. F1 was trendy: Chanel’s spring-summer collection included a $4,450 F1 t-shirt that took TikTok by storm, racing jackets became a staple, and the sport—still riding a high from the success of Netflix’s Drive to Survive—had inspired a thriving online fan community. The hype drew the largest live U.S. TV audience in F1’s history. Lifestyle influencers, with chronically online audiences reaching into the millions, made the perfect glitzy addition to the race’s guest list. But last year, few of the community of content creators who regularly post about F1 in accessible and entertaining ways made the cut. 

“F1 Miami had more influencers than ever before and it made people angry. People who make F1 content daily weren’t invited, while others were,” Alex Martinez, a motorsport content creator and car builder, shared with his followers. “I was one of those people initially invited, then I got ghosted.”

Martinez, known as @alex.martini__ on social media, stepped into full-time content creation in 2022 and now has nearly half a million followers on TikTok alone. Last year’s Miami Grand Prix would have marked Martinez’s first F1 race with a brand.

Brands look for creators with specific niches that fit into whatever message they’re trying to get out into the world. Martinez understood “sometimes that’s just how it is. I’m less of an entertainer and less of a lifestyle creator, and I’m more of an automotive creator.”

He brushed it off, but some fans noticed that not all of the content creators who received invites to the track—either from brands or the race itself—seemed particularly invested in motorsports. (Like, say, the influencers pronouncing Alfa Romeo as “Alfa Ramiro.”) And some of the F1-focused creators that made the cut lamented the brands’ chaotic scheduling and rigid expectations.

In talking to a group of creators who have or will attend the Miami GP, several refused to go on the record, fearful that speaking out—even broadly—could cost them their access to future races or coverage opportunities. (The Miami GP’s press office did not respond to requests for comment.)

Martinez won’t find himself in the Miami Dolphins stadium that doubles as F1’s paddock this year. But Hannah Hall and Zoe Jewell, the voices behind Fan Behavior Pod, are partnering with the street circuit ahead of the 2024…