McLaren drivers Lando Norris, left, of Britain, and Oscar Piastri of Australia answer questions after driving in a fan event showcasing past McLaren cars, ahead of the Formula One Miami Grand Prix auto race, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in the Coconut Grove area of Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

With Formula 1 (F1) shortened by two races this season, there is an unusual April break. While the teams are undoubtedly hard at work trying to improve their cars, I can’t take you inside the factories to see what those updates might be. I can, however, update audiences on one of my selling points for watching F1 this season, which is the increased presence of Americans in the sport.

We’ll start with American drivers… which currently do not exist on the F1 grid. Not a solid selling point? Fortunately, there are potential future stars in the feeder series to F1 which are cleverly named F2 and F3.

Generally speaking, those who get into F3 need to prove themselves with wins and championships in other racing series at pretty young ages. This is harder to do for Americans as there are no such racing groups in the United States. Still, some find ways to get there.

Currently, the main American driver to focus on in F3 is Ugo Ugochukwu. His rookie season in 2025 saw two podium finishes and an overall placement of 16th. For context, there were 37 drivers that competed that year. Though Ugochukwu lost his McLaren backing for the 2026 season, his determination was undeterred.

F3 has only had one set of races (they have a sprint race and feature race every time they compete in an F1 weekend) in 2026, and Ugochukwu won the higher points paying feature race in Australia. He currently leads the standings with 8 more sets of races left in the F3 season.

Moving one series up to F2, there is one quite notable American driver this season, Colton Herta. Those who follow IndyCar should recognize the name as he is a nine-time race winner in the series, finished in second place overall in 2024, and holds the record for the youngest ever race winner in IndyCar.

Herta was well aware the driving in F1 style cars would be very different from his IndyCar experiences, and wanted to go into F2 instead of competing for an F1 seat at Cadillac or even taking on the reserve driver role (which Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu fills). Much like F3, F2 has only had one set of races so far this season, and Herta finished in 7th place in the feature race.

While competing in F2 will give Herta much needed experience at tracks throughout the world he has never competed at and give him exposure to F1 style machinery, he is also putting his career at risk. If he doesn’t perform well in F2 this season, he’ll likely not make it into F1 and chances are slim he could make a return to IndyCar either. Huge gamble, but hopefully one he can make pay out.

Speaking of F1 reserve drivers, there actually is one American in those ranks. Jak Crawford fills the role for Aston Martin meaning there is one American who could potentially be in an F1 race this season if either Fernando Alonso or Lance Stroll are unable to compete in a race.

Crawford raced in F2 for three seasons, capturing the runner up position in his final year. Generally speaking, as there are so few seats in F1, drivers need to impress in their first season if they have a shot at getting a full-time seat in F1. At the very least, we should get to see Crawford out for a few practice sessions over the course of the year.

McLaren, last year’s constructor’s champion and the home of driver’s champion Lando Norris, has American Zak Brown at the helm as CEO. While he never spent time as an F1 driver, Brown does have 10 years of professional driving on his resume and still competes in historic motorsport events. He is largely credited with turning around the fortunes of McLaren and shows Americans have what it takes to lead global racing teams.

Speaking of American teams, the new team on the block in F1 is Cadillac. Not known for open wheeled racing, they do have a good track record in endurance racing, winning the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Few teams are competitive in their first year in F1, and Cadillac is no exception to that.

In the three races so far this season, 13th is the highest position they’ve finished in (out of 22 cars). Still, when reliability is so uncertain with the rules overhaul this year, their drivers have finished the race five out of six times which is impressive for a new team.

One other American team is on the grid in F1: Haas. Their F1 debut was in 2016, and, so far, they’ve had a pretty decent run in the sport. In their very first race, Romain Grosjean finished in sixth position. For those thinking this was a significantly better performance than Cadillac’s debut this year, you’re absolutely correct.

Part of the explanation is that Haas bought out the collapsing Marussia team that left F1 in 2014, and they’ve worked closely with Ferrari for their power units every season. Cadillac, on the other hand, is building their car primarily in house… except for their power unit. For this season, and through 2028, Cadillac has procured Ferrari power units, but will completely build their own car starting in 2029.

Will they be a team to be reckoned with by that point? Will Haas improve on their decent overall fourth place performance to actually get a podium finish or even wins this season? Will an American ascend through F3 and F2 to become a full-fledged and competitive F1 driver?

Tune in as F1 racing returns on Sunday, May 3, at 4 p.m. Eastern Time in Miami, Florida, for the first of three races in the United States this season and find out.