Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Spa-Francorchamps, 2024

Harris says she supports Hamilton but can’t watch F1 while running for president

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: US presidential candidate Kamala Harris reveals she’s a Lewis Hamilton fan.

In brief

Harris endorses Hamilton

Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party candidate for US president, revealed she watches Formula 1. “It’s so good,” she told Sirius XM. “We love it, our whole family does.”

Asked if she was only declaring her interest in the series because of her campaign, Harris replied: “No, God no. Actually, I haven’t been able to watch it a lot recently because I am campaigning. Also, depending on where they’re driving, the time of day, you’ve got to wake up [early].”

She described herself as a Hamilton fan, but noted he’s “leaving Mercedes” at the end of the year.

Sirius XM was previously owned by F1’s commercial rights holder Liberty Media, which split the company off last month.

IndyCar presents high-speed Arlington street track

IndyCar Arlington circuit
IndyCar intends to hold its first race in Arlington the year after next

IndyCar has revealed the 4.39 kilometre, 14-turn street track which will host its new race in Arlington, Texas from 2026. It features a kinked, 1.4-kilometre flat-out stretch from turns nine to ten which the series claims will be one of the longest on the calendar.

Josef Newgarden predicted drivers will reach over 320kph (200mph) at that point on the circuit. “So it’s going to be a very fast track,” said the Penske driver. “It’s a good layout, a lot of visibility with the way they’ve laid it out.

The track will also feature a double-sided pit lane, as seen at the Detroit street circuit which IndyCar first raced at last year. It will also pass beneath spectator areas at two separate points.

Stenshorne quickest as F3 test begins

Trident’s Martinius Stenshorne headed the first day of Formula 3 testing at Jerez with a quickest time of 1’30.761. Mari Boya was second for Campos ahead of Van Amersfoort newcomer John Bennett.

Two Ferrari Driver Academy members have secured their places on the 2025 grid. Formula Regional European Champion Rafael Camara will drive for Trident and Tuukka Taponen has landed a drive with ART.

Lloyd joins McLaren driver programme

McLaren have announced Ella Lloyd as their F1 Academy driver for next year. McLaren will also give Lloyd the opportunity to test for their Formula E team at Valencia next month.

Lloyd, who has also joined McLaren’s junior driver programme, made her debut in the series as a wildcard driver in Singapore, finishing both races in the points. She finished 11th in her first season in British Formula 4 this year, peaking with a trio of second-place finishes, all scored in partial reverse-grid races in which she started from pole position.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

RR offers his view on why Michael Andretti has stepped down in charge of his family’s team:

Dan Towriss through his Group1001 was always the one who was footing the bill for the Andretti’s F1 project – and to a great effect other Andretti’s racing endeavors, that was no secret.

What has changed though is that it became clear Andretti’s not-so-diplomatic approach did not work out, and GM / Cadillac was not happy about this. In a short period of time Andretti managed to start wars with FOM, Roger Penske and Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan IndyCar team. So Towriss basically threatened to pull out with all his money unless Michael Andretti steps down, to keep Cadillac on board and protect his investments.
RR

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Toby and Jean!

On this day in motorsport

  • 30 years ago today Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell made their final CART IndyCar starts in the season finale at Laguna Seca, won by Paul Tracy

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

88 comments on “Harris says she supports Hamilton but can’t watch F1 while running for president”

  1. Including Americans politics in the roundup is truly cringe.

    1. Wonder if Kim and Vladimir watch F1? (I don’t care)

      1. The later actually did a demo run with an old Renault back in 2010.

        1. +1,
          He was also present on the podium of the first Sochi race.

      2. Putin is the reason why F1 has the theatrics of national anthem before race

    2. Truly a race to the bottom.

      1. Truly a race to the bottom.

        If it’s truly a race downward, then I’m sure someone can Trump previous efforts. ;)

        1. as long as the masses think they are going to win from the giant ponzi scheme being used to push garbage politics, anything is possible. Delusion and denial are very powerful tools for those who wish to profit from (self) destruction.

    3. But Liberty did contribute significantly to her campaign funds, so they do want to see some return here.

      1. Big companies donate to all kinds of candidates. Liberty founder Malone is a big funder of her opponent. It’s just the price of doing business in the US “free” market. It doesn’t mean all that much.

    4. notagrumpyfan
      9th October 2024, 7:58

      It’s not the first time a famous person is quoted in the round-up only for mentioning a remote interest in the sport or some driver. It’s just as awkward/interesting (cross out what does not apply) if it’s a singer or a politician.

      I find it disappointing though when such stories/quotes/non-events are picked as the headline for a daily round-up for this website.
      It does serve a purpose though; we are all commenting :P

      1. It’s always been the case that this sort of thing gets reported. The only difference is that politics in America are so polarised that they act like aggressive apes when the other side says anything. At least I appreciated the sincerity acknowledging not following the sport closely, instead of making up some non-sense just to pander to voters.

    5. Imagine getting so triggered by the mere mention of a name, though. Not even politics, just the name.

      1. Imagine creating an account just to respond to this message and not caring about F1 or motorsports at all.

    6. Not at all. F1 has been trying to expand in the USA for many decades. The sitting vice-president being a viewer is newsworthy, even if just in a daily round up of smaller stories.

    7. My response to this sort of thing is always “fair enough” and carry on with life.

    8. @yoshif8tures For me the interesting point here is I doubt many past American presidential candidates would have regarded showing an interest in Formula 1 as being at all worthwhile to their cause when the sport was less well-known over there. Her opponent has already appeared at a round this year, of course.

      1. Shaun Robinson
        9th October 2024, 11:02

        ‘Her opponent’. He’s not voldemort mate.

        1. He might as well be if you’re a fan of the rule
          of law, democracy, common decency, presidents who don’t support a genocide just because a country’s president wouldn’t fabricate dirt on a political opponent and so on.

        2. True, he’s orange not gray. Also Voldemort didn’t have tiny little hands.

        3. You’re right – he’s far worse, because he’s real.

          1. You really are part of the cult, aren’t you.
            Reich Whingers crying about ‘cancel culture’ yet being the largest cancel advocates for anything you don’t like, never mind the complete personal offence you take even when it doesn’t involve you in the slightest.
            Hypocrites.

        4. some racing fan
          11th October 2024, 5:23

          He’s the closest thing we have to Voldemort over here. The guy is pure evil.

      2. Unable to say his name?

        1. I know I don’t want to. Makes me feel icky.

      3. I don’t have any problem with this being mentioned in the round-up. After all we had to endure stories about Donald Trump turning up at the McLaren garage in Miami. Why shouldn’t Harris’ interest in the sport be mentioned.

    9. Including Americans politics in the roundup is truly cringe.

      100% agree! I don’t go on a motorsport website to read about politicians, their actions and their opinions (unless it concerns their decisions impacting F1, which the politician named in the article does not make).

      1. She’s a fan. Why bother? F1 is 80% politics and 20% sport. And sometimes, F1 politics is even dirtier than institutional politics.

        But because of the politics, F1 is truly fun.

      2. It’s a very important person expressing support or fandom for the sport we all love here. It’s only controversial for a certain kind of person who think “the other side” are evil and the enemy of everything that is good an sacred. It was a rather anodyne note that somehow managed to make a lot of people angry; I wonder who those angry people are voting for ;-)

        1. @ajpennypacker

          Your comment is full of biased assumptions, for example that people who complain about this wouldn’t mind if Trump was featured, if he had said something about F1.

          Ultimately, US F1 races are not sponsored by the central government, unlike races in certain regions, so whatever US or EU politicians think will often not matter at all.

          1. Again, nobody is arguing that her views are important to the sport. It’s just like the opinion of any big celebrity. It’s interesting only because they are big celebrities.. That’s that. It’s nowhere near as big a deal as some are making it appear.

      3. Another triggered Reich Whinger.
        Be honest, it’s not politics you’re offended by, it’s opposition politics.
        Typical of a fascist mindset.

    10. F1 is politics!

      1. F1 is politics, but it is F1 POLITICS!
        It is not:
        USA politics
        Romanian politics
        EU politics
        FIFA politics
        MKOL politics etc.

        1. It is, though. Most races are funded with government support.

          F1 being “bought” to come perform its show, and the politicised nature of that, has been a frequent topic in F1 news.

    11. What’s worse as well as alarming is how many responses there are from people who have never commented before, which just shows how immense the Russian bot campaign is.

    12. So American politicians aren’t allowed to have opinions about F1?

      She was asked a question. She gave an answer. I’ll bet you hate it when drivers, especially Hamilton, express opinions too.

    13. So far I see at least 66 reasons as to why it would be mentioned. Because it generates discussion and interest (Though I appreciatte many would dispute the latter is necessarily linked to the former).

  2. “can’t watch F1 while running for president”…. Maniac laugh afterwards…

    1. Isn’t mentioning F1 for political reasons the same as she isn’t invoking god for them, either.

      Everyone should just write in the inanimate carbon rod.
      “In Rod We Trust!”

    2. Pretty weird how much yall are bugged by her laugh

      1. It’s more of a cackle to be honest. And I wish she’d do it more often!

      2. That’s because it’s all they’ve really got against her.

      3. It’s better than admitting the unstated part.

      4. I’ve had to live in the city where she was a prosecutor and have had to suffer the consequences of what she has done. If you were in the same situation, I think you’d be annoyed by her as well…

        1. Oh yeah. Tell us about the degradations you had to suffer due to her prosecutorial record. You realize she was unfairly tough on criminals, right? Which is one reason she’s not as popular among black voters democrats were hoping. So, unless you were unfairly convicted, spare me.

          1. She was exceedingly lenient on violent offenders, including criminals that killed police. Her beliefs and policies are what is behind the cesspool like state of our cities.

          2. @jblank This is just a straight lie. Cite a source or shut the front door.

  3. It seems that FOM isn’t the only organisation introducing gimmicks to “Make things more exciting”. Supercars just announced a “Finals” series.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-09/supercars-introduce-finals-series-for-2025-season/104448866

    1. Not surprised

    2. Well i won’t be watching that anymore :(

      The champion should be the driver who was the most consistent and scored the most points over a full season and not just the last few races of it thanks to points resets.

      Such a joke.

      1. They have no clue do they. No wonder they loose all of their decent champion drivers to other series.

    3. That’s very sad. That was one of the few series less ruined than most these days.

  4. Arlington track looks great.
    Turn 6 has a touch of Sochi, but overall, it should be a bit more like Miami….

  5. The Arlington Street Circuit configuration looks interesting.

    I understood South Africa had some Russian connections, which partly hampered its chances, & besides, I’m skeptical about how realistic South Africa’s chances are anymore, with Rwanda being a more concrete alternative.

    How does the method of calculating attendance figures even matter in any context?

    I thought lizards (other than zoo ones) only lived in tropical climatic conditions.

    1. @jerejj

      I thought lizards (other than zoo ones) only lived in tropical climatic conditions.

      Maybe the big ones, called monitors, or those more exotic ones.
      But as far as random small lizards go, they can be found all over Europe. I’m in central Europe, with moderately cold winters, and you can find lizards everywhere during the warmer half of the year.

    2. I thought lizards (other than zoo ones) only lived in tropical climatic conditions.

      Nope, it’s a UK thing too.
      Bit less common than the name “common lizard” might suggest, though.
      I can walk just five minutes on a warm sunny day and find adders and slow worms, and I’m a decent distance north of Brackley. Cannock Chase is more northerly than me and there are lizards there.

      1. Before careful! Cannock Chase is haunted! ; )

        1. Be careful*

          “Before careful.” lol

        2. I think I was safe.
          Daytime, guided by the two most senior Forestry Commission staff for the region. At the time, that immediate area of the Chase was restricted entry, so the local staff were also there with us – you know the score: always keep an eye on senior management :)

    3. Lizards in Australia are found pretty much all over. From say 12 degrees south to approx 42 degrees south. So from tropical to cold. Forests backyards, deserts, grasslands etc.
      Our largest lizard is the perentie. The perentie is a giant among lizards, with adults reaching lengths of up to 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) from nose to tail tip and weighing as much as 20 kilograms (44 pounds). This makes the perentie the fourth-largest living lizard in the world, surpassed only by the Komodo dragon, Asian water monitor, and crocodile monitor.
      It is found in what most would call our outback.
      Rocks, crevices bury themselves if too hot etc.
      Fun fact all skinks are lizards but not all lizards are skinks

      1. Fun fact all skinks are lizards but not all lizards are skinks

        Sorry for being slow, but I don’t get it. Doesn’t the same apply to any group that itself falls into a larger group (mammals/dogs, trout/fish, dinner/meals, pencils/stationery, idiots/people etc)??

        1. No you need expert advice.
          You can contact any of the following is;
          Dr. Hal Cogger – John Evans Memorial Fellow .prolific author former curator of herpetology, Deputy Director of The Australian Museum and many other academic appointments globally and just a wonderful man.
          Dr. Jodi Rowley
          Dave Trembath
          Emily Hotham
          Dr. Grace Liu’s
          or any of the herpetology team
          at or via The Australian Museum
          and they will set you straight.

    4. I thought lizards (other than zoo ones) only lived in tropical climatic conditions.

      There are lizards pretty much everywhere except the far north, though most European ones are pretty small and mundane in comparison to the big and colourful tropical kind.

      And just to add to the above, the Australian thorny dragon is perhaps one of the most alien looking creatures – on land, anyway.

      1. SteveP @davedai MichaelN
        Okay, thanks for the clarification since I’d been unaware of their global range until today.

    5. I can’t get to see the Age article. If it’s an extension of the previous articles I will say on the crowd figures it is important on two fronts.
      “Save Albert Park” group are trying to have the land returned to full-time public use and ALL Motorsport banned. Their premise I believe is that the attendance figures are exaggerated and the
      benefit to the taxpayer is doubtful at best.
      Previously I posted something like;

      Since the race moved to Melbourne in 1996, the AGPC has provided only estimated crowds maintaining that the cost of turnstiles or scanners was prohibitive. This has frustrated commentators and critics who suspect the publicly released figures were routinely inflated for many years.
      In 1996, the four-day attendance was estimated – and disputed – to be 401,000, including 150,000 on race day.

      This is despite a government-imposed cap this year of 125,00-130,000 on any one day.
      In 2019, the corporation did use some scanners, but again released only estimates, prompting Save Albert Park to seek more granular information.
      This was twice refused under section 29A of the Freedom of Information Act, exempting disclosure if there was a risk of damage to “the security of the Commonwealth or any state or territory, or the defence of the Commonwealth, or the international relations of the Commonwealth”.
      The broadcast people just refused point blank to divulge how they estimated global audiences.
      Victoria’s other major events, including the AFL grand final, the Melbourne Cup, the Australian Open tennis and the Boxing Day Test match publish audited and exact figures as a matter of course.“
      VCAT has previously ruled the figures were not misleading.
      The second string to their bow is the AGPC had to have the government bail them out in 23 to tune of in excess of $100 million dollars. This is where the “public outrage” plus the “national security” stuff in tough times may surface.
      I can’t see any success though through VCAT . The name may sound impressive but on the day maybe only a Justice Of The Peace adjudicating.
      The Supremes Court would be their only real shot IMO. And they’ll be out spent there.

      1. It’s hard to have much sympathy for a group whose sole goal is to prevent a certain fan base from enjoying a once-per-annum event. Get a life.

        1. José Lopes da Silva
          9th October 2024, 21:50

          However, after almost 30 years, maybe the race could return to Adelaide.

        2. Get a life

          Oi! I’ve got one. I navigated around a “walk in the light green” SE of Nui Dat in 1969. Got a heavily restricted medical “warranty” for up to 3 years in 2015 but I’m still here!
          And I’m no friend or supporter of Save Albert Park.

          1. I wasn’t referring to you, @davedai, but rather the members of Save Albert Park aka SAP. So, yeah those SAPs, need to GAL. lol

  6. Aha, the lizard that got on the track in Singapore and stopped practice must have been Mercedes trying a new strategy. Much more subtle than asking one of your drivers to crash.

  7. It’s just a progressivist race game. Why didn’t she support Logan?

    1. Wouldn’t that’d just be a nationalistic game?

      Besides, Lewis Hamilton is the most successful F1 driver of all time – the only one to win more than a 100 races – and a joint record-holder with seven world titles, winning at two different teams to boot. It’s a great reason to cheer him on, if not the most creative one. But ‘t was always thus; winners have friends and fans.

      1. I think it illustrates another reason why Hamilton is worth big bucks to teams. Whether he is winning or not, he is a well-known name outside the ranks of F1 fans, a bit like the way people who don’t follow pop music probably know names like Taylor Swift.

    2. Ah yes – I’m sure you have many interesting opinions on reverse racism and the like.

    3. Wow so triggered by one news story.
      You Reich Whingers just can’t get past your racism & bigotry issues.

  8. Oh well! At least the Round Up headline keeps SLH in the news during the dullest part of this season.

    1. Or SLH keeps Formula 1 in the news when it bewilderingly decides to take a pointless 3 week break when the season momentum was building.
      It cheers me up to learn Kamala Harris is a big Formula 1 fan. Can you imagine the Orange Muppet concentrating on anything for 1.5-2 hours? Apart from twiddling away on his own social media profiles obviously.

      1. Just to be clear, I didn’t mean anyone from McLaren there…

      2. Can you imagine the Orange Muppet concentrating on anything for 1.5-2 hours?

        1.5-2.0 minutes is a stretch, unless you push the right buttons.
        Info from aides was that any report that didn’t have his name in it about every third sentence was ripped and dropped on the floor before he got to the end of the page.
        Some poor minion spent hours sticking things back together for retention in the archives.

        1. As a fan of the Rest is Politics US podcast, I’d say Anthony Scaramucci definitely backs that assessment.

  9. I think it illustrates another reason why Hamilton is worth big bucks to teams. Whether he is winning or not, he is a well-known name outside the ranks of F1 fans, a bit like the way people who don’t follow pop music probably know names like Taylor Swift.

    1. Yeah, as much as F1 is big business these days, very few of the drivers have name value outside the sport.

      A police officer pulling you over for speeding isn’t going to ask, “Who do you think you are? Nico Hulkenberg?”

  10. I’m getting really fed up on every new circuit been a street race on usually quite dull looking car park circuits that are all starting to share very similar characteristics such as boringly long straights & very long radius corners to create a stadium type section.

    It’s sad that Indycar are going on yet another car park track when there are amazing circuits like COTA & Watkins Glen they could be using instead as well as ovals like Texas Motor Speedway which has created so much good racing & close finishes over the years (Albeit until nascar ruined it by altering Turns 1/2 & putting that horrid compound stuff on the track to artificially create more grip).

    I used to quite enjoy street circuits back when they felt like a bit more of a novelty and back when each one offered very different & unique characteristics. Now there’s so many of them in use & so many of them look/feel fairly similar that the novelty has truly worn off & i’m just very sick of them & would much rather see more of the wonderful natural terrain circuits been used which not only tend to create better racing but are also much more interesting to watch cars lapping.

    And with Indycar in particular most of the street circuits tend to just descend into chaos which just isn’t the sort of ‘racing’ I get all that much enjoyment out of. I want to see good racing & not a demolition derby.

    1. +1 It’s just a boring crash grab tactic. And half the time you end up enraging 80% of the city’s residents who don’t want an event shutting down their city for a week to boot, which isn’t that great for F1.

  11. José Lopes da Silva
    9th October 2024, 21:19

    Astounding number of comments and, apparently and for no reason, a dose of copium.

Comments are closed.