Taylor Swift continues to take the entertainment world by storm, and now that has bled over into the world of sport via the NFL. Has the pop star ever showed up at a Formula 1 race?
Before the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce rumors, there were Taylor Swift-Fernando Alonso rumors, and while nothing ever came of the speculation about the pop star dating the two-time Formula 1 world champion, that did not stop the Sky Sports team from trying to make every Taylor Swift reference imaginable throughout Azerbaijan Grand Prix race weekend back in late April.
And give Alonso credit for leaning heavily into the rumors and ultimately being willing to laugh off the gossip and take himself a lot less seriously than most might have.
But those rumors may not have been as far-fetched as they seemed to be, simply because of the fact that Swift does have a past tie to Formula 1.
The answer is yes, Taylor Swift has attended a Formula 1 race weekend.
She did so in October 2016 at Circuit of the Americas, when she performed ahead of the United States Grand Prix, a race won by Swift fan Lewis Hamilton over Mercedes teammate and eventual world champion Nico Rosberg. The concert was actually her lone concert of 2016.
In a roundabout way, the Wyomissing, Pennsylvania native’s appearance ahead of this race contributed to making Formula 1 what it is today. The goal in booking her was to attract a new generation of fans to the sport, with tens of thousands said to have attended the Grand Prix weekend for the purpose of seeing their favorite pop star.
Among those watching were Liberty Media, the group which ultimately ended up buying Formula 1. Since then, the sport has seen a meteoric rise in popularity in the United States.
There are now three U.S. races on the calendar, including one in Miami that was introduced last year and another one in Las Vegas which is scheduled to debut in November.
And despite the 2023 season having been dominated by Red Bull (primarily by soon-to-be three-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen), television ratings continue to soar and attendance records continue to be broken.