US Grand Prix, Austin, Texas: Brace yourself for a pretty wild ride

1: The first person to complete a lap at the Circuit of the Americas was the American racing legend Mario Andretti. In a fitting tribute, the 2022 Formula 1 champion was honoured: the left-hand bend before the start and finish line was named after him.

2: The ‘Circuit of the Americas’ (COTA) is the first US race track to have been built specifically for Formula 1 – construction costs amounted to 300 million dollars.

3: Previously, the US World Championship round had been a real nomad, held at nine different venues: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (1950–1960 and 2000–2007), Sebring (1959), Riverside (1960), Watkins Glen (1961–1980), Long Beach (1976–1983), Las Vegas (1981–1982), Detroit (1982–1988), Dallas (1984) and Phoenix (1989–1991).

4: ‘Texas’ is derived from ‘tejas’. The first Spanish settlers found the indigenous Caddo Indians so friendly that they called them ‘Tejas’ (friends).

5: A landmark of COTA – the 77-metre-high observation tower (with a glass floor) designed by the architect Miró Rivera. Take a closer look: viewed from the side, the tower resembles a snake rearing up.

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6: The colours of Texas have the following meanings: white stands for purity, blue for loyalty, and red for courage. The ‘Lone Star’ on the left-hand side of the flag symbolises Texas’s independence from Mexico.

7: The first settlers arrived in Austin in 1835, but the city was not officially founded until 1839 – and was not even called Austin to begin with, but Waterloo!

8: The city’s name, Austin, is derived from the first Secretary of State, Stephen F. Austin (1793–1836).

9: Certain sections of the COTA circuit are reminiscent of traditional European tracks. The uphill run to the first corner at the former Österreichring, and the rapid changes of direction in corners 4 to 6 at the Maggots–Becketts complex at Silverstone. The third sector is a technical section, much like the Motodrom at Hockenheim, and there’s a section reminiscent of the Senna S at Interlagos.

10: Eleven of the thirteen Formula 1 winners at COTA since 2012 started from the front row of the grid.

11: And these drivers have triumphed at COTA.

• 2012: Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes

• 2013: Sebastian Vettel (D), Red Bull Racing

• 2014: Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes

• 2015: Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes

• 2016: Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes

• 2017: Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes

• 2018: Kimi Räikkönen (FIN), Ferrari

• 2019: Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Mercedes

• 2020: no race

• 2021: Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing

• 2022: Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing

• 2023: Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing

• 2024: Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari

• 2025: Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing

12: If Texas were a country, it would be the ninth-largest economy in the world.

13: The only COTA debutant this year: Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls).

14: Austin is not only home to the US Grand Prix but also to one of the world’s largest bat colonies. Every evening from March to September, 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats swarm out from their roost beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge. It’s a spectacle watched by countless tourists every year.

15: The Drivers’ World Championship has been decided at the Circuit of the Americas on two occasions – in 2015 and 2019, both times in favour of Lewis Hamilton. This weekend, Kimi Antonelli could be crowned champion.

16: Austin (motto: ‘Keep Austin Weird’) is a young city, with 60,000 students and 250 live music venues. Every year, Austin hosts several music festivals of all kinds. The city itself, not without a touch of modesty, calls itself the ‘live music capital of the world’. The South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in the spring and Austin City Limits (a week before the Grand Prix) both attract as many fans as the GP weekend – 500,000 visitors each!

17: An interesting fact: ten per cent of Austin’s residents are of German descent. Very popular is the ‘Scholz Garten’ beer garden, situated north of the stunningly beautiful State Capitol.

18: There are still 17 moonlight towers from the 1890s standing throughout Austin, each 50 metres high. The 31 original towers were not erected following a series of murders (that’s an old wives’ tale), but simply to light up the city. The towers are listed buildings. Austin is the only city in the world where such towers can still be found.

19: Why was the circuit actually named the ‘Circuit of the Americas’? It was intended to emphasise the circuit’s location in Texas, as a crossroads between north and south and between east and west.

20: The agreement to host the US Formula 1 Grand Prix at COTA runs until the end of 2034 inclusive.