All you need to know about the upcoming United States Austin Grand Prix

With the United States Formula One Grand prix upcoming the next weekend we feel it is time to give you an introduction to this year event.

The Formula One grand prix is held on the Circuits of the Americas, or in short COTA, in Austin, Texas.

History and former F1 winners at Circuit of the Americas

Circuit of the Americas has been on the Formula one calendar since 2012 and since then we have seen some awesome races.

Major Venues	since
NASCAR cup series	2021- present
Formula one	2012- present
MotoGP	2013- present

Former winners at COTA

Lewis Hamilton is one of the drivers with the most wins on this circuit, he totally won the United states grand prix 6 times. (5x in Austin, 1 times in Indianapolis, 2007).

Last year Max Verstappen won the GP after a thrilling race long battle with Lewis.

It is also the Grand prix where former World Champion and now retired driver Kimi Raikkonen won his last race.

Fastest lap

Fastest lap during a race is a 1 minute 36 point 169 driven by Charles Leclerc back in 2019 in a Ferrari SF90.

Track attendance

Normal Capacity of the Circuit is 150,000 visitors. But during Formula 1 weekend extra seats are placed and over the weekend an attendance of over 400,000 people is expected.

Ever since the Netflix Series Drive to Survive has been launched popularity of F1 is rising and tickets are hard to get!

The track layout of Circuit of the Americas

The circuit of the Americas, or for short COTA, is located in Austin, Texas. It has in total 20 corners and 2 long straights.

Architect	Hermann Tilke
Total circuit length	5.513 km (3.426 miles)
Corners	20
Race lap record	1:36.169
by who	Charles Leclerc – Ferrari SF90, 2019

From the start finish line drivers drive towards the first corner which is kind of a ‘blind corner’ due to the upwards slope it has, about 30 meters of elevation in just 200meters of track, which results in the drivers cannot see the end of the corner. The track is also very wide which gives many options at the start of the race.

From there the drivers drive through the S’es, a high speed section where one mistake can cost a lot.

From there they go to a sharp left corner (turn 11) onto the long back straight where they reach speeds of 310km/h (193Mph). Then heavy breaking onto another left corner. (turn 12).

From there there they reach a slower part of the circuit with many corners both left and right, ending up in a long round corner ending up in 2 more left sided corners, the last one recently named Andretti corner. Before ending up at the start/finish straight.

Full weekend schedule F1 Austin GP

Unlike most formula One venues in Europe where it is all about racing. In America they really know how to organize a full festival weekend together with F1.

Regarding racing besides formula one there will be the Masters Endurance legends as well as the Masters Historic races. On Sunday there will be also a McLaren Andretti demo! followed by the f1 drivers parade at noon.

Timetable Formula 1 Aramco United states Grand Prix 2022

Date	session	local time
October 21st (fri)	Practice 1	14:00 -15:00
October 21st (fri)	Practice 2	17:00 -18:30
October 22nd (sat)	Practice 3	14:00 -15:00
October 22nd (sat)	Qualifying round	17:00 -18:00
October 23th (sun)	Race	14:00

Festival podia

There are 3 large main stages with music being played. On Friday evening after all track-sided events have ended the headliner is American band Green Day. While Friday after qualifying Ed Sheeran will perform at the Germania insurance super stage.

Sunday, DJ Diesel aka SHAQ will to the podium and track music while New York band Interpol will perform on the infield.

Besides that there is many more entertainment, food stalls and merchandising shops all around the area.
For more info a link to the 2022 venue map can be found here.

Where to watch the Austin united states F1 grand prix

In the United States the official broadcaster of Formula One races is ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Besides that F1 fans can take a subscription for F1tv.com and watch all practice sessions, onboard cameras and races live from the app (or cast it to your TV).

For some behind the scene views of the Austin GP you can watch Twitch streamer Jakenbakelive. During the weekend he will be live at COTA filming behind the scenes at the Mclaren f1 team. On Thursday he will be driven around the track in a McLaren roadcar by Indy car driver Palou.