10 years at the US Grand Prix: How COTA played host to F1's ...

A decade ago, I attended my first Formula 1 race: The 2014 US Grand Prix. I was an 18-year-old college student who had fallen in love with the sport the year prior, but still convinced that after seeing a race in person, I’d get the F1 bug out of my system. 

Instead, the 2024 US Grand Prix was a weekend filled with personal milestones: The 10th anniversary of my first F1 race, my 15th Grand Prix overall, my fifth year as media, and my first as US Editor at PlanetF1.com. It also provided ample time for reflection on how this iconic race at Circuit of the Americas has evolved in tandem with Formula 1’s exponential American growth.

In 2014, few folks in Austin, Texas knew what “Formula 1” was.

When the US Grand Prix weekend rolled up at the end of October and into the start of November, I had been living in Austin for just two months as a student at the University of Texas, a school I’d chosen, in part, because it was conveniently located just down the road from Circuit of the Americas.

Having grown up firmly entrenched in the deeply American world of NASCAR, my first exposure to Formula 1 didn’t come until 2013, when my family made a point to see Rush on opening day. My teenage interests had coalesced around a few different themes — the 1970s, fast cars, and Chris Hemsworth — so it was sure to be an enjoyable experience. What I didn’t expect was that I’d be unable to stop thinking about the story of Niki Lauda and James Hunt.

I got home from that film and immediately took to the Internet to see if I couldn’t debunk what I was sure had to be a sensationalized portrayal of a mediocre racing rivalry… only to find that the true Hunt v. Lauda tale is far more fascinating than Hollywood could ever imagine.

Soon after, I committed to staying up all night to watch my first live F1 race, the 2013 Korean Grand Prix. When my mom asked what I’d like as a graduation present, I had exactly one answer: Tickets to the 2014 US Grand Prix. She bought me two race-day tickets in the Turn 1 grandstand, thinking that I might meet a fellow F1 enthusiast at school.

But even in the metropolitan city of Austin, I struggled to find another real-life human being who knew what this “Formula 1” thing was all about (though I grant that part of my problem likely had to do with the fact that I was an English literature major). An online friend offered to fly out for the race; they would buy tickets to Friday and Saturday in exchange for my second Sunday ticket. I agreed.

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Looking back on that first event, I’m shocked by how much has changed. In 2014, attending an F1 race in the United States felt like joining a secret club. On Wednesday before the race, Red Bull hosted a demonstration run in front of the state capitol building — and while some folks showed up, many of them were there because they’d heard a loud engine and wanted to see what was happening.

On Friday, we turned up early for free practice in order to secure wristbands for driver autograph sessions. The track was dotted with dedicated viewers — most of them Sergio Perez fans who had driven up from Mexico — but it was otherwise so empty that most of the concession stands at the track were shuttered.

Downtown, a few blocks of Austin’s streets had been shut down for a Formula 1 party, with a handful of tents showing off artwork and plenty of local supercar enthusiasts showing off their machinery. Most of the people wandering the exhibitions were Austin locals who had stumbled on this celebration of speed while they were bar-hopping in costumes for Halloween weekend. I lost track of the number of times someone pulled my friend and I aside to ask, “Hey, what’s going on?”

The weekend attendance numbers in 2014 reflected the sport’s American popularity at the time: Over three days, fewer than 108,000 people turned up. This year’s attendance figures haven’t been released yet, but in 2023, a whopping 432,000 fans entered the gates over the course of three days.

It’s easy to point to Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive docuseries as the catalyst for that growth; after all, when millions of people around the world were confined to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, there was very little else to do but binge-watch shows you might have otherwise skipped. And the attendance numbers reflect it: In 2019, three-day attendance was clocked at 268,000 attendees. In 2021, that number jumped to over 400,000.

But pointing to DTS as the sole growth factor completely ignores the hard work that Circuit of the Americas has put in to improve its facilities.

Back in 2014, I’ll be honest: Things were grim. Your concession options were limited to pizza, burgers, hot dogs, giant turkey legs, and a handful of local food trucks that bothered to turn up for the race. When F1 cars weren’t hitting the track, there wasn’t all that much to do for entertainment aside from walking the length of the track and poking around a few merch stands. When I was in college, I used to bring textbooks and class notes to the track, because doing homework or studying for exams was the most compelling way to spend my time.

The rain-drenched 2015 race that very nearly killed the US Grand Prix at COTA was the wake-up call that the track needed.

Many fans had had such a terrible time dealing with the circuit’s poor infrastructure, its lack of amenities, and its brutal weather that they vowed never to return. Paired with threats to the government funding that paid the circuit’s FIA sanctioning fee, things needed to change drastically if the race was to secure a future.

In 2016, COTA secured big-name talents like Taylor Swift and Usher to headline concerts after the on-track action had come to a close, and it initiated a multi-year growth plan that would add more grandstands and better amenities for fans.

Since then, the track hasn’t stopped improving. When the US Grand Prix returned in 2021 after the COVID-19 pandemic, it did so with a huge slate of carnival rides, multiple themed fan zones, and activations as diverse as armadillo races, friendship bracelet making centers, and even a tattoo parlor. Many of Austin’s most beloved restaurants turn up with an abbreviated menu, giving fans a chance to try the city’s best smoked brisket or hibachi without having to leave the circuit.

Yes, Drive to Survive absolutely helped thousands of new American fans fall in love with Formula 1 — but when travel restrictions were lifted and the sport returned to the States, it was COTA’s impeccable at-track experience that left new fans impressed by what they’d just experienced — and got them hungry for more.

Now, with two additional US races in Miami and Las Vegas, the pressure to perform is higher than ever, but the track hasn’t seen any significant downturn in attendance.

On Sunday morning, I neared Circuit of the Americas about 30 minutes after gates had opened, and in the final two miles of my drive, the highway into the track was packed with fans walking into the track on foot, while the line to enter snaked out past the main gate and well into the media parking lot.

The general admission section of Turn 1 was already packed with spectators staking out the best view of the track over six hours before the start of the race. When I left, over four hours after the checkered flag, fans lingered at the circuit, soaking up every last moment.

All weekend long, local Austin friends sent me photos of signs and posters that had popped up around the city, asking passersby to place a sticker next to the driver they thought might win the US Grand Prix.

Ten years ago, that kind of recognition would have seemed unimaginable. The 2014 US Grand Prix had been an exercise in anonymity, with the circuit relying on international fans to bulk up its attendance figures. Now, in 2024, three American venues can’t stop fans from turning up at the US Grand Prix in droves — because, yes, Drive to Survive attracted new audiences, but also because Circuit of the Americas was prepared to welcome those audiences with open arms.

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