Formula One Preview: US Grand Prix
F1’s second trip to the United States this season could crown the sport’s 36th world champion.
Circuit Guide
The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) became the sixth circuit to host the US Grand Prix, and the tenth American venue to host a World Championship race, when it joined the calendar in 2012.
It was also the first circuit on US soil to be purpose-built for Formula One, drawing inspiration from a number of iconic corners at some of the sport’s greatest arenas.
The Sector 1 Esses section was inspired by Maggots and Becketts at Silverstone, while the stadium section at Hockenheim, the Turn 9-10 complex in Bahrain and Istanbul Park’s iconic Turn 8 all inspired corners throughout Sector 3.
The track also borrowed characteristics from Interlagos and the Buddh International Circuit in India.
Despite copying the homework of other tracks, COTA has forged an identity in its own right. The 41-metre elevation change from the start line to Turn 1 and the observation tower overlooking Turns 16-18 are two of the circuit’s starring features.
The run up to the opening hairpin will look rather different this year, though, with what COTA describes as a brand-new “state-of-the-art clubhouse”, a new VIP hospitality building, offering “the best view in motorsport.” That might be the case for anyone in there, but it’s a bit of an eyesore for everyone else, changing the view of COTA’s iconic Turn 1.
The circuit has generally been positively received by drivers, who can regularly be seen frequenting the paddock sporting bold moustaches and cowboy hats, or, in the case of Daniel Ricciardo, atop a horse.
Weekend Format
Last year’s US Grand Prix brought us a memorable sprint race during which title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri collided at the first corner.
The 2024 and 2023 events brought us a Saturday sprint too, but this year we are back to business as usual with three practice sessions followed by qualifying and the race.
Weather Forecast
According to the early forecast, Friday and Saturday make for some classic hot and sunny Texas weather.
Practice and Qualifying should be dry with temperatures of around 26 degrees for the morning sessions (P1 and P3) and 29 degrees Celsius in the afternoons (for P2 and Qualifying). That’s 79 and 84 degrees respectively in American terms.
The race, however, may have a little twist in store, with a 20-25% chance of rain across Sunday.
Major Talking Points
First match point for Antonelli: This time last year, F1 arrived in Austin with one world title already wrapped up, after McLaren completed the defence of their constructors’ crown in Singapore.
We aren’t quite that far down the road this season, although the wait for Mercedes’ first title since 2021 seems like a formality.
While last year’s drivers’ title went down to a decider, this year it could be settled with five races still to go. That all depends on whether Kimi Antonelli can leave Austin with a 125-point lead.
For that to happen, he needs to win the race with George Russell outside of the top nine and Lewis Hamilton outside of the top five, a set of criteria which has yet to occur in a race this season.
F1 heads to Africa: The biggest development in the two weeks since the Singapore Grand Prix was the announcement last week that F1 will return to Africa for the first time in over 30 years.
A brand new purpose-built circuit in Rwanda will join the calendar in the early 2030s, marking the sport’s first return to the continent since the 1993 South African Grand Prix.
The new African Grand Prix will elevate F1’s status as a “world” championship, bringing an event to the only inhabited continent on which the sport currently does not race.
Câmara clicks at Haas: Another piece of the 2027 driver puzzle has fallen into place, with Brazilian youngster Rafa Câmara inheriting the Haas seat to be left vacant by Esteban Ocon.
The 21-year-old, who has been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2022, is currently leading the Formula 2 championship in a campaign during which he has amassed three feature race victories.
Câmara will become the 34th Brazilian driver in F1 history and the second on the 2027 grid alongside Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Next year will be the first time since 2016 that there have been multiple Brazilian drivers in F1, when Felipe Massa and Felipe Nasr were carrying the flag.
Mekies and Red Bull partnership to continue: Fresh off the back of the team’s first two wins of the season, both courtesy of Max Verstappen, Red Bull have pledged their support to CEO and Team Principal Laurent Mekies by offering him a new long-term deal.
The Frenchman has been in post since July 2025 and has since overseen eight Grand Prix victories, including the first for the brand new Red Bull-Ford engine partnership. His new contract will see him through to the end of the 2031 season.
Revelations emerge from old Red Bull boss: While Mekies is Red Bull’s present and future, the leading figure of the team’s past has also recently been back in the news.
Christian Horner was the team’s Principal and CEO for over 20 years prior to his acrimonious dismissal last year and has since been searching for a route back into the paddock.
In the meantime, though, Horner has been putting pen to paper with a new memoir entitled “Drive”. The book’s most notable revelation is that the Brit rejected an approach from Mercedes to become Team Principal prior to Toto Wolff’s appointment, while he also sheds light on his frayed relationship with Helmut Marko.
Past US Grands Prix
The US Grand Prix has been held on 46 previous occasions, making it the tenth most regular event in F1 history. The race has previously been held at Sebring (1959), Riverside (1960), Watkins Glen (1961-80), Phoenix (1989-91), and Indianapolis (2000-07), before finding its current home at the Circuit of the Americas in 2012.
Confusingly, the US Grand Prix West also ran eight times from 1976-83 at Long Beach, while the Caesar’s Palace, Detroit, Dallas, Miami and Las Vegas Grands Prix have also taken place on American soil.
The Indy 500 also counted towards the F1 World Championship from 1950 to 1960.
Of the current crop of drivers, only Hamilton and Alonso have competed in a US GP anywhere other than COTA, with the two of them famously engaging in a fierce battle as McLaren teammates at Indianapolis in 2007.
The 2005 race, also at Indianapolis, remains to this day one of the most controversial in history, when just six cars took to the start line amidst a protest against the safety of Michelin tyres, which were used by seven of the ten teams.
Since its move to COTA, for many years the race was a Hamilton show. The seven-time world champion won five of the first six Grands Prix in Austin, the most memorable moments from which included a pass on Sebastian Vettel for the win in 2012 and his title-deciding victory in 2015.
The 2015 edition is best remembered for a string of incidents between the Briton and teammate Nico Rosberg, which culminated in the German famously throwing his runners’ up cap at Hamilton in the cooldown room.
Other memorable COTA moments include Kimi Räikönnen’s final career victory in 2018 and one of Hamilton and Verstappen’s many titanic title tussles in 2021.
Max Verstappen won last year’s Grand Prix from Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, the day after Norris and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri famously crashed out on the opening lap of the sprint race.
Drivers to Watch
Kimi Antonelli: It goes without saying that the championship leader is worth keeping an eye on at a race where he could win the title.
If Antonelli wins the race on Sunday, that will put him mathematically out of reach of Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris, while Russell and Hamilton need to finish at least ninth and fifth respectively to keep their own hopes alive.
COTA wasn’t a happy hunting ground for the Italian last season, though, as he finished eighth in the sprint race and 13th in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
If Antonelli does not win the race, his coronation will be delayed until at least the next weekend in Mexico.
Lewis Hamilton: COTA was Lewis Hamilton’s playground for many years as the seven-time world champion won five of the first six races at the circuit.
Recent years have been less kind to the Ferrari driver though, with a disqualification due to excessive plank wear on his Mercedes in 2023 and a self-inflicted crash in 2024.
He finished fourth in his first trip to Texas in red last year, and he needs another top five finish this weekend to guarantee his distant title hopes remain intact.
Carlos Sainz: It is no stretch to claim that COTA is Carlos Sainz’s best track. The Williams driver has scored points in every race he has finished at the circuit since his first season in F1 11 years ago, sprint races included.
Aside from retirements in 2022 and 2025, the Spaniard has a second, a third, a sixth, four seventh places and an eighth place to his name. Even his retirement from last year’s Grand Prix came after he had claimed a shock podium in Saturday’s sprint.
With just four top ten finishes this season – and only one since the Canadian Grand Prix in May – the odds are against Sainz and Williams this weekend, but it would be true to form for him to pick up a good result.
Session times (BST)
Practice 1 Fri 18:30 - 19:30
Practice 2 Fri 22:00 - 23:00
Practice 3 Sat 18:30 - 19:30
Qualifying Sat 22:00 - 23:00
Race Sun 20:00
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