The US Grand Prix used to be a tough sell, now COTA can't make grandstands fast enough: Medland

The Circuit of the Americas hosted its first United States GP in 2012 and, after keeping the faith for a rocky few years, it has become a huge success story that F1 can learn from, writes Chris Medland

Red Bull in front of tower at Circuit of the Americas COTA

Antonin Vincent / DPPI

Ten years ago, Lewis Hamilton stalked Sebastian Vettel for 41 laps before finally being able to use a backmarker to force his way into the lead and secure victory at the United States Grand Prix.

Over 117,000 people watched the race, and it felt like a big moment. Hamilton had prevented Vettel from opening up too big a gap over Fernando Alonso in the drivers’ championship heading into the final round in Brazil — potentially allowing Alonso to secure the third title, that was surely inevitable at some point in his career, before Vettel could – and it gave Hamilton a sign-off win before he left McLaren for Mercedes, perhaps never to win again.

How little we knew.

It was a different time. V8s were screaming, Kimi Räikkönen was telling Lotus he knew what he was doing, and America was being asked if it could love Formula 1 once again.

Lewis Hamilton stalks Sebastian Vettel in the 2012 US Grand Prix

Hamilton waits to pounce on Vettel in COTA’s debut 2012 GP

Grand Prix Photo

We were five years on from the last time F1 had raced in the States at Indianapolis – a marriage that was always doomed to failure after the breakdown in trust caused by the 2005 race debacle – and there just hadn’t been the clamour from the sport’s perspective to get back there. Bernie Ecclestone had flirted with locations, but it was Austin that put everything into it and made it happen.

Support from the local government, a location just outside an up-and-coming city, and a track that was designed specifically for F1. That was a recipe that had been seen a number of times before around the world, and quite often led to the grand prix circus rolling into town for a few years, taking the cash and not feeling the need to look back when the money dried up and a new opportunity opened up elsewhere.

Circuit of the Americas nearly went the same way. From a weekend attendance of 265,000 for that inaugural race in Austin, it was down to 224,000 three years later, and it took until 2019 – the first year that Drive to Survive aired – for that initial number to be exceeded and keep growing.

On the eve of its tenth anniversary, with Miami already on the calendar and Las Vegas ramping up preparations for its debut next year, it’s easy to forget what COTA has achieved.

The 2021 race saw 400,000 come through the gates. This year is poised to see the crowd increase by 10%. The hype train has well and truly left the station and so many people want to be on board. But Austin was buying into F1 even before there was any of that hype.

It was before Liberty Media’s ownership, and so there hadn’t been a clear push to prioritise the United States. Teams weren’t really focusing on the market in the way they are now, and in turn the market wasn’t focusing on them.

If you look around now there are a huge number of American-based sponsors in the sport, including one of the biggest when you take into account Oracle’s title partnership of Red Bull. As an aside, one race on from winning the drivers’ title at Honda’s home race, to win the constructors’ championship at Oracle’s would be beyond the team’s wildest dreams…

But it was COTA’s wild dreams that have paid off big time. The circuit’s chairman Bobby Epstein is not the only figure to have been involved by any stretch, but he has been there from the start and has seen the ups and downs.

Unlike that thrilling opening act, year two saw the title battle long since settled in Vettel’s favour. Then came the introduction of V6 turbos that lessened the visceral impact, and with it an era of utter dominance from Mercedes that often rendered the race a battle for the final spot on the podium.

It was hardly conducive to creating a lasting legacy for the sport, because it was tougher to sell it at its very best when it was so rarely being seen at its very best. And nor was it being aimed at the loyal number of fans who were showing up.

It’s fair to say Liberty changed all of that. Even openly stating that the aim was to increase the sport’s footprint in the United States just made the massive sports fanbase feel wanted. That cracked the door open.

And it’s too easy to say it was just the Netflix series that resonated. Concepts such as having the legendary boxing announcer Michael Buffer introduce all of the drivers in 2017 was dismissed as a gimmick by some, but it catered to the sport’s surroundings. No more was F1 just showing up and doing the same thing each weekend – like it or lump it – but it was activating and adapting to where it was going to be racing.

Lewis Hamilton walks to the grid past cheerleaders at the 2017 US Grand Prix

Boxing-style introductions at 2017 GP

Getty Images

That’s something that has spread. Liberty’s stated aim of making every race like an NFL Super Bowl might be overly ambitious – one of the reasons it’s such a big event is because it happens just once a year – but it does mean each race works hard to be the biggest and best show in town, with the commercial rights holder’s support.

There was also the decision to hand the television rights to ESPN in order to be able to have greater control over F1’s own product – F1 TV – while also showing such a big broadcaster how valuable an asset the sport could be as part of its programming. Now, a major new extension is set to be announced, along with big new sponsors during a race weekend at a venue that recently signed its own new deal.

Related article

And COTA has been there throughout that period, because its management team knew F1 could be a huge success. It knew the audience, it knew the environment, and it knew the potential was there for it to all click.

In the blink of an eye, it’s now second to only Watkins Glen in terms of the number of US GPs hosted, and it has some very different problems to those it faced in the early years.

“I think the biggest challenge is getting more metal for grandstands with the supply chain issues, and then the demand,” Epstein says. “Next year we know Vegas is coming on around the same time we are so there’s going to be a lot of demand for portable and temporary bleachers and grandstands all within a one-month period! So the guys that are in that business are very happy right now with Formula 1!”

If that really is the biggest challenge facing COTA right now, then Epstein should be very proud. And F1 should be learning from this particular success story as it continues to broaden its horizons.