'Vegas has its lights, but COTA is F1's sporting soul in the US'

Austin's Circuit of the Americas was F1's US 'crown jewel'. But where does the exhilarating track and its sellout crowd stand now that Miami and Las Vegas have joined the calendar? asks Damien Smith

Ferrari at COTA in the 2021 US Grand prix

Ferrari

The Circuit of the Americas deserves better than what it might be in for this weekend. Formula 1 arrives in Austin under a brooding cloud of ugly controversy as the budget cap breaches of Red Bull and Aston Martin threaten to engulf the US Grand Prix. Brace yourself for bad-tempered snipes and moody team principal glares for the cameras. How dull.

In contrast, last year this was one of the major feel-good races of the season as the cultured Texas city opened its arms to F1 after missing the 2020 edition because of the pandemic. An incredible 400,000 fans swept through the gates across the weekend as F1 basked in its new-found and long-yearned-for popularity in the US. The fans were treated to a thriller too, as Max Verstappen came from behind with an aggressive early two-stop pit strategy to defeat Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes as he opened up a 12-point cushion in the standings. A year on, what on earth can we expect this time?

That Verstappen has already wrapped up his second title is just bad luck for COTA. That’s the way it sometimes falls for late-season grands prix in a year when one driver and team dominates. It’s a shame for the promoter, but there’s still a sporting narrative to work with. If the Dutchman wins this weekend he’ll equal the record for most F1 wins in a single season – 13, held by Michael Schumacher (2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2013) – while Red Bull might well seal its first constructors’ crown of the hybrid era.

Crowds under the podium at COTA after the 2021 US Grand Prix

Another sellout crowd expected at COTA after last year’s 400,000 attendance

The trouble is, will anyone now care? How the crowds respond to Verstappen and Red Bull this weekend in the wake of the overspend storm will be a Litmus test, not only for the team but for F1 as a whole. The so-called Netflix boom has been phenomenal for a sport driven by how much money it can churn – but it won’t last forever, and it can’t be taken for granted. Hell, the streaming service itself has taken a downturn this year. Having waited so long to find a means to engage the mass American market, disenchantment over what will be perceived as sharp behind-the-scenes practices could undermine all that good work.

Then again, Drive to Survive paints F1 as a circus. Perhaps this is just the latest act featuring the usual mix of clowns and vicious tigers playing to the crowd…

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What a strange time, then, for COTA to host F1 again. Especially as the promoters will be all too aware that the Austin race’s status as a ‘crown jewel’ has lost some of its sparkle in the gaudy glow of the new Miami GP held earlier this year, and more specifically the Las Vegas GP to come on November 18 2023. There’s a clear and obvious pecking order for America’s three grands prix – and Austin is at the bottom of it.

Just look at the language used by F1 when it releases news about the Vegas race. When announcing the date of the grand prix, it was described as “the standout event on the sport’s global calendar in 2023 and beyond”. At least the rest know where they stand, eh?

“The Las Vegas Grand Prix is going to take F1 race weekends to the next level,” gushed F1 chief Stefano Domenicali. “Staging a grand prix in the sports and entertainment capital of the world has allowed us to plan a truly spectacular celebration that has never been seen in our sport before, in the greatest arena on earth.”

Miami? Where’s that? Never mind Austin, mayfly F1 has a new favourite playground. All grands prix count for the same? In points maybe, but in status terms don’t you believe it.

1971 Watkins Glen Grand Prix

With Vegas and Miami providing the glitz, Austin is the natural heir to Watkins Glen (here in ’71)

DPPI

Perhaps it’s only natural for Austin to become overshadowed, given it’s the most established race of the trio. In its 10th anniversary year since the first COTA GP in 2012, the novelty has inevitably worn off despite the circuit remaining among the best of the modern breed. It’s not a street track of course, the new-venue option so in vogue right now, but that only means it is better suited to decent motor racing. Then again, who cares about that… Let’s face it, the Miami race was an anti-climax until the Lando Norris/Pierre Gasly collision triggered a tense chase to the flag for a hot and bothered Verstappen. But the actual nitty-gritty of the sporting spectacle seemed to take second place to the number of celebrities on the grid and how people felt about the tongue-in-cheek fake marina.

Much like Long Beach 40 years ago, Las Vegas is the ‘Big One’ in the States, which I guess makes Miami a Detroit or even, dare we say it, a Phoenix or Caesars Palace… which kind of means COTA takes the Watkins Glen role. That’s fitting. Texas is an awful long way from New York state, but it’s the closest F1 has ever come to finding a spiritual successor to what remains for those old enough to remember grand prix racing’s best-loved US home.

From the archive

Not all the COTA races have been classics in the past 10 years, but much like the Glen the place has sparked its fair share. The first one in 2012 featured one of those simmering, drawn-out duels purists relish, even if it required backmarker anguish to break the deadlock in Hamilton’s favour (his last win for McLaren) over Vettel. Thanks, Narain Karthikeyan.

Then there was Nico Rosberg’s unforced error late in the intense rain-affected 2015 edition as Hamilton claimed his third title. And who can forget Kimi Räikkönen’s sign-off victory for Ferrari in 2018 as young Verstappen stormed from P18 on the grid to second? But the best was surely that Red Bull/Mercedes fight last year – even if its memory is now shaded, like the rest of that season, by knowledge of Red Bull’s apparent overspend advantage. You have to wonder whether Verstappen’s first title, and actually his second too given the knock-on benefit into 2022, will be coloured in the same way as Michael Schumacher’s first for Benetton, thanks to the tumult of that one-thing-after-another 1994 season.

Still, let’s end this week on a positive point. Thankfully, F1 signed a new five-year deal back in February to keep racing at COTA until the end of the 2026 season. So even if it’s now considered the ‘plain Jane’ of US grands prix by those who count the money its medium-term future is at least secure. Glitzy neon lights and tacky artifice? Vegas and Miami can keep them. Austin is F1’s US sporting soul if nothing else, which this weekend might actually count for more than the dollars. If anywhere can drown out the depressing paddock noise of a sport that is threatening to rip itself apart, it’s COTA. Here’s hoping.