Formula 1 arrives in Austin, Texas this week boasting a tense battle for the title with just six races remaining.
Red Bull trail in the constructors’ standings while Max Verstappen’s lead in the driver’s championship after his runaway start to the season has been reduced to just 52 points by McLaren’s Lando Norris.
The excitement resumes this weekend at Circuit of the Americas. Have Red Bull regained performance over the break or have McLaren further capitalised on their development success?
This weekend’s weather will be hot, dry and settled with highs of 28 and 29 degrees celsius across the weekend and partial cloud coverage.
The U.S. Grand Prix saw a spike in ticket sales once Verstappen stopped winning, according to Austin circuit boss Bobby Epstein.
The heir to Hamilton’s throne: Andrea Kimi Antonelli is F1’s next big thing.
United States Grand Prix preview | Listen to the latest episode of ESPN’s F1 podcast Unlapped.
Circuit stats and history
America’s history with F1 dates back to the sport’s origin in 1950 when Indianapolis hosted the event between 1950-1960. In1959, Sebring hosted the first United States Grand Prix, and since then the race has been held at five other circuits.
Circuit of the Americas (COTA) took over as host in 2012 when the track was opened by Mario Andretti, following four years of F1 absence in the U.S..
During F1’s popularity in the eighties in the era of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Niki Lauda, the U.S. hosted additional grands prix including Long Beach from 1976 until the early-eighties, as well as Dallas, Las Vegas and Detroit around the same period.
Now the U.S. has Miami, Austin and Las Vegas on the calendar.
COTA is a varied circuit with straights, esses through to sector two, and a series of hair-pins ins sector three. The high-speed corners takes some inspiration from Silverstone and Hockenheim.
Laps: 56 laps of 5.5km. Total distance 308.4km
Lap record: 1:36.169 Charles Leclerc (2019)
Most wins (COTA): Hamilton (2012, 2014-2017) has the most wins with five. Of the current grid, Verstappen (2021-2023) and Valtteri Bottas (2019) have both won here.
Most poles (COTA): Hamilton (2016-2018) with three. Of the current grid, Bottas (2019), Verstappen (2021), Carlos Sainz (2022), Charles Leclerc (2023) have all been on pole here.
What happened last year?
Verstappen secured his 15th win of the season and the 50th of his F1 career after fighting back from sixth on the grid to take victory. Hamilton finished 2.2 seconds behind, but was later disqualified from the race in breach of technical regulations, with Norris moving up to second, and Sainz in third.
Who’s going to win?
Top teams, including Red Bull and McLaren, are expected to bring upgrades to the Circuit of the Americas, which could shift the competitive landscape at the U.S. Grand Prix. Nevertheless, for the last 10 races McLaren has had the most consistent performance among the top four teams, making Norris the favourite to win again following his victory at the last round in Singapore.
How to watch the GP
Watch on ESPNEWS and ESPN+ (U.S. only) — view the schedule.
Live broadcast coverage in the U.K. is on Sky Sports F1 and BBC Radio 5 Live.
For news, analysis and updates, follow the coverage with ESPN’s F1 team Nate Saunders and Laurence Edmondson in Austin and on social media.
Friday
Free practice one: 18:30-19:30 BST
Sprint qualifying: 22:30-23:14 BST
Saturday
Sprint race: 19:00-20:00 BST
Qualifying: 23:00-00:00 BST
Sunday
Race starts: 20:00 BST.
How the championships look
Norris trails Verstappen by 52 points in the drivers’ championship with three wins to the Dutchman’s seven this year. Boosted by Oscar Piastri’s two race wins, McLaren lead the constructors’ championship by 41 points, just two wins behind Red Bull’s seven.