Circuit of the Americas

Race track near Austin, Texas, USA

Austin, a Hill and Some Borrowed Corners

The first American circuit built specifically for Formula One opens with a steep climb to Big Red and gathers tributes to famous corners from abroad.

The Circuit of the Americas begins with a climb. From the grid the cars head up a gradient of more than 11 percent to Turn 1, a corner named Big Red after the Texas billionaire Red McCombs, at the highest point of the track. The circuit occupies some 890 acres of once undeveloped land in the southeast of Travis County, outside Austin, ground that had been set aside for a housing subdivision. The promoter Tavo Hellmund announced the project in 2010 with McCombs as its largest investor, and Hellmund drew up the layout with Kevin Schwantz, the 1993 motorcycle world champion, and with help from Hermann Tilke. It was the first circuit in the United States built specifically for Formula One.

Getting it open was not simple. A lawsuit over state funding, a contract dispute that stopped construction late in 2011 and a year's delay to the race all came first, and it was October 2012 before Mario Andretti drove the ceremonial opening laps in the Lotus 79 that had carried him to the 1978 title. A new circuit could hardly ask for a better first guest.

The 5.514 kilometer lap runs counterclockwise and follows the shape of the land through 41 meters of elevation change. After Big Red the cars drop downhill into a right hander modeled on the Senna S at Interlagos, then flick through fast sweepers based on Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel at Silverstone. A back straight of a kilometer leads to a final sector that recalls the arena at Hockenheim and Turn 8 at Istanbul Park. The corners are deliberately wide to encourage different lines, and a 77 meter observation tower looks down on the whole anthology.

Lewis Hamilton won the first United States Grand Prix here in November 2012 before 117,429 spectators, and his five wins remain the record, with Max Verstappen on four. The crowds have grown dramatically, and roughly 440,000 people came in 2022, a Formula One attendance record for North America. Austin has held 13 championship rounds from 2012 to 2025, and the 2026 United States Grand Prix is set for the 25th of October.

Every Grand Prix here

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