{"id":840033,"date":"2026-08-01T08:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/840033\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:44:12","slug":"austin-formula-1-crowd-set-to-smash-records-as-us-grand-prix-promoter-shrugs-off-growing-backlash-over-new-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/840033\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Formula 1 crowd set to smash records as US Grand Prix promoter shrugs off growing backlash over new rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States Grand Prix is on course to attract a record crowd despite criticism surrounding Formula 1<\/a>\u2019s new technical regulations.<\/p>\n

Circuit of the Americas (COTA) founder and race promoter Bobby Epstein said ticket demand remained exceptionally strong for the Austin event.<\/p>\n

The race is scheduled for October 25 and will form the 18th round of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship.<\/p>\n

Asked whether criticism of the sport\u2019s new engine era had damaged interest, Epstein told Reuters<\/a>: \u201cIt hasn’t hurt our ticket sales this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re actually on pace for a record year. We are seeing massive demand and could easily break our prior year record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s United States Grand Prix<\/a> weekend was officially declared a sell-out, with total attendance estimated at more than 400,000 spectators.<\/p>\n

However, planned infrastructure improvements could allow the Texas venue to accommodate significantly more people this year.<\/p>\n

Epstein expects criticism to fade\"start<\/p>\n

Formula 1\u2019s regulatory overhaul has divided opinion during the opening half of the season.<\/p>\n

Some drivers and fans have questioned the racing spectacle, particularly the influence of electrical energy management and the characteristics of the new-generation cars.<\/p>\n

Epstein believes that criticism was inevitable following such a substantial change to the regulations.<\/p>\n

He told Reuters: \u201cI think a lot of our fans are fans of our event as much as they are of the sport itself, so some of that criticism is probably anticipated noise that you have from a year where you have a major overhaul in the rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re going to have that noise and it’ll level itself out. I think most fans are aware of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Austin race has developed into one of Formula 1\u2019s largest destination events, combining the Grand Prix with concerts and extensive entertainment throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

That broader attraction, Epstein suggested, meant demand was not entirely dependent on opinions surrounding the technical rules.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI think what we’re seeing is massive interest in the event and so I’m not as focused on the rules and regs that affect the competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

COTA preparing for even bigger crowds\"cota<\/p>\n

Epstein said road improvements and additional traffic lanes around the circuit should make entering and leaving the venue easier.<\/p>\n

Those changes could potentially allow COTA to welcome between 15,000 and 30,000 additional spectators each day.<\/p>\n

Managing traffic has traditionally been one of the biggest logistical challenges surrounding the event because of the circuit\u2019s location outside central Austin.<\/p>\n

Increasing capacity while improving access would give organisers an opportunity to surpass the attendance benchmark established last season.<\/p>\n

The demand also reflects a wider increase in Formula 1 attendances during 2026.<\/p>\n

Formula 1 announced this week that six of the opening 11 rounds of the championship had attracted record crowds.<\/p>\n

Austin now appears positioned to join that list when Formula 1 returns to Texas in October.<\/p>\n

The regulations may still be generating debate, but Epstein\u2019s message was clear: the controversy has not stopped supporters from buying tickets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States Grand Prix is on course to attract a record crowd despite criticism surrounding Formula 1\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,21622,578,28673,576,577,82,292577],"class_list":["post-840033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cota","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-usgp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}