The first lap hits like Texas weather. Engines punch the ribs before sound reaches the ears, a deep percussion climbing the spine and rattling the stands. Heat lifts off Hill Country limestone, the big Lone Star flag snaps, and the sound rolls through the grandstand with the blunt authority of North Texas thunder. Under that enormous sky, the field claws to Turn 1, slips beyond sight, then drops back in a rush that smells like hot rubber and sunbaked asphalt. For a beat, the grandstand forgets to breathe. That’s the baptism at Circuit of the Americas.

On the 2025 calendar, Austin is the second of three U.S. rounds, the first stop on the Americas swing, and a fulcrum in the final quarter of the Formula One season. Teams time upgrades, freight, simulator baselines and staffing to it. Miami and Las Vegas bring the high-gloss street shows; the “Live Music Capital of the World” supplies the competitive anchor. Circuit of the Americas turned prairie into paddock and a grassy rise into an international grandstand.

How to watch the 2025 United States Grand Prix

2025 United States Grand Prix

EventTime (ET)TVStream

Practice

1:25 p.m., Fri.

ESPN2

Sprint Qualifying

5:25 p.m., Fri.

ESPN2

Sprint

12:55 p.m., Sat.

ESPNEWS

Grand Prix Qualifying

4:55 p.m., Sat.

ESPNEWS

Grand Prix

3 p.m., Sun.

ABC

ABC is free over the air. All ESPN network broadcasts, including ABC, also stream on ESPN Unlimited.

COTA runs 5.513 kilometers for 56 laps; leaders circulate in roughly 100 seconds. That’s the lightning-to-thunder count, about 20 miles, before they crest Turn 1’s 133-foot blind left. The back straight is a drag race into heavy braking at Turn 12. Two DRS zones, on the back straight and the pit straight, set up most passes into Turns 12 and 1, where braking stability decides who finishes the move. The fastest race lap remains Charles Leclerc’s 1:36.169 from 2019.

What began as a curiosity has hardened into craving. The audience keeps coming back for the same rush: heat shimmer, tire smoke, the counting pause before the field returns over Turn 1 and the numbers follow. Through September, ESPN’s F1 coverage is averaging about 1.4 million viewers per race, more than the record of 1.21 million set in 2022.

On site, the curve matches the broadcast chart: COTA opened in 2012 and drew over 117,000 on race day; by 2023, the three-day total reached roughly 432,000. Thirteen years on, Austin sells the full weekend: racing by day, big-show nights, a U.S.-style festival built around a Grand Prix. Concert access is included with race tickets, a second gate rather than a sideshow. This isn’t a fling — it’s an appetite with infrastructure.

Long-term deals have cemented the U.S. footprint. Miami, now the longest contract on the calendar, runs through 2041. Las Vegas is confirmed through 2027, with both sides signaling intent to keep it going. Austin is locked in through 2026, and local leadership has been openly optimistic about an extension. Three races, big media, long contracts: The calendar is built to last.

Singapore set the table. George Russell won with control for Mercedes, and McLaren sealed the constructors’ title. The drivers’ fight stays open: Oscar Piastri leads Lando Norris, with Max Verstappen closing from third. Six rounds remain, and no gap is safe. From Austin, the tour runs Mexico City, São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Tension is creeping in at McLaren. Norris barged past Piastri into Turn 1 at Singapore; slight contact, no penalty. Stewards said Norris was avoiding Verstappen. Piastri maintained his good sportsmanship in front of the cameras, but he wasn’t buying the call. Twice, he told McLaren engineers, “That’s not fair,” over the radio.

McLaren’s management of equal machinery and unequal stakes is now part of every preview. As team principal Andrea Stella said after Singapore, per The Athletic’s Luke Smith, “The team’s interest is also to make sure that we have fair racing between our two drivers, that they can pursue their aspirations, that there is sportsmanship in the way we do racing.”

With the team title secured, that framework will be tested in live air. Austin is the first pass since the flashpoint. Piastri has banked the steadiest season. Norris carries the higher attack rate and took points off his teammate in Singapore. Verstappen has wins and post-break momentum and remains the most likely to split the McLarens on outright pace at COTA. Russell’s win gives Mercedes leverage on Sprint parc fermé calls.

Strategy keys at COTA
McLaren: Caution after contact. Sprint weekend equals risk control after the Singapore scrape. Priorities: clean first laps; protect tire life through the high-speed esses and the slow stadium exits.
Mercedes: Bump management. Validate Singapore pace on a mixed-profile circuit; keep ride height stable over bumps; manage rear temperatures through Turns 11-12.
Ferrari: Braking precision. Clean braking after Marina Bay; widen the operating window across S1 and S3. Recent floor and beam-wing gains should stabilize the rear on entry, aid rotation through the esses and limit fade; minimize sliding or cede time to Red Bull’s straight-line punch on the back straight.

The U.S. pipeline explains the longer view. There is no American driver on the 2025 grid; Logan Sargeant was the most recent. With Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas signed for Cadillac in 2026, American fans will have a home-market team. Colton Herta will serve as test driver while chasing super license points. GM’s in-house power unit is scheduled for 2029, with Ferrari supply bridging the gap. Race operations will split between a U.K. base in Silverstone and a U.S. hub in Fishers, Ind.

Until then, the U.S. can get an at-home taste of F1 twice more this year, starting this weekend in Texas.

Updated United States Grand Prix odds

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