© Red Bull Content PoolPreviously At The United States Grand PrixTitles! Records! Victories! We’ve done a lot at the Circuit of the Americas – and everything really is bigger in Texas.
Atthemoment,F1isridingthecrestofawaveintheUnitedStatesandthere’sanatural-enoughassumptionthatthismeansitwasn’tpopularbefore…butthat’soneofthosethingsthatreallydependsonwhichendofthetelescopeyou’relookingthrough.InterestmayhavebeensmallasapercentageofsportsfansintheUSAbutit’savastcountry,andthere’salwaysbeenenoughinteresttomaketheUSGrandPrixoneofthebiggest–ifnotthebiggest–F1racesoftheyear.GoingtotheUSGrandPrixhasalwaysbeenexciting…winningitisabsolutelystunning.
2005…theonewherethewheelscameoff
When Red Bull started up, the US Grand Prix was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the second half of a summer double-header with the Canadian Grand Prix. Indy bills itself as the home of motorsport and it was a wonderful place to hold a grand prix. The road course utilises the Turn One banking and the start-finish straight (it runs counter-clockwise) before disappearing off into the vast infield. The circuit is a little vanilla but F1 loved being in a real motorsport town.
Sadly, our US debut was catastrophic. Resurfacing work on the famous oval lead to high-speed failures in practice for some of the Michelin runners – but left the Bridgestone teams unaffected (Bridgestone had data from IndyCar at their disposal). Michelin shipped more suitable tyres overnight from France – but were denied permission to swap the specification. Likewise, a request to install a chicane to limit speeds onto the banking was rebuffed. So, 20 cars lined up on the grid, did the formation lap, and 14 of them pulled into the pits to retire – ours included. The three Bridgestone teams – Ferrari and the backmarkers of Jordan and Minardi – made up a six-car field for the start. Fans booed, things were thrown, and we all kept a low profile on Sunday night. Bad day.
F1 saw out its contract in Indianapolis but the game was up. We bagged seventh in 2006 (David Coulthard) and 2007 (Mark Webber) – though for the history of Red Bull Racing, the 2007 race was perhaps more noticeable for the driver, making his debut with BMW-Sauber, who finishing directly behind Mark. Young chap called Vettel…
The World Championship was a fixture in the US, in one form or another, between 1950 and 1980… but then it was a more off than on event. No race between 1981 and 1988, before a street track in Phoenix, then no race between 1992 and 1999 before rocking-up at Indy. After Indy, we had another spell in the wilderness, before Austin welcomed the race with the purpose-built Circuit of the Americas. We didn’t really know what to expect on arrival in Austin – but doubts were assuaged when we got to the brilliant circuit, and blown away completely when an enormous and vociferous crowd turned up for practice.
It was a big weekend for the Team. The US Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the season. We could win the Constructors’ Championship and Seb, if other results went his way, could win the Drivers’ Championship. Things looked good on Saturday when Seb qualified on pole and Mark was P3… and even better at the first corner when Mark nipped through into P2… but 2012 was a tough season. Lewis Hamilton fought back to take the victory, Mark retired with a KERS problem and Seb took second, ahead of Fernando Alonso who fought his way through the field to finish third. We’d done enough to clinch the Constructors’ Championship – but celebrating was deferred. Sunday night was a frantic pack-down ahead of a long trip to Brazil for the season finale. Seb had a 13-point lead over Alonso for the title decider… and with rain forecast for Interlagos, that didn’t feel particularly substantial.
Yee-Haw! A Podium Finish For Seb© Getty Images
If we didn’t have much chance to celebrate in Austin after winning the title in 2012, we made up for it in 2013. The calendar was the same: penultimate round at COTA, as the first part of a back-to-back with Brazil – but we’d already won both titles. It didn’t mean anybody took their foot off the gas… but it was party-time in Texas – and that seemed to have a positive impact on performance. The drivers locked-out the front row, Seb won the race to become the first driver to win eight-in-a-row… but the real gobsmacking stat from the 2013 US Grand Prix was a Mark Webber pit-stop completed in 1.92s. New record and the first sub-2s stop. Everyone was ecstatic – except perhaps sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who asked plaintively, ‘now how do I motivate them next week?’
2013 Vettel Victory© Red Bull Content Pool
We enjoyed some great moments at COTA between 2013 and 2019 – but never had quite enough to win again – but 2021 was worth waiting for. In a season that close, every race was a turning point – but COTA felt like a big one. Max led, then Lewis led, then Max, then Lewis, then Max. The final laps were set-up for drama, with Lewis going long in the middle stint, coming out behind but with much better tyres. He closed and closed and closed… but Max kept his cool, hit his braking points and won the race by 1.333 seconds. Checo made it a double-podium with third place – but the number everyone was looking at post-race was Max’s lead extending to 12 points with five races to go.
2021 Max’s Moment© Red Bull Content Pool
We marked the tenth anniversary of our 2012 Championship triumph at COTA by repeating the deal. The maths were very much in our favour: unless Ferrari outscored us by 19 points, Red Bull Racing and the RB18 would take a first Constructors’ title since 2013. A little doubt crept in when the Ferrari’s qualified first and second – but a 10-place PU penalty for Charles Leclerc meant Max qualified third, started second and got through the first corner in P1. Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari being punted off by a Mercedes at the start did not hurt. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, our smoothest race of 2022, with a very slow pit-stop for Max costing him time – but it presented the opportunity for him to battle past other cars, retaking the lead of the race with just six laps to go. Our celebrations were muted, clinching the title the day after Dietrich Mateschitz died – but it was perhaps the most fitting tribute we could offer to our founder.
2022 Champions!© Red Bull Content Pool