United States Grand Prix 2025
FIA Formula One World Championship
Circuit of the Americas
Austin, United States
Worked the right amount of action into that Stetson brim and polished up all your rhinestones? Good, because it’s Texas Time in F1 and we’re heading west from one of the season’s most eagerly awaited races – the United States Grand Prix at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas.
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The Latest From COTA
02
Weird and wonderful
On the F1 calendar, races are a little bit like children. You know you’re not supposed to play favourites, but the truth is we all have races that you like a little bit more than others, ones you mark on the calendar, and when the time comes, that you pack just a little bit more enthusiasm for. The US Grand Prix in Austin is one of those races.
Ready For The Charge At COTA
© Vladimir Rys
Maybe it’s the laid-back buzz of a city whose motto is ‘keep Austin weird’. Maybe it’s the oddly old school vibe of the Circuit of the America, a track that definitely channels Spa and Imola more than it does Miami and Vegas. Or maybe it’s the fact that this is a circuit that since its 2012 arrival has given us some stupendous memories.
It was here, in 2013, that Sebastian Vettel delivered a pole to top step masterclass to give us a first win at COTA. It was here, in 2017, that Max powered from 16th on the grid to a podium at the flag, only to have it snatched away by the stewards for diving past Kimi Räikkönen while over the track limits. It was at COTA in 2021 where Max beat Mercedes to the win with a mixture of strategic smarts and electrifying pace. And it was here, in 2022, that the team mourned the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz and paid tribute to him by winning its fifth Constructors’ Championship title and its first since 2013.
More Memories Made In COTA
© Getty Images
Can we serve up another exceptional moment this year? The omens are certainly good. Max heads to Austin on the back of two wins and two second place finishes in the last four races. And over that period he’s taken a remarkable 41 points out of his previous gap to P1 in the Drivers’ standings. Even more encouragingly, the results have come at fast and flowing Zandvoort, high-speed, low downforce Monza, on Baku’s blend of long boulevards and twisting old town turns and at high downforce Singapore.
With a couple of big straights ending in hard stops, some balance-testing changes of direction and a fiddly, technical section at the end of the lap, that newfound ‘all circuits’ capability of the RB21 will get a thorough workout around the Circuit of the Americas, but it’s now a car that definitely has the potential to go big Texas.
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Challenges and Key Factors
Sprint #4
For the third year in a row, the US GP is a Sprint weekend. Austin’s Saturday race – the fourth of the season so far – is a 19-lap dash to the flag and Max has good form here wins in 2023 and 2024. The bulk of the field used a single set of Mediums and with the C3 again acting as that tyre this year, expect the same choice to be made. A handful of drivers did gamble on the C4 Soft last year but only McLaren’s Oscar Piastri made real gains, going from P16 to P10. It will again be the risky choice.
Bumps
It’s always bumpy in Austin, sometimes uncomfortably so. COTA sits on a flood plain and on soft, clay-like soil, so the surface expands and contracts frequently leading to big ol’ bumps. Drivers have been critical of the surface in past years and while major resurfacing projects in 2022 and last year have definitely made it a comfier ride, the nature of the soil will lead to more appearing over time. No major works have been undertaken this year, so it will be interesting to see where COTA has sagged and swelled.
Tyres
Pirelli have split the compounds at COTA this year. The last three editions of the race have been on a C2-C4 allocation, but while the C3 and C4 will again be the Medium and Soft, the Hard moves one step harder, to C1.
Strategy
Moving one step harder on the Hard compound tyres is the same split Pirelli opted for Belgium, but there rain in the early stages saw drivers mostly run an Intermediate to Medium strategy. Whether the C1 – more durable but less pacy and potentially harder to get into an operating window – will push teams towards a two-stop race on Mediums and Softs remains to be seen.
In 2024, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won on a Medium-Hard strategy, stopping on lap 26. The previous year, Max bagged his 50th career win with a two-stop, Medium-Medium-Hard race, stopping on laps 16 and 35 and the previous year the Dutchman won with a Medium-Hard-Medium strategy, stopping on laps 13 and 35. Track and ambient temperatures across all three years were similar.
In short, this one could be interesting. The C1 might make some think avoiding a second, risky, 21-second pit stop is a good thing, but if the C1 is harder to light up and comes with a performance penalty then opting for two Medium stints and a shorter C1 phase might be the quicker way home.
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Circuit of the Americas: Track Layout & Key Features
Land Of The Raging Bull
© Getty Images
The Circuit of the Americas is one of nine fully counter-clockwise tracks on the calendar (the others are Jeddah, Miami, Imola, Baku, Singapore, Interlagos, Las Vegas, and Yas Marina). A lap of COTA kicks off with the iconic run up the steep hill to the blind Turn 1 left-hander. With multiple lines available it’s a key overtaking spot.
From there, drivers are sent through a wonderful, quicker series of direction changes from Turn 3 to Turn 7. Modelled on Silverstone’s Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel complex, Austin’s Esses are a great place to check out whether a team has found the right balance with its car.
The main attraction in Sector 2 is the first DRS zone. Get close in the tight Turn 11 left-hander, open the rear wing 345m later and then either power past on the long straight or pass under braking into the slow, second-gear Turn 12.
As we’ve mentioned, the last part of the lap, Sector 3, is a fiddly section featuring a sequence of low and medium-speed corners that eventually spit you back out onto the short blast to the final corner Turn 20, where a second burst of DRS waits.
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Oracle Strategy Guide: COTA
1 min
Oracle Strategy Guide: United States Grand Prix 2025
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Oracle Virtual Laps: COTA
2 min