United States Grand Prix

The 2026 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas starts at 14:00 CDT (UTC-5) on Sunday 25 October. The 5.513 km circuit runs 56 laps for a race distance of 308.41 km, rising steeply uphill into Turn 1 at the start of every lap.

This is not a sprint weekend. Practice, qualifying, and the race run across the standard three-day format.

The Circuit of the Americas was the track that proved America could host a proper Grand Prix. Built on Texas hill country southeast of Austin, the circuit combines elements borrowed from the best venues in the world. Turn 1 rises steeply uphill into a blind apex, the multi-apex Esses through the back section demand precision, and the long back straight into the heavy braking zone at Turn 12 creates genuine overtaking opportunities.

COTA has hosted the United States Grand Prix since 2012, with Lewis Hamilton winning five of the first eight editions. Kimi Raikkonen took his final F1 victory here in 2018 for Ferrari, 114 races after his previous win. In 2023, Max Verstappen arrived at Austin as the newly-crowned three-time World Champion, having sealed the title at Qatar the previous weekend, then delivered a dominant sprint weekend performance. The 400,000-plus weekend attendance figures reflect the explosive growth of F1's American fanbase, driven in part by the Netflix series Drive to Survive.

For American fans, this is the most accessible F1 race on the calendar. A 14:00 CDT Sunday start means 15:00 Eastern and 12:00 Pacific, with no alarm clocks required. European viewers get a comfortable evening at 21:00 CEST and 20:00 BST. Australian and Asian fans face less favorable timing at 05:00 Monday AEST and 03:00 Monday JST. Check United States time for the exact start in your location.

The 2026 regulations bring the most significant technical overhaul in a generation. COTA, with its mix of high-speed corners, heavy braking zones, and elevation changes, should be an ideal proving ground for the new active aero and power unit formula. Austin itself has become an essential part of the F1 weekend, with the city's live music culture and food scene turning the race into something closer to a festival than a race meeting.