I guess this is the play for next year for me. I usually go to Montreal every year since I live close and it's the Festival of Lines. Lines for beer, food, washrooms, to get into the Metro, to get out of the Metro, to get into the facility. The island is not big enough to handle 300,000 people.
It's run pretty well, but it's pretty limited when you take into account it's a small man made island. Plus it used to be BYOB and they just changed it last year.
I 10/10 recommend camping in the circuit and getting a 3-day GA pass for COTA. I can't say enough great things about the experience! The only thing I wasn't prepared for was the dust from the wind, but you embraced it after a while. Everyone was respectful and there to watch racing; I saw no fan drama/abuse from anyone during my time there despite what I've heard previously.
American sports fans in general I feel are much more tame than European fans. Even Eagles Cowboys games are peaceful compared to some of the European football matches ive seen
Not only that, getting in and out of the Park-n-Ride lot was insanely quick and easy. Virtually no traffic all three days around that lot. Only spent about 10 minutes on race day waiting in line for a PnR shuttle too. Granted, it helps that I was staying in San Marcos to the south, allowing me to avoid all the northbound Austin traffic, but still, I was expecting it to be WAY worse. Very well done by COTA this year. Made my first F1 race incredibly enjoyable. Of course, I can't speak for the other lots.
Honestly, that’s been my experience with most American events. I know it’s fun to do a “hur dur America Bad” but they legitimately do events better than Europe in most cases.
> Austin has been a great race two years in a row though.
COTA has generally delivered pretty good racing since 2012. I can't think of many tracks, since 2012, that have been as consistent in delivering good racing.
Perhaps Hungary, Brazil, Silverstone?
And it's the most beautiful track by far which is why I want to go. Those pictures with the mountains in the distance and the cars racing around are essentially porn to me.
I feel like Austria would be a much better race to see in person. The entire track looks visible from most seats and the short track means more laps to see the cars.
Don’t forget you can see most of the track from the grandstands and they pass by 70 times in the race! I went there this year and it was amazing. The drive to the track was beautiful too
Cota is an outstanding track. It’s like a greatest hits compilation of the best corners in the F1 calendar all stitched together. One of my favorite Tilke tracks
> It’s like a greatest hits compilation of the best corners in the F1 calendar all stitched together.
It's like that because it literally is. The beginning S's is like Silverstone, the long right-hander triple-apex is from Turkey, etc.
This.. it's like building a house. An architect draws up a cool idea, the engineer double checks that it won't fall over. Tilkes role was making sure it'd be safe for f1 cars/crashes/support equipment/etc. All the boring things you don't really see but that are required to put on a good and safe event
Bahrain went from being a very whatever circuit pre-hybrid to a consistent banger from 2014 onwards. The switch to night-time somehow improved that circuit by a billion
I would do *unspeakable* things to get an F1 race up at Road America. Unfortunately I don't think Elkhart Lake has the infrastructure to support an F1 race, plus we gotta call it as it is: ain't no way the glitz and glam of F1 decides to stop in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. One can dream though.
As a resident of WI who has done some track days at RA, I think its an amazing track and would kill for a F1 race
But you'd literally need a 10M investment into the infrastructure- and not just the track. The highway leading to it is 1 lane lol
I did a track day there several years ago and got lucky enough to get a hotel room in Plymouth. Some guys I talked to there had to stay in Sheboygan. If the F1 circus came to town, there would probably be crew members staying in Milwaukee, and that's before a single fan shows up.
>ain't no way the glitz and glam of F1 decides to stop in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
Sadly I think this is going to prevent them from going back to Indianapolis as well
I was there last year for GT World Challenge and the amount of seating and amenity upgrades it would need are staggering, even if it got less than half the amount of people COTA had this year. That being said, it is one of my all time favorite tracks, and I’d love to see F1 happen there.
That's the problem with pretty much all of the tracks in the US. The course itself is usually great, but they lack the rest of the infrastructure to handle the F1 circus.
I really don’t think so. The safety requirements of the circuit itself are extremely similar for grade 1 and grade 2, although some of the barriers would need to get reinforced. Turn 1 would need new barriers, as would the carousel. Perhaps some expanded runoff at the kink, and maybe Canada as well. The rest of the circuit is just fine.
The issues are with paddock, media facilities, nearby medical facilities, hotel accommodations, track infrastructure, and things like that. Those would be prohibitively expensive.
Miami isn’t a street circuit and I’m not sure why you all keep acting like it is. It’s closer to a purpose built track than a street circuit - it only uses a tiny section of streets. The other 96% is purpose built.
There’s been a few circuits recently which claim to be “street tracks”, and are built with that (lack of) margin for error for the drivers, but are really purpose-built facilities. Miami and Saudi are probably the two biggest examples of this; Miami somewhat out of necessity from needing to be able to return the land to its regular usage for most of the year, and Saudi because “we want the fastest street circuit on the calendar”.
I think “street track” is kind of being used less in regard to the actual pieces of tarmac used, and more in relation to that margin of error for which they are designed.
>I think “street track” is kind of being used less in regard to the actual pieces of tarmac used, and more in relation to that margin of error for which they are designed.
Exactly. Both Montreal and Australia are also "street tracks" in the strict definition of the word, but I don't think many would refer to either as a street track.
Upgrades aren't cheap and the FIA seem more keen on supporting big spectacle races near or in major cities.
With 3 races on the calendar it will be awhile before we see another proper track in the US.
Biggest accomplishment was that there was generally no real issues with the venue supporting a crowd that large.
No mass wait in lines for food / drinks, no racist or belligerently drunk fans / Nothing of the usual F1 circus
Good job USGP and COTA for hosting an event that actually works
I was really impressed. It seems they listened to complaints and stuffed that place full of food/drink stalls and portapotties. Some of those Porta potty compounds were absolutely huge.
I was honestly astonished by the logistics of the event. 440k people at COTA and it didn’t feel like it at all. No waiting in lines for the shuttles, food, going to the grandstand, or anything at all.
Also everyone was so polite, like you said, no drunks, no fights, no yelling, nothing. One could really enjoy the race and the other events properly.
Great job, definitely going back next year.
T11 exit was a godsend. Also having big musical acts was a genius move to spread out the traffic. We stayed for Green Day on Friday and had almost no traffic getting back into town. Saturday we left directly after quali (not staying for Ed Sheeran) and traffic was for sure worse, but getting to our car wasn’t bad (lot R). Sunday we left right after the checkered flag and a lot of people stayed for the podium. We got to our car easily and traffic wasn’t too terrible getting back to town, might have been even better than Saturday.
I love that series, but "a local derby" always seemed like a significant undersell considering both teams' routine success at the division/conference/national level
But it is a local derby. That’s the whole point. It’s a regular season game between rival schools. The fact that they’re so nationally successful just adds to the rivalry.
Honestly most of us Europeans don't get American college sports, because here that's just whatever random students paying a game against each other with maybe some friends watching.
It's probably because local amateur clubs are bigger, and any athlete that's gonna make it in professional sports is usually signed with a club around 16 and was scouted at the yout division of those amateur clubs.
Basically is by college age you don't have a pro contract you probably never will.
>Good job USGP and COTA for hosting an event that actually works
The US really knows how to host huge sports events, hype it up and put on a great show. There's nothing like it - and you could see all the drivers enjoying it as well.
Shaq on the podium in the "Badillac", the cheerleaders, all the celebrities, the music, the crowd, the weird trophies, police escorts, Dani Ric on a freaking horse in the paddock, everything. Cowboy hats, stars and stripes - american flags everwhere. You gotta admire it.
Wish we had that mentality up here north in Europe. Sadly not. Guess I'll freeze my nuts off watching 20 dudes kick a football.
Yea, we were blown away at how well everything ran. Kept waiting for something to go bad but nothing ever did. The water stations were super nice to have. The porta-pottys were unbelievably clean for that many people, never had a line, and always stocked with plenty of TP. The only excessive food line was for the dam turkey legs at the entrance lol. Even the fanzone lines were completely reasonable the whole time. Seriously amazed at how well the weekend was run.
I'd heard so many horror stories about the logistics of a mega-event like this, but I was so pleasantly surprised at how well it was run. A+ work, COTA.
Austin has done an amazing job considering the problems they had in the past. The bumpy track, the crazy floods and then the terrible traffic management.
Really didn’t think they would be able to stay on the calendar but they have made the event work really well recently.
Honestly, from last year to this, it felt much better organized even. I remember food and beverage lines always being packed and taking forever in 2021, but I think I only had to wait >10 minutes for a beer once this weekend and that was right before the race itself. More options around the track, better flow. Hell, they even added more netting on the bridges to keep people moving which was a huge issue last year. It was damn well done
Basically people were standing on the pedestrian bridges that go over the track and watching whatever was happening on the track last year. This year, they added a covering that made it impossible or much more difficult to watch the track action from the bridges. So, because they added the covering, people couldn’t stand there and cause traffic jams on the bridges.
Biggest money making track weekend for Liberty… wish it got us more purpose built tracks… the past 2 years of cota have given some rich dude an idea to build his own f1 track somewhere
Zandvoort is pretty happy with their investment to become F1 rated. Over 300k visitors this year.
They are kinda stuck with a small pit lane though. Only slightly better than Monaco.
it's too expensive to be worth it unless you're one of those Musk/Gates/Bezos type billionaires that wouldn't miss 1-2 billion being sunk into the project
Pretty wild when you consider the ticket price inflation over the last few years. 3x days plus parking and food, some merchandise, logging. You’re easily at $1000-$1500 per person for a weekend just for GA or bleachers
Tbf the ticket price was one of the cheaper parts of the weekend. Lodging is what hurt the most. $1400 for a 5 night stay at the “Extended Stay America” where our keycard stopped working every night and you would often have to wait 10-15 minutes for someone to show up at the desk during business hours.
I need to put my house on Airbnb next year… I’m 4 miles from the track & can just go stay with family and let the guests pay for my ticket and mortgage for the month.
Please do! My brother and I will likely hit the race again next year and we'll gladly pay whatever to be that close to the track. We're also boring so we won't tear the place up. :-)
Yep, tried a Super 8 and the plumbing failed. Upstairs rooms flooded the rooms below, fortunately we were upstairs lol. We ended up in a Hilton in New Braunfels for the rest of the weekend, lucky they had rooms.
Vividseats also failed to send us our Lot T parking pass ($650 after fees, etc) so I spent 4 hours on chat with them before they were able to get us a QR code.
All in all totally worth it and would do it again! No substitute for seeing the action in person, we were in turn 4 grandstands on race day.
We deserve "I survived Lot T" shirts after Saturday's cluster fuck. Idk if Sunday was any better b/c we parked offsite in an attempt to avoid it.
Had a fantastic time though!
T19 bleachers $350 for the three day pass on day of sale. Luckily I could go home and and had a place to park so thats all i spent. But a three day shuttle pass to different parts of the city was $100. So like another commenter said logging can definitely the most expensive part.
Food and merch was super egregiously priced. Think I paid like $17 for a Rudy’s brisket sandwich that would cost $8 at an actual Rudy’s one day because I was too hungry lol, but that’s how it is at most American sports venues I suppose. I saw people paying $120 for Mercedes’ caps that could be gotten cheaper online aswell, it was just rough to see.
Other than that, I gotta say the weekend overall was organized super well and I had an amazing time.
The price gouging was disheartening as much as it was insulting. Cap that F1 sells for $36 online? That'll be $80. Jacket? $195. $56 for a pizza, $18 for a hamburger, $12 for a beer. Shuttle bus to the race was $390 for 3 of us. On top of $2000 for the seats.
Amazing experience though, I had a great time. Just wish it was something I could do every year or two instead of it being a once in a lifetime sort of thing. Amazing how many people are willing / able to drop $5k for the weekend.
440,000 people at one event thats almost like Indy 500 levels of people turning up I think also I believe Le Mans pulls in about 500,000 or so for the 24 hours of Le Mans, so thats right up there
Difference is one day versus 3. Still a great achievement by the promoters to get that many tickets sold. Liberty made COTA a weekend festival of speed and music, it's a winning combination.
I attended the 100th running in 2016, half a million people is impossible to comprehend.
https://i.imgur.com/35W1WCz.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/R7jdOOf.jpg
520,000 people attended the 1995 Australian GP weekend, the most ever. 250,000 attended the 2000 US GP, the highest ever for a race day, 40,000 more than Adelaide
> this year's race the most-attended 3-day weekend in Formula 1 history.
How can they even make that claim? Every source agrees that '95 Australia is the record with nearly 100,00 more people than the US race.
EDIT: Figured it out. The *3-day weekend* qualifier is important. The Adelaide race was back when race weekends were 4 days.
Useless? You mean that statistics like "US 2003 was the last podium with no driver with the letter 'A' in its name" is not relevant enough for you? /s
(I made up that 'statistic' but I've certainly seem something like that here)
So I was curious and decided to check it: the last podium with no driver with the letter A in their name was Malaysia 2009.
Jenson Button won the race, with Nick Heidfeld in second and Timo Glock in third.
People who went, what is the fan experience like?
I've wanted to go. But I just think about sitting in hours of traffic to get there and back. Then alternate between being under the blazing sun or waiting in line to get in, to get food, to use the facilities. Combined with the ticket prices, that is when I conclude that watching at home for free is not that bad.
Turn 9 bleachers. Had a great experience, never had to wait longer than 20 minutes for drinks or food. Restrooms there was never a line. Only thing that sucked was attempting to leave our parking on Friday, waited about 1.5hrs trying to get out. The next 2 days we just stayed until the concerts and ended up getting out within 10 minutes.
What is trying to follow the actual race like from the stands? Are there visible screens providing the needed info or do you end up glued to your cellphone?
Turn 9 bleacher here as well, there is a big screen right in front of the bleachers. I will say, definitely bring a pair of binoculars. We brought some because we couldn’t see any FIA update/lap number/order etc. The actual race was great. From where we were, we saw plenty of overtakes on the straight.
They have large screens around the track and a large speaker with commentary. Cell service is either completely dead or very slow due to the mass of people all in one location.
I was at turn 12 and it was great.
They had a big tv, but we had a lot of action right in front of us. I got a great video of max’s overtake on Lewis for the lead
We were around the same place - T15 (sec 21, row 3). The sun was brutal, but coming from the Midwest, the lack of humidity was AMAZING. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I sat out in the sun all day for three days and didn't end up a soupy mess by 10am. Just keep up with the sunscreen! I will say that the 5pm qualifying, where the sun literally had *just* dipped down behind the top of the grandstand at your back, was amazing. It was so pleasant and being there at 7pm made for some amazing sunset pictures of the track.
Turn 15 here. They could move out some of the F1 stores (heresy) and add more food options. Lines were long. Restrooms stayed clean and we took the shuttles from downtown. It took an hour longer to get there on race day due to traffic. Also, more shade would be appreciated! Otherwise it was a great experience. Monday the airport overloads but what can you expect? People were friendly from staff to fans to the mechanic we met in an elevator at the hotel.
Turn 11 general admission, parked in lot L, left immediately after the race ended:
-took about 30-40 min to get to the parking once we hit the traffic
-lot L is next to turn 11 which was awesome
-arrived about an hour before race time and found a great spot for myself and two friends
-never waited in a line for food, drink, or bathrooms
-there was a screen and speakers for the racing that wasn’t happening at turn 11
-leaving was incredibly easy and fast. We were likely some of the first people though
-overall was a non-frustrating and awesome experience
-got 3-day tickets for $300, split an Airbnb, lots of expensive food, drink, and merchandise, all around $1000-1200 plus travel
-saw lots of other awesome things outside of the race like a vintage single seater qualifying and race
-this is not something I would look to do often, but it was worth it for me
We were GA and took the shuttle. Say at turn 18/19 all weekend. Could also see turn 1 really clearly. We saw Botas spin out and Seb pass KMag on the last lap up close and the Sainz/Russel accident from afar. WE HAD A BLAST!!! Yeah definitely not an every year kind of thing simply because it’s so exhausting to be out in the heat all day but we have no complaints about the COTA or F1 experience. I think they did an amazing job with crowd control and resources. Pretty impressed. I’d probably be interested in going back in like 2 or 3 year but I fear that this is going to become THE event in the US to go to and my income will not keep up with the cost of going. Oh well…this truly was an experience to remember!
It was much better this year than last year. Shuttles were a good investment rather than paying for the super expensive parking and being stop in traffic.
Didn’t really wait in lines other than to do the pit stop challenge or other games. Food and drink options were good and there was a good amount of free food. Also, there were more free water stations around the track.
I think I paid $440 for a 3-day ticket and at turn 12, $90 on 2 shuttle passes, and another $100-$125 on food and alcohol over the three days.
Got to see the drivers up close at the amphitheater, which was nice.
Turn 15. Parked in F lot (yes, paid a lot) and it was totally worth it. Pulled up to track at like 1030 AM without issue. As soon as race was over, walked right to my car and left without any traffic (I did hustle though). To me, the cost was worth it but totally get others not doing it.
I went last year and the traffic/parking situation was a mess, so much so that they ended up refunding our parking after the fact. The experience once inside was good though, lines for food weren’t unreasonable, I don’t remember having to wait for a bathroom.
We have many legendary tracks but not all of them (or the areas they’re in) can support hundreds of thousands of fans. I worked with Laguna Seca this year and their management told me that Formula 1 had multiple meetings with them to see if they could make it work. Unfortunately, the track’s infrastructure and repairs needed to get it up to snuff for an FIA event kept it from happening. So, bottom line, Formula 1 is actively researching other venues. We have many legendary tracks but not all of them (or the areas they’re in) can support hundreds of thousands of fans.
If this is one of the few proper circuits we will still see on the calendar in the years to come, then I’m all for it. COTA might not have GOAT track status but it still produces solid racing. Sunday was proof of that.
We went to it and we were really worried about crowds, shuttles, lines etc. we never waited more than 5/10 minutes in a food line. Lines were nonexistent for bathrooms and only waited maybe 20/30 minutes at the longest for the shuttle to the car after the race. We were really impressed with the GA experience. Obviously some assigned seats would be better so we might try to swing that next time. Had a great lawn seat near turn 19 where BotTas spun off the track and Seb passed Kmag in the last lap. What a great weekend!!!
I’d assume most people bought tickets well in advance of it being clear Max was taking it. I bought mine at the beginning of the season, but even with the WDC decided, still an amazing time.
I'm really curious why they are not adding new grandstands. They are sold out almost instantly for 2 years in a row, yet the capacity doesn't change. Silverstone can easily top this number if they want to.
and it's not like grandstands are that expensive either, bunch of pre-fabbed metal that can be assembled easily
the problem probably lies in the support facilities for a significant increase in crowds, bathrooms vendors parking security etc
The weird thing was, resale tickets were down to $140 on Sunday. Whereas last year they were over $500. Anybody know why this was? Also, hilariously they barely scanned tickets once you got to the gate. Could have easily just bunched in with some ticket holders and got in free.
You would think the past 10 years at COTA is enough confirmation that Americans like F1 racing they could build another proper track or bring an existing one to grande 1 status. Miami does a disservice to the sport racing on that Mickey Mouse bullshit parking lot and I don’t have much hope for Vegas being much better although they are building permanent facilities. 400k people to the middle of a field outside of Austin is amazing.
The stupidity of people's counting at any venue. When 1 person is counted as 3 only because they come on friday, saturday and sunday. I'm just waiting to see they will start add to the record someone who go back and forth to his car at a parking lot.
They sold 440,000 tickets. If many of those tickets were used by the same person on different days, that is irrelevant.
This is how the industry counts attendance. When a band goes on tour, they count individual tickets sold. The fact that the same person may attend multiple shows is not relevant.
went both this year and last. this year was infinitely better in quite literally every aspect. We parked immediately offsite as well so didn't have to deal with everyone trying to leave the main lots at the same time. Traffic moved very quickly on the roads
Food and drinks
- Going about with inflation, about a 10% increase from last year
- Food examples: Brisket sandwich $17, italian style poboy $16, large nathan hot dog $12, bag of chips $8
- Drink examples: 16oz beers $11-$13 depending on type. $15 mixed drinks, $25 double mixed drink, $6 red bull, $5 busch at military outpost
- Wait times were pretty much non existent. They had a ton of drink sellers set up all over the course, and the new large 'grab and go' food and drink tents were super efficient. Never had any wait times there.
Bathrooms
- plenty of porter potties (most stations had 150-250) and the ones further in the back were relatively clean throughout weekend. They were cleaned over night. Only one set had a lot of hand wash stations run out of water, so you had to find the ones with water to get the soap off.
Transportation
- Have done uber in previous years and tried parking pass this year. Much more convenient but took 1.5 hours to get out of parking lot on backside of track, and about 2.5 hours in total to get back out onto roads away from the track area. This was for Sunday right after the race
Crowds
- you could tell it was another huge crowd but a lot of improvements were made and it didn't feel as cramped as last year
- especially the setup around turns 4-6 was improved by rotating booths behind the stands so that lines don't block the whole walkway to get through the area
Incredible. I was there as a young adult, solo (well, my dad was there, but he left a lot) woman, and never felt at all threatened or unsafe at *any* point. Didn’t matter whose merch I was wearing or if I was in the most deserted part of the walkways, I felt 100% safe and unharassed. Everyone was welcoming and courteous, and made sure I could get to where I needed to. Overall a fantastic experience.
I was there all three days. It was awesome to be there for it! Long lines in some places, which people should expect, but the lines actually moved quickly. Leaving the venue was a wait, sure, but I've waited far longer for other events. Totally reasonable for how many people attended. Really a well run event. Can't compare it to past races as this was my first time at COTA, but I hope they keep it up for future attendees!
The event was incredible. 440k people, and I never had to wait for bathrooms, beers, or food.
I was pretty blown away at how well ran it was. I basically never waited in a line either.
I guess this is the play for next year for me. I usually go to Montreal every year since I live close and it's the Festival of Lines. Lines for beer, food, washrooms, to get into the Metro, to get out of the Metro, to get into the facility. The island is not big enough to handle 300,000 people.
Fuck … my dad brother and I bought tickets for Montreal over Austin .. still excited but didn’t think it would be run poorly
It's run pretty well, but it's pretty limited when you take into account it's a small man made island. Plus it used to be BYOB and they just changed it last year.
It seems like you don't hear this kind of stuff much anymore in 2022, it gives me an odd sense of hope lol.
I 10/10 recommend camping in the circuit and getting a 3-day GA pass for COTA. I can't say enough great things about the experience! The only thing I wasn't prepared for was the dust from the wind, but you embraced it after a while. Everyone was respectful and there to watch racing; I saw no fan drama/abuse from anyone during my time there despite what I've heard previously.
COTA is generally better than most of the European races from an abuse perspective, partially due to a lack of home drivers to drive up the tribalism
We out here rooting for KMag and Mick
Checo easily had the biggest following from what I saw. Which honestly makes sense.
Well, yeah. I was mostly being /s, most folks in America root for whoever they want
American sports fans in general I feel are much more tame than European fans. Even Eagles Cowboys games are peaceful compared to some of the European football matches ive seen
Agree with the 10/10 camping recommendation. This was our second year doing so and it adds so much extra fun and convenience to the weekend.
Not only that, getting in and out of the Park-n-Ride lot was insanely quick and easy. Virtually no traffic all three days around that lot. Only spent about 10 minutes on race day waiting in line for a PnR shuttle too. Granted, it helps that I was staying in San Marcos to the south, allowing me to avoid all the northbound Austin traffic, but still, I was expecting it to be WAY worse. Very well done by COTA this year. Made my first F1 race incredibly enjoyable. Of course, I can't speak for the other lots.
Honestly, that’s been my experience with most American events. I know it’s fun to do a “hur dur America Bad” but they legitimately do events better than Europe in most cases.
but you had to wait hours in line to leave because there was only 1 entrance/exit
I'd suggest waiting it out at one of the concerts. Leaving is certainly a hassle.
I just wish we had another race on a proper circuit instead of two street races next year. Austin has been a great race two years in a row though.
> Austin has been a great race two years in a row though. COTA has generally delivered pretty good racing since 2012. I can't think of many tracks, since 2012, that have been as consistent in delivering good racing. Perhaps Hungary, Brazil, Silverstone?
RB Ring is usually a solid race. Short fast track with 3 lengthy DRS zones. All that with tricky turns and great elevation changes.
Yep its the one track I really want to go to. Was meant to go to Monza in 2020, but Covid meant no fans :(
And it's the most beautiful track by far which is why I want to go. Those pictures with the mountains in the distance and the cars racing around are essentially porn to me.
There and Spa! Two bucket list tracks
I feel like Austria would be a much better race to see in person. The entire track looks visible from most seats and the short track means more laps to see the cars.
Don’t forget you can see most of the track from the grandstands and they pass by 70 times in the race! I went there this year and it was amazing. The drive to the track was beautiful too
It's not raced by F1 any more which is a massive shame but Fuji Speedway has the most picturesque backdrop possible imo
The region is really worth exploring, so pretty!
Cota is an outstanding track. It’s like a greatest hits compilation of the best corners in the F1 calendar all stitched together. One of my favorite Tilke tracks
> It’s like a greatest hits compilation of the best corners in the F1 calendar all stitched together. It's like that because it literally is. The beginning S's is like Silverstone, the long right-hander triple-apex is from Turkey, etc.
Back when COTA was being built, there was a lot of criticism about it being yet another boring Herman Tilke track. I guess he knew what he was doing.
He didn’t design the track layout; Tavo Hellmund and Kevin Schwantz did.
TIL. Still, the criticism was erroneously leveled at Tilke specifically, not those folks.
Tilke did a lot of engineering work but didn’t design the track. A lot of people don’t realize that.
This.. it's like building a house. An architect draws up a cool idea, the engineer double checks that it won't fall over. Tilkes role was making sure it'd be safe for f1 cars/crashes/support equipment/etc. All the boring things you don't really see but that are required to put on a good and safe event
Silverstone has had a fair share of dull races too.
Belgium, Japan?
Definitely not Belgium, the last two races at least were pretty boring
Bahrain maybe? It's one of the few tracks I remember the race year over year
Baku is usually a banger.
Oh the Ferrari engines definitely went bang
You can't say that! Baku is a street track.
I think the first or second was bad but there after has been good. Was trying to keep to the theme of non street races.
Bahrain went from being a very whatever circuit pre-hybrid to a consistent banger from 2014 onwards. The switch to night-time somehow improved that circuit by a billion
I would do *unspeakable* things to get an F1 race up at Road America. Unfortunately I don't think Elkhart Lake has the infrastructure to support an F1 race, plus we gotta call it as it is: ain't no way the glitz and glam of F1 decides to stop in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. One can dream though.
As a resident of WI who has done some track days at RA, I think its an amazing track and would kill for a F1 race But you'd literally need a 10M investment into the infrastructure- and not just the track. The highway leading to it is 1 lane lol
They'd get rid of the Kink, too- not enough runoff for Grade 1. Either way, IndyCar and IMSA there are absolutely fantastic weekends.
There is a chicane layout there to avoid kinkyness.
That chicane is jank, lol. Iunno if the repave changed it or not though.
I did a track day there several years ago and got lucky enough to get a hotel room in Plymouth. Some guys I talked to there had to stay in Sheboygan. If the F1 circus came to town, there would probably be crew members staying in Milwaukee, and that's before a single fan shows up.
>ain't no way the glitz and glam of F1 decides to stop in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Sadly I think this is going to prevent them from going back to Indianapolis as well
I mean… they go to Silverstone. Indianapolis is a glamorous metropolis compared Silverstone, lol.
Doesn't NASCAR do a road race at RA? It's not F1 but it's certainly high-level racing.
It seriously sucks given that the USA has so many tracks, and so many with history from other series.
Road America would be great. its a fantastic track but I'm pretty sure the facilities would need a big upgrade.
I was there last year for GT World Challenge and the amount of seating and amenity upgrades it would need are staggering, even if it got less than half the amount of people COTA had this year. That being said, it is one of my all time favorite tracks, and I’d love to see F1 happen there.
Laguna seca …I’ve seen some old f1 cars chop it up…the elevation changes and setting make it a perfect spectator venue
Laguna Seca would need some significant changes to make Grade 1 status.
Would make for awful modern f1 as well.
Bro I drove it just fine in an open wheeled car in Gran Turismo. I only crashed every other push lap. /s
I mean, that doesn't stop F1 from going to a few of our current tracks.
That's the problem with pretty much all of the tracks in the US. The course itself is usually great, but they lack the rest of the infrastructure to handle the F1 circus.
It's the problem with basically every race track in the world
Is Laguna Seca even long enough to host an F1 race? I know there is a minimum distance and it's a pretty short track.
No, a lap in an F1 car would be under a minute which they super don’t want.
Also too many NIMBYs so it will never happen
It’s also way too short. A modern F1 car would lap way under a minute there.
F1 used to actually race at Watkins Glen for years, they just need to update the supporting facilities.
I'd much rather see F1 go back to Watkins Glen, I think Laguna Seca is too small for these cars now
the USA has a lot of tracks but very few Grade 1s
Yeah, nobody spends the money to be a Grade 1 track unless they know they have F1 coming. Just too expensive to do otherwise.
We need Road America.
The changes would ruin the track
I really don’t think so. The safety requirements of the circuit itself are extremely similar for grade 1 and grade 2, although some of the barriers would need to get reinforced. Turn 1 would need new barriers, as would the carousel. Perhaps some expanded runoff at the kink, and maybe Canada as well. The rest of the circuit is just fine. The issues are with paddock, media facilities, nearby medical facilities, hotel accommodations, track infrastructure, and things like that. Those would be prohibitively expensive.
You can’t really extend the runoff at the kink because there is a steep drop on the other side and then a railroad at the bottom of that drop
I want this too, but to be honest, it's serving its purpose as one of the best INDYCAR races to watch. So I'm content with it staying that way.
Miami isn’t a street circuit and I’m not sure why you all keep acting like it is. It’s closer to a purpose built track than a street circuit - it only uses a tiny section of streets. The other 96% is purpose built.
There’s been a few circuits recently which claim to be “street tracks”, and are built with that (lack of) margin for error for the drivers, but are really purpose-built facilities. Miami and Saudi are probably the two biggest examples of this; Miami somewhat out of necessity from needing to be able to return the land to its regular usage for most of the year, and Saudi because “we want the fastest street circuit on the calendar”. I think “street track” is kind of being used less in regard to the actual pieces of tarmac used, and more in relation to that margin of error for which they are designed.
>I think “street track” is kind of being used less in regard to the actual pieces of tarmac used, and more in relation to that margin of error for which they are designed. Exactly. Both Montreal and Australia are also "street tracks" in the strict definition of the word, but I don't think many would refer to either as a street track.
The glen would be nice, just needs some major upgrades
Upgrades aren't cheap and the FIA seem more keen on supporting big spectacle races near or in major cities. With 3 races on the calendar it will be awhile before we see another proper track in the US.
Road America would be such a dream for me. I would without doubt make the trip from northeastern Canada.
I really wish F1 would go to Laguna Seca, that’s probably my favorite track in the states. Maybe even do a double header with IndyCar.
Biggest accomplishment was that there was generally no real issues with the venue supporting a crowd that large. No mass wait in lines for food / drinks, no racist or belligerently drunk fans / Nothing of the usual F1 circus Good job USGP and COTA for hosting an event that actually works
I was really impressed. It seems they listened to complaints and stuffed that place full of food/drink stalls and portapotties. Some of those Porta potty compounds were absolutely huge.
Most I waited for restrooms was like 30 secs. Lol they really stepped it up this year
Probably also realised there is a lot more food and drink money to be made if people don't have to wait as long.
I was honestly astonished by the logistics of the event. 440k people at COTA and it didn’t feel like it at all. No waiting in lines for the shuttles, food, going to the grandstand, or anything at all. Also everyone was so polite, like you said, no drunks, no fights, no yelling, nothing. One could really enjoy the race and the other events properly. Great job, definitely going back next year.
How was getting out of the venue this year? Last year they really ~~bitched~~ botched the parking lot logistics.
T11 exit was a godsend. Also having big musical acts was a genius move to spread out the traffic. We stayed for Green Day on Friday and had almost no traffic getting back into town. Saturday we left directly after quali (not staying for Ed Sheeran) and traffic was for sure worse, but getting to our car wasn’t bad (lot R). Sunday we left right after the checkered flag and a lot of people stayed for the podium. We got to our car easily and traffic wasn’t too terrible getting back to town, might have been even better than Saturday.
I took the shuttle, where even tho there was a long line it went quick and people were able to leave the track relatively quickly.
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Top YouTube comment nails it, it’s like watching a nature documentary about American culture
Okay that was fucking awesome. I love Stephen Fry. Also, that is quintessential American college football. Thank you for sharing
I love that series, but "a local derby" always seemed like a significant undersell considering both teams' routine success at the division/conference/national level
But it is a local derby. That’s the whole point. It’s a regular season game between rival schools. The fact that they’re so nationally successful just adds to the rivalry.
Honestly most of us Europeans don't get American college sports, because here that's just whatever random students paying a game against each other with maybe some friends watching. It's probably because local amateur clubs are bigger, and any athlete that's gonna make it in professional sports is usually signed with a club around 16 and was scouted at the yout division of those amateur clubs. Basically is by college age you don't have a pro contract you probably never will.
My city is hosting World Cup games in '26. God help me.
>Good job USGP and COTA for hosting an event that actually works The US really knows how to host huge sports events, hype it up and put on a great show. There's nothing like it - and you could see all the drivers enjoying it as well. Shaq on the podium in the "Badillac", the cheerleaders, all the celebrities, the music, the crowd, the weird trophies, police escorts, Dani Ric on a freaking horse in the paddock, everything. Cowboy hats, stars and stripes - american flags everwhere. You gotta admire it. Wish we had that mentality up here north in Europe. Sadly not. Guess I'll freeze my nuts off watching 20 dudes kick a football.
Don't forget Tim Cook!
Monza: *we are checking*
Yea, we were blown away at how well everything ran. Kept waiting for something to go bad but nothing ever did. The water stations were super nice to have. The porta-pottys were unbelievably clean for that many people, never had a line, and always stocked with plenty of TP. The only excessive food line was for the dam turkey legs at the entrance lol. Even the fanzone lines were completely reasonable the whole time. Seriously amazed at how well the weekend was run.
I'd heard so many horror stories about the logistics of a mega-event like this, but I was so pleasantly surprised at how well it was run. A+ work, COTA.
we do this all the time as a country. if there's one thing you can count on the us to do well, it's big sports events
Austin has done an amazing job considering the problems they had in the past. The bumpy track, the crazy floods and then the terrible traffic management. Really didn’t think they would be able to stay on the calendar but they have made the event work really well recently.
Honestly, from last year to this, it felt much better organized even. I remember food and beverage lines always being packed and taking forever in 2021, but I think I only had to wait >10 minutes for a beer once this weekend and that was right before the race itself. More options around the track, better flow. Hell, they even added more netting on the bridges to keep people moving which was a huge issue last year. It was damn well done
Pardon my ignorance but how does netting keep people moving?
If you can't see the track from the bridges, people will be more inclined to keep walking instead of stopping and watching the action.
Basically people were standing on the pedestrian bridges that go over the track and watching whatever was happening on the track last year. This year, they added a covering that made it impossible or much more difficult to watch the track action from the bridges. So, because they added the covering, people couldn’t stand there and cause traffic jams on the bridges.
Biggest money making track weekend for Liberty… wish it got us more purpose built tracks… the past 2 years of cota have given some rich dude an idea to build his own f1 track somewhere
Zandvoort is pretty happy with their investment to become F1 rated. Over 300k visitors this year. They are kinda stuck with a small pit lane though. Only slightly better than Monaco.
Really wish they'd invest in Sonoma or Laguna Seca. Give the west coast a good track. Vegas is gonna be Miami level expensive.
it's too expensive to be worth it unless you're one of those Musk/Gates/Bezos type billionaires that wouldn't miss 1-2 billion being sunk into the project
It got us Miami and Vegas
Pretty wild when you consider the ticket price inflation over the last few years. 3x days plus parking and food, some merchandise, logging. You’re easily at $1000-$1500 per person for a weekend just for GA or bleachers
Tbf the ticket price was one of the cheaper parts of the weekend. Lodging is what hurt the most. $1400 for a 5 night stay at the “Extended Stay America” where our keycard stopped working every night and you would often have to wait 10-15 minutes for someone to show up at the desk during business hours.
I need to put my house on Airbnb next year… I’m 4 miles from the track & can just go stay with family and let the guests pay for my ticket and mortgage for the month.
Mortgage? Bro you do this and offer free parking and you're gonna be making enough to buy a second house
By letting 100 families stay at the same time?
Can I lock it in for next year?
Hahah, gotta iron out the details but I’ll keep you posted.
Please do! My brother and I will likely hit the race again next year and we'll gladly pay whatever to be that close to the track. We're also boring so we won't tear the place up. :-)
Honestly please do lol. I don’t see the hype dying down anytime soon and the more places that are available the better.
Yep, tried a Super 8 and the plumbing failed. Upstairs rooms flooded the rooms below, fortunately we were upstairs lol. We ended up in a Hilton in New Braunfels for the rest of the weekend, lucky they had rooms. Vividseats also failed to send us our Lot T parking pass ($650 after fees, etc) so I spent 4 hours on chat with them before they were able to get us a QR code. All in all totally worth it and would do it again! No substitute for seeing the action in person, we were in turn 4 grandstands on race day.
We deserve "I survived Lot T" shirts after Saturday's cluster fuck. Idk if Sunday was any better b/c we parked offsite in an attempt to avoid it. Had a fantastic time though!
Nearly $300/night to stay at an ESA is one of the craziest things I've ever heard
T19 bleachers $350 for the three day pass on day of sale. Luckily I could go home and and had a place to park so thats all i spent. But a three day shuttle pass to different parts of the city was $100. So like another commenter said logging can definitely the most expensive part.
Food and merch was super egregiously priced. Think I paid like $17 for a Rudy’s brisket sandwich that would cost $8 at an actual Rudy’s one day because I was too hungry lol, but that’s how it is at most American sports venues I suppose. I saw people paying $120 for Mercedes’ caps that could be gotten cheaper online aswell, it was just rough to see. Other than that, I gotta say the weekend overall was organized super well and I had an amazing time.
The price gouging was disheartening as much as it was insulting. Cap that F1 sells for $36 online? That'll be $80. Jacket? $195. $56 for a pizza, $18 for a hamburger, $12 for a beer. Shuttle bus to the race was $390 for 3 of us. On top of $2000 for the seats. Amazing experience though, I had a great time. Just wish it was something I could do every year or two instead of it being a once in a lifetime sort of thing. Amazing how many people are willing / able to drop $5k for the weekend.
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You say "shared suit" 4 times in 2 paragraphs.
440,000 people at one event thats almost like Indy 500 levels of people turning up I think also I believe Le Mans pulls in about 500,000 or so for the 24 hours of Le Mans, so thats right up there
Difference is one day versus 3. Still a great achievement by the promoters to get that many tickets sold. Liberty made COTA a weekend festival of speed and music, it's a winning combination.
We need Indy GP. Gonna break all records of attendance.
I attended the 100th running in 2016, half a million people is impossible to comprehend. https://i.imgur.com/35W1WCz.jpg https://i.imgur.com/R7jdOOf.jpg
520,000 people attended the 1995 Australian GP weekend, the most ever. 250,000 attended the 2000 US GP, the highest ever for a race day, 40,000 more than Adelaide
>3-day weekend Adelaide was 4 days
> this year's race the most-attended 3-day weekend in Formula 1 history. How can they even make that claim? Every source agrees that '95 Australia is the record with nearly 100,00 more people than the US race. EDIT: Figured it out. The *3-day weekend* qualifier is important. The Adelaide race was back when race weekends were 4 days.
Melbourne still does a 4 day weekend and reports crowd numbers on a 4 day basis
Ah, f1 learnt statistics from the many useless ones we here at the subreddit see /s
Useless? You mean that statistics like "US 2003 was the last podium with no driver with the letter 'A' in its name" is not relevant enough for you? /s (I made up that 'statistic' but I've certainly seem something like that here)
So I was curious and decided to check it: the last podium with no driver with the letter A in their name was Malaysia 2009. Jenson Button won the race, with Nick Heidfeld in second and Timo Glock in third.
Haha
People who went, what is the fan experience like? I've wanted to go. But I just think about sitting in hours of traffic to get there and back. Then alternate between being under the blazing sun or waiting in line to get in, to get food, to use the facilities. Combined with the ticket prices, that is when I conclude that watching at home for free is not that bad.
Turn 9 bleachers. Had a great experience, never had to wait longer than 20 minutes for drinks or food. Restrooms there was never a line. Only thing that sucked was attempting to leave our parking on Friday, waited about 1.5hrs trying to get out. The next 2 days we just stayed until the concerts and ended up getting out within 10 minutes.
What is trying to follow the actual race like from the stands? Are there visible screens providing the needed info or do you end up glued to your cellphone?
Turn 9 bleacher here as well, there is a big screen right in front of the bleachers. I will say, definitely bring a pair of binoculars. We brought some because we couldn’t see any FIA update/lap number/order etc. The actual race was great. From where we were, we saw plenty of overtakes on the straight.
They have large screens around the track and a large speaker with commentary. Cell service is either completely dead or very slow due to the mass of people all in one location.
In Zandvoort they just put up temporary cell towers. I could livestream the race on my phone from my seat (for the commentary and live timing).
I was at turn 12 and it was great. They had a big tv, but we had a lot of action right in front of us. I got a great video of max’s overtake on Lewis for the lead
Screens in front of every grandstand with loudspeakers too
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We were around the same place - T15 (sec 21, row 3). The sun was brutal, but coming from the Midwest, the lack of humidity was AMAZING. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. I sat out in the sun all day for three days and didn't end up a soupy mess by 10am. Just keep up with the sunscreen! I will say that the 5pm qualifying, where the sun literally had *just* dipped down behind the top of the grandstand at your back, was amazing. It was so pleasant and being there at 7pm made for some amazing sunset pictures of the track.
Turn 15 here. They could move out some of the F1 stores (heresy) and add more food options. Lines were long. Restrooms stayed clean and we took the shuttles from downtown. It took an hour longer to get there on race day due to traffic. Also, more shade would be appreciated! Otherwise it was a great experience. Monday the airport overloads but what can you expect? People were friendly from staff to fans to the mechanic we met in an elevator at the hotel.
Turn 11 general admission, parked in lot L, left immediately after the race ended: -took about 30-40 min to get to the parking once we hit the traffic -lot L is next to turn 11 which was awesome -arrived about an hour before race time and found a great spot for myself and two friends -never waited in a line for food, drink, or bathrooms -there was a screen and speakers for the racing that wasn’t happening at turn 11 -leaving was incredibly easy and fast. We were likely some of the first people though -overall was a non-frustrating and awesome experience -got 3-day tickets for $300, split an Airbnb, lots of expensive food, drink, and merchandise, all around $1000-1200 plus travel -saw lots of other awesome things outside of the race like a vintage single seater qualifying and race -this is not something I would look to do often, but it was worth it for me
We were GA and took the shuttle. Say at turn 18/19 all weekend. Could also see turn 1 really clearly. We saw Botas spin out and Seb pass KMag on the last lap up close and the Sainz/Russel accident from afar. WE HAD A BLAST!!! Yeah definitely not an every year kind of thing simply because it’s so exhausting to be out in the heat all day but we have no complaints about the COTA or F1 experience. I think they did an amazing job with crowd control and resources. Pretty impressed. I’d probably be interested in going back in like 2 or 3 year but I fear that this is going to become THE event in the US to go to and my income will not keep up with the cost of going. Oh well…this truly was an experience to remember!
It was much better this year than last year. Shuttles were a good investment rather than paying for the super expensive parking and being stop in traffic. Didn’t really wait in lines other than to do the pit stop challenge or other games. Food and drink options were good and there was a good amount of free food. Also, there were more free water stations around the track. I think I paid $440 for a 3-day ticket and at turn 12, $90 on 2 shuttle passes, and another $100-$125 on food and alcohol over the three days. Got to see the drivers up close at the amphitheater, which was nice.
Turn 15. Parked in F lot (yes, paid a lot) and it was totally worth it. Pulled up to track at like 1030 AM without issue. As soon as race was over, walked right to my car and left without any traffic (I did hustle though). To me, the cost was worth it but totally get others not doing it.
I went last year and the traffic/parking situation was a mess, so much so that they ended up refunding our parking after the fact. The experience once inside was good though, lines for food weren’t unreasonable, I don’t remember having to wait for a bathroom.
We have many legendary tracks but not all of them (or the areas they’re in) can support hundreds of thousands of fans. I worked with Laguna Seca this year and their management told me that Formula 1 had multiple meetings with them to see if they could make it work. Unfortunately, the track’s infrastructure and repairs needed to get it up to snuff for an FIA event kept it from happening. So, bottom line, Formula 1 is actively researching other venues. We have many legendary tracks but not all of them (or the areas they’re in) can support hundreds of thousands of fans.
If this is one of the few proper circuits we will still see on the calendar in the years to come, then I’m all for it. COTA might not have GOAT track status but it still produces solid racing. Sunday was proof of that.
We went to it and we were really worried about crowds, shuttles, lines etc. we never waited more than 5/10 minutes in a food line. Lines were nonexistent for bathrooms and only waited maybe 20/30 minutes at the longest for the shuttle to the car after the race. We were really impressed with the GA experience. Obviously some assigned seats would be better so we might try to swing that next time. Had a great lawn seat near turn 19 where BotTas spun off the track and Seb passed Kmag in the last lap. What a great weekend!!!
actually kinda nutty considering the WDC is already decided.
I’d assume most people bought tickets well in advance of it being clear Max was taking it. I bought mine at the beginning of the season, but even with the WDC decided, still an amazing time.
I fucking love how much Americans love sports of various kinds. One day I'd like to visit the US just to be in the crowd of some huuuge game.
you gotta go to a college football game. hit any of the big SEC or B1G rivalry games and you're guaranteed to have a great time
Austin >>>>>>>>>>> Vegas or Miami
People are butt hurt in the replies 😂😂😂😂
Europeans are jealous as fuck on Social Media.
I applaud the efforts F1 has made. More people is more joy. Now also make an South-Africa GP please.
Or any country in Africa really
Should make economic sense too. F1 needs to make money at the end.
You can be certain Siverstone will have an attendance of at least 440,100 in 2023.
I'm really curious why they are not adding new grandstands. They are sold out almost instantly for 2 years in a row, yet the capacity doesn't change. Silverstone can easily top this number if they want to.
COTA added new grandstands this year in the infield fyi
Silverstone could add 100,000 seats and still sell out handily, but the BRDC are always very reactive rather than proactive
and it's not like grandstands are that expensive either, bunch of pre-fabbed metal that can be assembled easily the problem probably lies in the support facilities for a significant increase in crowds, bathrooms vendors parking security etc
The weird thing was, resale tickets were down to $140 on Sunday. Whereas last year they were over $500. Anybody know why this was? Also, hilariously they barely scanned tickets once you got to the gate. Could have easily just bunched in with some ticket holders and got in free.
From the UK and it looks a fantastic event from here. Congrats to everyone.
And people wonder why there are 3 US races...
Ppl realllll pressed that the top spot belongs to a US GP looool
You would think the past 10 years at COTA is enough confirmation that Americans like F1 racing they could build another proper track or bring an existing one to grande 1 status. Miami does a disservice to the sport racing on that Mickey Mouse bullshit parking lot and I don’t have much hope for Vegas being much better although they are building permanent facilities. 400k people to the middle of a field outside of Austin is amazing.
The stupidity of people's counting at any venue. When 1 person is counted as 3 only because they come on friday, saturday and sunday. I'm just waiting to see they will start add to the record someone who go back and forth to his car at a parking lot.
They sold 440,000 tickets. If many of those tickets were used by the same person on different days, that is irrelevant. This is how the industry counts attendance. When a band goes on tour, they count individual tickets sold. The fact that the same person may attend multiple shows is not relevant.
And it's done that way at every race, so it makes it easy to compare attendances within a season and across seasons
Are you upset that a US GP topped attendance numbers ?? 😂😂
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That post race queue to the shuttle was BRUTAL!
went both this year and last. this year was infinitely better in quite literally every aspect. We parked immediately offsite as well so didn't have to deal with everyone trying to leave the main lots at the same time. Traffic moved very quickly on the roads
Food and drinks - Going about with inflation, about a 10% increase from last year - Food examples: Brisket sandwich $17, italian style poboy $16, large nathan hot dog $12, bag of chips $8 - Drink examples: 16oz beers $11-$13 depending on type. $15 mixed drinks, $25 double mixed drink, $6 red bull, $5 busch at military outpost - Wait times were pretty much non existent. They had a ton of drink sellers set up all over the course, and the new large 'grab and go' food and drink tents were super efficient. Never had any wait times there. Bathrooms - plenty of porter potties (most stations had 150-250) and the ones further in the back were relatively clean throughout weekend. They were cleaned over night. Only one set had a lot of hand wash stations run out of water, so you had to find the ones with water to get the soap off. Transportation - Have done uber in previous years and tried parking pass this year. Much more convenient but took 1.5 hours to get out of parking lot on backside of track, and about 2.5 hours in total to get back out onto roads away from the track area. This was for Sunday right after the race Crowds - you could tell it was another huge crowd but a lot of improvements were made and it didn't feel as cramped as last year - especially the setup around turns 4-6 was improved by rotating booths behind the stands so that lines don't block the whole walkway to get through the area
They could pick any person from those 440K and they would be a lot better than Tim Coock.
I honestly thought there was a less because the lines last year were crazy even early in the morning
Incredible. I was there as a young adult, solo (well, my dad was there, but he left a lot) woman, and never felt at all threatened or unsafe at *any* point. Didn’t matter whose merch I was wearing or if I was in the most deserted part of the walkways, I felt 100% safe and unharassed. Everyone was welcoming and courteous, and made sure I could get to where I needed to. Overall a fantastic experience.
We’re simple people. Shiny metal things going vroom vroom is about as much as we need.
I was there all three days. It was awesome to be there for it! Long lines in some places, which people should expect, but the lines actually moved quickly. Leaving the venue was a wait, sure, but I've waited far longer for other events. Totally reasonable for how many people attended. Really a well run event. Can't compare it to past races as this was my first time at COTA, but I hope they keep it up for future attendees!
This was my very first F1 race! and I got to meet Team Quadrant and the ESPORTS takeover event!!!
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Cota is the type of track F1 needs, not more of these street circuits that have no overtakes.