USA GP in Austin (Texas): 77m snake’s greeting / Formula 1

The first person to complete a lap of the Circuit of the Americas was American racing legend Mario Andretti. The 1978 Formula 1 champion is now duly honoured: the left-hand bend before the start and finish bears his name – the only bend on the track, the other bends being numbered consecutively.

“Circuit of the Americas” (COTA) was the first American race track built for Formula 1 – reportedly at a cost of around $300 million.

Before that, the American World Championship race was a true migratory bird. Formula 1 made nine different guest appearances before Austin: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (1950-1960 and then 2000-2007), Sebring (1959), Riverside (1960), Watkins Glen (1961-1980), Long Beach (1976-1983). , Las Vegas (1981–1982), Detroit (1982–1988), Dallas (1984) and Phoenix (1989–1991), then again, as noted, in Ind. No Grand Prix in the Formula 1 World Championship has ever been through such an odyssey.

This also makes it clear: Austin is the second Grand Prix in the US state of Texas after Dallas. While we’re at it: Texas derives from “Tejas.” The first Spanish settlers found the local Gato Indians so friendly that they called them tejas (friends).

A landmark of COTA: the 77-meter tall observation tower (with glass floor) designed by architect Miro Rivera. Pay attention – from the side, the tower looks like a rearing snake.

The GP weekend is completely sold out: with more grandstands than in 2021, last year’s record of 400,000 spectators should be broken.

The colors of Texas are derived as follows: white for purity, blue for loyalty, red for courage. The “Lone Star” on the left side of the flag predates the original flag of the Republic of Texas known as the “Burnett Flag” (1836-1839). The single star is a symbol of Texas independence from Mexico and unity to God, state and country.

Today we’ll talk about Waterloo GB, not Austin: the first settlers settled in Austin in 1835, but the town wasn’t officially founded until 1839 – and wasn’t called Austin, but Waterloo!

Austin was named after Secretary of State Stephen F. Goes to Austin (1793-1836).

A peculiarity of the COTA race track: some sections are reminiscent of traditional European slopes. The track leading up to the first corner at the former Österreichring, with rapid changes in turns 4 to 6, is similar to the Maggots-Becketts complex at Silverstone. The third section is a technical section like the Motodrome at Hockenheim, with a section like the Senna-S at Interlagos.

No American racing driver has ever won the United States Grand Prix.

Austin is not only home to the USA GP, but also one of the largest bat colonies in the world. Every evening, 1.5 million Mexican bats roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge. A sight followed by countless tourists every year.

Austin (motto: “Keep Austin Different”) is a young city with 60,000 students and 250 live music clubs. Austin hosts all kinds of music festivals every year. The city itself calls itself the “Live Music Capital of the World”. The South by Southwest (SXSW) spring festival attracts a quarter of a million fans.

All Formula 1 winners at COTA have started from the front row.

The pole position winner has since stood on the podium in every Grand Prix at Texas Racetrack to date.

Max Verstappen showed the biggest catch-up of 2018 at COTA: starting from 18th, the Dutchman finished second.

It was only in 2015 that the competition was affected by rain.

The Drivers’ World Championship was decided twice at the Circuit of the Americas – in 2015 and 2019, in favor of Lewis Hamilton.

Seventeen 1890’s Moonlight Towers still stand 165 feet tall across Austin. The original 31 light sources were not set up after a series of murders (that’s an old wives tale), but to illuminate the city. Towers are listed. Austin is the only city in the world that still has such towers.

If Texas were a country, it would be the ninth largest economy in the world. Only California (the fifth largest economic engine in the world) can do it better.

The Texas State Capitol in Austin is larger than Washington.

Ten percent of Austin residents are of German descent.

Circuit of the Americas: The GP winners

2012: Lewis Hamilton (UK), Mercedes
2013: Sebastian Vettel (D), Red Bull Racing
2014: Lewis Hamilton (UK), Mercedes
2015: Lewis Hamilton (UK), Mercedes
2016: Lewis Hamilton (UK), Mercedes
2017: Lewis Hamilton (UK), Mercedes
2018: Kimi Raikkonen (FIN), Ferrari
2019: Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Mercedes
2020: No race
2021: Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing