COTA Boss Says F1 US Grand Prix Ticket Sales “Took Off When Max Stopped Winning”

Formula 1 will roll back into Austin later this month for the annual United States Grand Prix, with race organizers confident of attracting another healthy crowd.

Formula 1’s popularity has rocketed in the U.S. in recent years, fueled by Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, with events in Miami and Las Vegas joining the established round in Austin.

COTA welcomed 440,000 spectators across the event in 2022 while there was a slight dip to 432,000 in 2023.

But event organizers believe crowd numbers will again be strong on account of heightened interest in this year’s championship following the end to Max Verstappen’s dominant streak.

“We’re in good shape coming up to this grand prix, the route to get here was a bit different,” COTA chairman Bobby Epstein said. “Our ticket sales really took off when Max stopped winning and it got more competitive—so our fanbase are tuned in, educated, and they’re paying attention, and I think it’s exciting to see the season shape up the way it is, so we’re expecting another big crowd, somewhere where it’s been the last couple of years.

“I think it would have been our weakest year since the pandemic, but I do think we’re seeing a bit of a trend overall in all events that they’re going like a hockey stick, [sales] goes up at the end, it used to be more of a steady climb throughout whereas we’ve seen it in concerts also where there’s more last minute buying than there used to be.”

Eminem Will Headline Saturday Music Show

Epstein also expects the coming U.S. Grand Prix weekend—18-20 October 18-20—to be among the busiest in Austin, with Eminem playing COTA on Saturday evening, shortly before the Texas Longhorns host Georgia Bulldogs up at the University of Texas.

“I think we should shatter the Saturday record, because Eminem has outsold Taylor Swift [in 2016], and we’ve increased the size of the in-field lawn to get to near 100,000 for the concert, so I think whatever amount they’ve had for the sprint race before, 130-150,000 people will be there for this year’s Saturday sprint race.

“It will be an incredible Saturday, we think it’s the biggest weekend ever for sports entertainment [in Austin], the Longhorns are playing, there’s lot of people in town for that: racing, football, music, it’ll be a weekend like we’ve ever had before in terms of overall excitement.”