FORMULA 1
F1 United States GP: This is Circuit of The Americas | Track length, laps, sectors…
Opened in 2012, the track in Austin, Texas will host its 11th Formula One Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen going for a third successive win.
The 2023 United States Grand Prix takes place at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas on Sunday, with Max Verstappen’s bid for a 15th race win in 18 Grand Prix hampered by a disappointing qualifying performance, which came as a surprise considering he was fastest in practice earlier on Friday.
The Dutchman, who already has a third successive Formula One Drivers’ Championship wrapped up with five races left to spare, will start sixth on the grid, which may give others a chance to shine.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclarc took pole position for the third time this year, but Mexico’s Sergio Pérez, who has come first in two of the three races not won by Red Bull Racing teammate Verstappen this year, will start all the way down in ninth.
Circuit of The Americas by numbers
There are 23 Grand Prix on the 2023 Formula One calendar, which means there are 23 different circuits. How does Circuit of The Americas compare to the rest of them?
Circuit length
The circuit has a total length of 5.513 kilometres (about 3.43 miles, if you prefer), which makes it the 10th longest on this year’s calendar. Spa-Francorchamps tops that particular list at 7.004 kilometres (4.35 miles), with Monaco at the opposite end of the scale at 3.337 kilometres (2.07 miles).
Number of laps
Circuit of The Americas, which was opened in October 2012, is also somewhere in the middle (13th out of 23) when it comes to the number laps raced (56). Unsurprisingly, Monaco makes up for its lack of length here with 78 laps, while the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa has just 44.
Race length
When we combine both factors, the US Grand Prix is the fourth longest on the calendar at 308.405km (191.63 miles), although the reality is that all races, bar the shorter Monaco Grand Prix, are of very similar length.
Circuit of The Americas profile: corners, Speed Trap, DRS Zones
The Austin track has a total of 20 corners split across three sectors.
Sector 1 consists of the long home straight and the first six corners, with turns 3 through to 6 similar to the Maggots and Becketts snaky esses at Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, as well as the S Curves as Suzuka in Japan.
The bends continue with turns 7 through to 9 at the start of Sector 2, which contains the first of two DRS Detection Zones (between turns 10 and 11) and COTA’s Speed Trap just before turn 12.
There’s a twisty start to Sector 3 between turns 13 and 17 and the second DRS Zone comes just before the penultimate turn on turn 19.
When does the US Grand Prix start? When is the Sprint?
The race itself will take place on Sunday 22 October and begins at 2:00 p.m. local time (3:00 p.m. ET).
The Sprint Shootout at Circuit of the Americas will get underway on Saturday 21 October at 12:30 p.m. local time (1:30 p.m ET), with the Sprint following at 5:00 p.m. local time (6:00 p.m. ET).