Every F1 US GP circuit ranked: From flattened goat track to the fabulous

“This is a fast town, no matter what anybody says. We’ve got guys here who hit 82mph on the streets of downtown Detroit almost any night. They do it at about a quarter to two, trying to make last calls at their favourite bar. And they’re not our best, either. We didn’t invent the wheel, but even our kids know how to make ’em turn. You want to see real speed, check a high school parking lot. I make it eight-to-one you’ll find some kid in a TransAm hitting 82mph. In reverse. If not our jails, our courtrooms are filled any Monday morning with guys who’ve made a serious run at 82mph, which isn’t actually fast at all, or maybe 100mph, which is getting there. Every now and then you hear of one because our cops are extraordinary. They can do 82mph with one hand on the wheel and a gun in the other, and it’s a measure of their skill that they can do 82mph and shoot at the same time, and not bounce off that many bystanders.”

Entertainingly scathing about F1’s apparent sluggishness though Puscas’s writing was, you want to hear about Detroit’s F1 claims to fame, don’t you? OK, in 1982 John Watson, one of the best overtakers of the era, hurled his McLaren from a P17 grid slot to a brilliant victory there, taking the lead of the F1 drivers’ world championship in so doing. In 1983 Michele Alboreto won there for Tyrrell, thereby scoring that once illustrious F1 team’s 23rd and final grand prix win – and the 155th and last for the iconic 3.0-litre Cosworth DFV V8, too – and in 1984 there were no fewer than 20 retirements there, so punishing was the circuit’s unforgivingly bumpy asphalt.

By 1988 everyone had had enough of the place, and the drivers, led by McLaren’s Ayrton Senna, who had won that year’s race, his third victory on the trot there, called for its abandonment. That was what then happened, and F1 cars never raced in Detroit again.

9. Miami International Autodrome (2022-ongoing)

The Miami International Autodrome is a temporary circuit laid out around the Hard Rock Stadium, utilising no public roads but instead using the stadium’s service roads and other delineated pathways laid out on its car parks.

When the the details of the proposed circuit began to emerge, the drivers did not hide their lack of enthusiasm for it. Lewis Hamilton said, “Miami is a super-cool place, so I was very, very excited to hear about it. Then I saw the layout.”

The truth is: it was conceived with marketing rather than racing as a priority, and it shows. Its fake marina received a hell of a lot of stick in year one, and understandably so. Having said that, Monaco, despite its non-fake marina and obviously much more glorious racing back-story, is not now so very different. Both Miami and Monaco tend to provide less than thrilling racing as a backdrop for celebrity parades that tick the sponsors’ megabucks marketing boxes. Actually, Miami has produced better racing than Monaco often does.

Moreover, to be fair to Miami, Turn 4 – a super-fast eighth-gear left – is a good corner, and Lando Norris scored his maiden F1 grand prix win there five months ago, after 110 winless F1 grand prix starts, which may end up being a very significant achievement, depending on how the next five races pan out for him.

8. Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2000-2007)

It may seem sacrilegious to rank Indy so low, but it is the infield-extension version of the magnificent 2.5-mile oval that we are talking about here, not the oval itself. It first hosted the F1 United States Grand Prix in 2000, and 200,000 spectators flocked to the Brickyard to see Michael Schumacher win for Ferrari, although what might have been a classic contest was sadly snuffed out when the Mercedes engine in Mika Häkkinen’s fast-closing McLaren exploded at one-third distance.

I remember Adrian Newey wondering aloud, that first year, how much more fun it would have been if the FIA had allowed F1 cars to race on the full Indy oval rather than the bespoke version designed for them, the infield section of which was decidedly ‘Mickey Mouse’. Undoubtedly, it would have been a fantastic challenge – for drivers and engineers alike. But what happened in 2005 forces one to conclude that it would have been too big an ask for the tyre companies, especially Michelin, for in that year the French company told its teams that, as a result of the unusual forces exerted by even the comparatively small amount of high-speed banking included in the F1-spec layout, their tyres would be good for only 10 laps.

Since tyre changes were banned in F1 in 2005, and the race was scheduled for 73 laps, that was obviously going to be a problem. So it was, and on race day only the six Bridgestone-supplied cars took part in a farcical display that resulted in the easiest Ferrari one-two of all time and a surprise third place for Jordan’s Tiago Monteiro, who was unable to contain his joy on the podium despite the anger and upset in the grandstands.

7. Las Vegas Strip (2023-ongoing)

I ranked Caesar’s Palace – F1’s previous Las Vegas effort – 12th and last among circuits that have hosted F1 grands prix in the USA, and I am pleased to say that Las Vegas Strip is quite a lot better. First, it is much bigger, for it is a 3.853-mile (6.201km) layout that encompasses 17 turns and sits on a far larger plot of land than the old Caesar’s Palace track did.

It is also that rather rare thing – a super-fast street circuit – for F1 cars attain speeds of in excess of 215mph (346km/h) as they approach the braking point for Turn 14, and average lap speeds in qualifying nudge the 150mph (241km/h) mark. Last year Mercedes’ George Russell said, “As a track, it was actually a lot better to drive than I’d anticipated. It looked pretty basic from the layout map, but it’s actually got quite a lot of character, and it’s a really challenging circuit to drive.”

However, when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was asked whether he was enjoying the circuit, he replied, “No, no, no. I’ve driven better tracks in my life. Also, it’s 99% show, 1% sporting event.”

There is some truth in what Verstappen says – like Miami, Las Vegas was conceived with marketing rather than racing as a priority – but Max still won the race’s only iteration so far, in 2023, kicking things off by earning himself a five-second stop-go penalty as a result of having pushed pole man Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari off the track at Turn 1. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Even more of a concern was that Carlos Sainz drove over a loose manhole cover in FP1, severely damaging his Ferrari, which was an egregious safety failing that really should not be an issue in F1 nowadays.

6. Phoenix Grand Prix (1989-1991)

Phoenix was yet another temporary street circuit, this time run on public roads near the Civic Plaza, and it was first held in June 1989, in scorching desert heat. It was a better racetrack than either Dallas or Detroit, but, as had been a problem in both those cities previously, the Phoenix track surface began to melt while it was being slowly baked by the sun. Overnight it was repaired with quick-dry cement, which thankfully held good for the rest of the weekend, even if the cars kicked up a bit of dust, particularly under heavy braking.

The second and third runnings of the race occurred in March, when it was cooler – and the 1990 race was a classic. Qualifying had been jumbled by rain on the Saturday, with the result that there were some surprises up front – Pierluigi Martini (Minardi) qualified second and Andrea de Cesaris (Dallara) third – and on race day Jean Alesi amazed everyone by leading the race in his Tyrrell, keeping Ayrton Senna’s McLaren at bay for many laps. Senna won in the end, but Alesi finished a fine second.

The following year, 1991, Senna won again, but there was a sardonic tone to his post-race interview. “I had a few problems with the gearbox, and the car’s balance wasn’t optimal, so it was very difficult to drive,” he said. Then he added, “I’m looking forward to running it on a proper circuit, with proper conditions, to see what the car can do.”

That proper circuit was his beloved Interlagos, where he won two weeks later, scoring the most emotional victory of his glittering career.

5. Sebring International Raceway (1959)

One of the oldest continuously operating circuits in the USA, Sebring has been hosting an annual 12-hour race for sports cars ever since 1952. The 12 Hours of Sebring it is called – not surprisingly – and it has been run every year with the sole exception of 1974, when it was abandoned owing to the 1973 oil crisis that had spooked the automotive world, especially in America. The race has been won by many of the greatest drivers in all of motor sport history – Stirling Moss (1954), Juan Manuel Fangio (1956 and 1957), John Surtees (1963), Mario Andretti (1967 & 1972), AJ Foyt (1985), and many, many more – and Sebring has also hosted a United States Grand Prix, albeit just the one, in 1959. It is now, as it was then, a rough and bumpy place, a tough test for both cars and drivers.

Motor Sport’s Denis Jenkinson was characteristically ungenerous in his description of Sebring in his 1959 race report, unfairly so in my opinion. “The most difficult thing for the drivers in the featureless open spaces in the middle of this aerodrome,” he wrote, “is to find a fixture for braking points and lines through corners. In fact parts of the circuit resemble a driving test layout at a small British club meeting.”

That 1959 race at Sebring was the first ever world championship-status F1 United States Grand Prix, so it will always be historically significant in that context. However, there is another reason for its special place in the record books. It was won by Bruce McLaren, in a Cooper, the first time a New Zealander had won an F1 grand prix, and he was 22 years, three months, and 12 days old at the time. That may not seem like much to write home about now, when teenagers routinely race F1 cars, but it was a big deal back then, for he thereby became the youngest ever F1 grand prix winner, a record that was finally broken by Fernando Alonso more than 43 years later when he won the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix for Renault at the age of 22 years, zero months, and 26 days.

4. Riverside International Raceway (1960)

Riverside was a formidable circuit, built on desert terrain near the Box Springs Mountains in Southern California. It comprised nine turns, the first five of which were superfast and combined to form a long and tricky esses section. Turns 6, 7, and 8 were hairpins, and the straight between Turns 8 and 9, another hairpin, was long and fast.

It first hosted races in 1957, a pair of California Sports Car Club sprints for sports cars, won by Richie Ginther and Ricardo Rodriguez, who was – wait for it – just 15 years old. But Riverside was dangerous as well as difficult, and local man John Lawrence was fatally injured when he crashed his MGA at Turn 8 that day. He died in hospital that evening. Dan Gurney, 26, made his name at Riverside later that year, racing an ill-sorted Ferrari ‘Arciero Special’ beautifully – and surprising those who had expected him to struggle with it, since Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles had both refused to drive it. Gurney led much of the race, but in the end he had to settle for second behind Shelby’s Maserati.

Riverside hosted just one United States Grand Prix, in 1960, and it was won from pole position by Stirling Moss, in a Rob Walker-entered Lotus 18. Moss pocketed $7500 for his trouble, which was a huge sum in those days.

Riverside was a brilliant challenge for drivers, but it was considered perilous even back in the day. Joe Weatherly was killed there in 1964, Ken Miles in 1966, and Rolf Stommelen in 1983. It finally closed in 1988, and a residential and shopping complex has now been built where it once stood.

3. Circuit of the Americas (2012-2019; 2021-ongoing)

The current home of the F1 United States Grand Prix, known formally as Circuit of the Americas – but referred to more commonly as Austin, the city in Texas near which it is situated – is an excellent circuit. In the grand American tradition it runs anti-clockwise, and Hermann Tilke drew inspiration for its design from sections of some of F1’s classics, such as Silverstone, Hockenheim, and Interlagos, as well as circuits from his own back catalogue such as Istanbul Park, Greater Noida, and Sakhir.

When the F1 circus first visited Austin in 2012, the circuit was widely praised by almost all the drivers, McLaren’s Jenson Button even calling it “fantastic and spectacular”, which is about as good as it gets. It has hosted the F1 United States Grand Prix 12 times now. Lewis Hamilton has won there five times; Max Verstappen thrice; and Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas, and now Charles Leclerc once each.

All it needs is a bit of grass or gravel at Turns 1 and Turn 12.

2. Long Beach (1976-1983)

If Long Beach is still a fine circuit, and although it still retains the distinctive sweeping profile of its famous Shoreline Drive not-quite-straight, it is not what it once was. For what it once was, even though it was tweaked and twiddled a bit during the era in which it hosted the F1 United States Grand Prix West (1976-1983), was the best street circuit in the world.

Long Beach was tight and hilly, and it often found the more fragile F1 cars – and drivers – wanting. No-one ever won an F1 grand prix on its tricky streets more than once, but many aces of the era were victorious on them: Mario Andretti (Lotus) in 1977; Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari) in 1978; Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) in 1979; Nelson Piquet (Brabham) in 1980; Alan Jones (Williams) in 1981; and Niki Lauda (McLaren) in 1982.

The first United States Grand Prix West, the 1976 event, was consummately dominated not by an ace but by Ferrari’s always combative but too erratic number-two, Clay Regazzoni, who delivered a grand chelem – pole position, fastest lap, flag-to-flag victory – finishing three-quarters of a minute ahead of his team leader, Niki Lauda, in second place. Another number-two driver to Lauda, this time McLaren’s John Watson, produced one of the most magnificent grand prix victories in F1 history at Long Beach in 1983, carving his way from 22nd place on the starting grid to first place 75 laps later; this time his team leader, Lauda, finished half a minute behind, also in second place.

Lauda’s win at Long Beach in 1982 was an emotional one for his supporters – although the Rat showed little in the way of sentiment, as usual. His critics had thought he should have stayed retired, yet here he was, just three races into his comeback season, having been absent for two years, having qualified on the front row, having stormed to an emphatic victory, and having clocked the race’s fastest lap for good measure. When he entered the press conference room to face the usual round of post-race questions, the journalists stood and applauded him, which is a rarity, let me tell you.

1. Watkins Glen (1961-1980)

Watkins Glen hosted 20 F1 United States Grands Prix between 1961 and 1980, and they were won by a galaxy of F1 GOATS: Jim Clark three times; Graham Hill three times also; Jackie Stewart twice; James Hunt and Carlos Reutemann twice also; Jochen Rindt; Emerson Fittipaldi; Ronnie Peterson; Niki Lauda; Gilles Villeneuve; Alan Jones; and other fine drivers besides.

It had been a scruffy place in the 1960s, criticised by many drivers and by Stewart in particular – “The most serious problem is the control of the spectators, the design of the pits hasn’t been at all well planned, and the safety levels are insufficient,” JYS had declared – and, in part in response to the drivers’ increasing disquiet, in 1970 and 1971 it was rebuilt at a cost of $3.5 million (£2.7m), which was a pretty penny in those days. A mile of extra racetrack was added to the circuit itself, the track surface was repaired and widened, the pits were moved to a safer location approved by Stewart, and more grandstands were constructed – and it was then that the Glen became the circuit that earns it its number-one status on my list.

In a word, it had become fantastic. It was fast and undulating, and all its corners were now difficult yet thrilling. François Cevert won the first F1 United States Grand Prix run on the new Watkins Glen – the 1971 race – but it would be his only F1 grand prix victory. He lost his life at the Glen in 1973 – a couple of years after which, in 1975, the fast uphill esses at which he had crashed and died were replaced by a chicane, which then became the circuit’s only imperfection in terms of the visceral challenge it offered drivers.

Watkins Glen still hosts racing today. I have never been there. One day I hope I will. Its website declares: “Drive The Glen passes can be purchased for $30 per vehicle either online or at Gate 2 located directly off County Route 16.” Now that is tempting.