'Vegas has its lights, but COTA is F1's sporting soul in the US'

What a strange time, then, for COTA to host F1 again. Especially as the promoters will be all too aware that the Austin race’s status as a ‘crown jewel’ has lost some of its sparkle in the gaudy glow of the new Miami GP held earlier this year, and more specifically the Las Vegas GP to come on November 18 2023. There’s a clear and obvious pecking order for America’s three grands prix – and Austin is at the bottom of it.

Just look at the language used by F1 when it releases news about the Vegas race. When announcing the date of the grand prix, it was described as “the standout event on the sport’s global calendar in 2023 and beyond”. At least the rest know where they stand, eh?

“The Las Vegas Grand Prix is going to take F1 race weekends to the next level,” gushed F1 chief Stefano Domenicali. “Staging a grand prix in the sports and entertainment capital of the world has allowed us to plan a truly spectacular celebration that has never been seen in our sport before, in the greatest arena on earth.”

Miami? Where’s that? Never mind Austin, mayfly F1 has a new favourite playground. All grands prix count for the same? In points maybe, but in status terms don’t you believe it.

Perhaps it’s only natural for Austin to become overshadowed, given it’s the most established race of the trio. In its 10th anniversary year since the first COTA GP in 2012, the novelty has inevitably worn off despite the circuit remaining among the best of the modern breed. It’s not a street track of course, the new-venue option so in vogue right now, but that only means it is better suited to decent motor racing. Then again, who cares about that… Let’s face it, the Miami race was an anti-climax until the Lando Norris/Pierre Gasly collision triggered a tense chase to the flag for a hot and bothered Verstappen. But the actual nitty-gritty of the sporting spectacle seemed to take second place to the number of celebrities on the grid and how people felt about the tongue-in-cheek fake marina.

Much like Long Beach 40 years ago, Las Vegas is the ‘Big One’ in the States, which I guess makes Miami a Detroit or even, dare we say it, a Phoenix or Caesars Palace… which kind of means COTA takes the Watkins Glen role. That’s fitting. Texas is an awful long way from New York state, but it’s the closest F1 has ever come to finding a spiritual successor to what remains for those old enough to remember grand prix racing’s best-loved US home.

Not all the COTA races have been classics in the past 10 years, but much like the Glen the place has sparked its fair share. The first one in 2012 featured one of those simmering, drawn-out duels purists relish, even if it required backmarker anguish to break the deadlock in Hamilton’s favour (his last win for McLaren) over Vettel. Thanks, Narain Karthikeyan.

Then there was Nico Rosberg’s unforced error late in the intense rain-affected 2015 edition as Hamilton claimed his third title. And who can forget Kimi Räikkönen’s sign-off victory for Ferrari in 2018 as young Verstappen stormed from P18 on the grid to second? But the best was surely that Red Bull/Mercedes fight last year – even if its memory is now shaded, like the rest of that season, by knowledge of Red Bull’s apparent overspend advantage. You have to wonder whether Verstappen’s first title, and actually his second too given the knock-on benefit into 2022, will be coloured in the same way as Michael Schumacher’s first for Benetton, thanks to the tumult of that one-thing-after-another 1994 season.

Still, let’s end this week on a positive point. Thankfully, F1 signed a new five-year deal back in February to keep racing at COTA until the end of the 2026 season. So even if it’s now considered the ‘plain Jane’ of US grands prix by those who count the money its medium-term future is at least secure. Glitzy neon lights and tacky artifice? Vegas and Miami can keep them. Austin is F1’s US sporting soul if nothing else, which this weekend might actually count for more than the dollars. If anywhere can drown out the depressing paddock noise of a sport that is threatening to rip itself apart, it’s COTA. Here’s hoping.