Driving the streets of downtown Austin on the morning of the biggest college football game of the season, the first thing you see isn’t Longhorns merchandise.
There are no footballs thrown or horns hooked. Instead of the orange of Texas football, a Formula 1 car in McLaren’s famous papaya color stands out like a sore thumb.
From East Cesar Chavez, drive 10 minutes south to iconic South Congress Avenue and there you’ll find another one: this one, a blue Williams.
On what was originally billed as Texas football’s big day, Formula 1 took over Austin with its own “biggest weekend ever.”
As No. 1-ranked Texas prepares to take on No. 5 Georgia at the 100,000-seat university stadium, a much larger crowd is heading out of town to Circuit of the Americas to watch No. 1 in the ranking, Max Verstappen, against the number 2. ranked Lando Norris.
A McLaren Formula 1 car sits outside a Levi’s pop-up store in suburban Austin, Texas.
Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders added some glamor to race day at COTA on Sunday
The growth of F1 in the United States has been meteoric since the unprecedented success of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, with viewership records constantly being broken in the three American races on the calendar.
First in Miami, now in Austin and then in Las Vegas, racing fans in the United States are beginning to move away from the oval races of NASCAR and IndyCar toward the twisty circuits of F1.
It’s partly the speed of the cars and partly the glitz and glamor off the track. Historically elite and hidden under the stewardship of Bernie Ecclestone, F1 has now opened its doors to the general public and the personalities behind the helmets are at the forefront of the sport.
The weekend in Austin is as much about activations and off-track events as it is about racing, which was exciting in itself as Verstappen and Norris fought tooth and nail, but were ultimately stunned by a rare 1-2 from Ferrari.
The Friday and Saturday nights after races at COTA have become synonymous with concerts at the track, after Taylor Swift started a trend in 2016.
Fans waited hours to see Williams drivers Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto.
F1’s new star Colapinto signs a Williams fan’s cap at the team’s pop-up store in Austin
In the years since, Justin Timberlake, Elton John, Britney Spears and Queen have taken the stage, and this year it was Sting and Eminem’s turn.
Each year the qualifying session is delayed to encourage fans to stay for the evening concert, and this year was no different as over 100,000 fans packed the stadium to see a now-rare performance by Slim Shady.
Back in the city centre, the sport’s rise in popularity is evident in a host of activities for fans. At an appearance by the Williams driver, hundreds of fans, many of them waving Argentine flags, queued for hours to meet the team’s new star, Franco Colapinto.
He is only four races into his F1 career and is the least known driver on the grid, but he still had fans begging for his autograph, demonstrating the superstar status of the 20 men behind the helmets.
Aston Martin rented out the SkyBox rooftop bar for a viewing party and driver meet-and-greet, while Red Bull brought its drivers Verstappen and Sergio Perez to a Cherry pop-up store in the city to help launch a new Cherry collaboration. clothes.
The COTA stands were packed with hundreds of thousands of F1 fans throughout the weekend
Eminem was the star attraction for racing fans after Saturday night’s qualifying session.
Back in the paddock, Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders wandered around taking selfies with fans, and seemingly every other guest was a supermodel or influencer.
While many still believe that Europe is the beating heart of Formula 1, the United States has broken through in a big way in recent years and teams are open to the fact that growing in the United States is their number one goal.
Williams celebrated the launch of its 2024 car on New York’s Fifth Avenue, and Red Bull did the same the previous year across town on the banks of the Hudson River.
Part of the push to recruit new American fans involves taking existing motorsport fans from other American racing series and turning them into the bright lights of F1.
This week, Aston Martin team ambassador and F1 Academy director Jessica Hawkins headed to North Carolina to become the latest British woman to drive a NASCAR Cup car.
In a historic moment, Hawkins and NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon They drove together on the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.for a cross between Aston Martin F1 and Hendrick Motorsports.
Charles Leclerc won Sunday’s race, while Lando Norris and Max Verstappen battled behind
Austin’s famous Sixth Street was flooded with the colors of the F1 teams after the action ended.
Under its ownership of Liberty Media American, it appears that F1 has its goals lined up and there is a clear path to growth: every race in the United States is a stepping stone to success.
Next month, the roadshow will once again come to Las Vegas for a big weekend of action on and off the track, featuring A-list celebrities from all walks of life.
Here in Austin, F1’s ability to upstage the Texas Longhorns on its biggest weekend of the year is a testament to the sport’s growing popularity.
A few years ago, it seemed unfathomable that the popular Sixth Street would be dominated by fans wearing F1 team merchandise, but on Sunday night the strip was awash in color.
Most weekends, the Longhorns reign supreme in Texas… but not when F1 is in town.
