The 2021 Formula One United States Grand Prix took place on October 24th, 2021. Even though Formula One usually holds races in the United States, the 2020 season was largely spoiled by COVID-19 and the decision was made to move the race out of the country. F1’s return to Austin, Texas this fall was a highly anticipated event that paid off for fans.
Recently, Formula One racing has seen a large boost in interest in the United States, mainly due to the Netflix series “Drive to Survive.” The series’ large growth in popularity largely occurred during the COVID lockdown, and since there was no race this past year, fans had no opportunity to show their support. The lack of races during the previous season meant that this event was destined for ample audience turnout, especially in combination with increased interest.
As an avid fan myself, I began planning my trip to the event on April 27th of this year. The race’s exact date was unclear at that time, but regardless, ticket sales skyrocketed thanks to thousands of insatiable fans. The Circuit of Americas website, where tickets were available, crashed and stayed broken for an extended period of time. The tickets were expected to be available for purchase at about 10 AM, and by about noon, virtually nobody was able to access tickets.
After waiting three hours, and refreshing my browser repeatedly, the website came back up and I was able to acquire tickets. The whole process was very frustrating, and that encapsulates a large portion of the planning experience for fans who attended the event.
Fans who purchased general admission tickets were promised they’d be sent wristbands through the mail to serve as their tickets. While the wristbands were slated to arrive six to eight weeks prior to race day, I received mine only 10 days before, leaving no time for ticket holders to work out any issues that may have arisen.
While my experience with ticket sales was anything but perfect, the incredible atmosphere of the F1 cars on the track and the vast crowd of fans relieved some of that frustration.
With the humid Austin weather, fans demand for water and other beverages was high. The water supply sold out at the end of each day, despite F1’s ample resources. The lack of merchandise for any of the top five or six drivers also disappointed fans, as almost all of it was gone on the first day.
Despite the logistical difficulties, being at the track was fantastic. The section I sat in, Turn 12, was filled with fans of every team. Despite having fans from multiple teams in the same section, there was never any negative energy amongst the people sitting together. It was a unique atmosphere, vastly different from what’s typically associated with professional football or basketball games.
In the qualifying round, Championship leader Max Verstappen barely edged out both Lewis Hamilton and Checo Perez for Pole position, which allowed him to start first for the race on the following day. As is common in F1 qualifying, the top three drivers all waited to do their fastest laps till the very end.
When fan-favorite Perez did his fastest lap, it put him at the top. Behind him, Hamilton was on his last lap. As Hamilton crossed the line, he took the top position from Perez. Behind both of them was Championship leader and phenom Verstappen, who was in the middle of his last lap. The moment when Verstappen crossed the line, fans went crazy, clapping and cheering as loud as they could.
For the race the following day, the amount of people at the track was absolutely astounding. The track was always packed. We arrived at the track at around 9 AM, and the race started at about 2 PM. While we were extremely early, fans swarmed the track, demonstrating the increased interest in the sport after COVID-19.
The race itself started with Hamilton in first place, as he got a much better start than Verstappen. Hamilton led for a small number of laps, before pitting for new tires. Verstappen then took the lead, and was able to hold onto it until it was his turn to pit. This cat and mouse game between the two occurred for a while, before seeing Max Verstappen barely hold off a dashing Lewis Hamilton and take the race win.
The race was topped off in a fitting way, with Shaquille O’Neal presenting the race winner’s trophy. He arrived at the podium celebration in Texas fashion: an old school car with big bull horns on the front. Compared to the relatively small F1 Drivers, Shaq looked like a literal giant. Even standing on the podium, second place finisher Lewis Hamilton was still shorter than Shaq.
Despite whatever frustration I had with the planning process, ticket delivery, or concessions, this hilarious podium celebration capped off a phenomenal weekend which I will surely never forget.
