First time at COTA this year. Been an F1 fan for years and my wife has joined me. We’ve watched every race for the last few years and finally saved up enough to make the trip out to COTA and see it in person.

And honestly, it was a disorganized mess. Yes I know it was our first time, and yes I know it’s not Disney. It is a race track. But what’s the deal here? We fought to maintain a decent GA spot at turn 6 all three days and had good viewing, and everything that happened on track was great. But the stuff off track was pretty terrible.

1. Every staff member we asked for directions or advice either gave us incorrect info or just didn’t know. Even scanning in and out of the track was a mystery to everyone and tons of people were told they didn’t have to scan out and ended up being basically locked out.
   
2. Bathrooms didn’t have soap or even water the entire time. Half the time no toilet paper either.
   
3. Water refilling stations were few and far between and room temp at best. (Yes we brought our own but the rules clearly state not to, feeling bad for anyone that follows the rules here) thank god it wasn’t 90+ degrees
   
4. Spent Friday evening waiting over an hour for a tram that never came, and our park and ride bus dropped everyone in our lot at the wrong spot so we had to walk an extra mile or so. Literally had to walk around in circles Friday evening to find a way back to our lot.
   
5. MERCH PRICES?? Holy sh** I mean I know merch costs more at the location, but I’ve seen world tour concerts that wouldn’t dare charge $130 for a freaking hat. The same hat that is on the website for $45? I get up charges, but why does a full on branded cowboy hat cost less than a Puma Mercedes branded ball cap?

I might get roasted on this and I don’t really care. I love F1 so much and we really enjoyed all the race activities and support races, but the overall impression was that in general fans that didn’t have a lot of money were expected to tolerate a disorganized, unsanitary, frequently unsafe and scammy experience and just say “thank you”, and if that’s how it always is then I’ll pass from now on.

I haven’t seen them on tv

I gotta say, they did a great job managing the airport this year. We also discovered that if you walk through the airport with a Round Rock donuts box you immediately become the most popular person there…which leads me to this. Next year I encourage people to grab a box and hand them out to the TSA folks and workers at Austin. They are managing way more people than they are accustomed to and doing a great job. Thank you to all the workers there!

I just wanted to share a write up about my experience with COTA as someone that has attended the Canadian GP and Miami GP.

First a rundown of my COTA experience and then a compare/contrast with the other North American GP's I've been to.

Seats
After lots of research on this and other subreddits (the r/GrandPrixTravel subreddit was very beneficial) I decided on Turn 15 Grandstand seats. I bought 2 for $2700. We had row 31, section 9 (about 5 rows from the top) and I can't say enough about how great these seats were. Absolutely terrific views of turns 12-15 where many of the overtakes happen. You can also see all the way down to Turn 11 (the start of the back straight) and bits of the esses to your right. As with all grandstands at COTA (except the start/finish straight) there is no cover, but in the afternoon the sun is at least at your back in T15 Grandstand. Fold down seats with seat-backs. The main food hall is right behind this grandstand, there are bathrooms (real and portapotty) very close, hydration station & bars very close. The main Fan Zone is a short walk away. The amphitheater where the team interviews and some mid-day entertainment happen are right behind the grandstand so that was very convenient.

Weather
The weather this weekend was great, highs in the low-mid 80s with low/no humidity so no problem with the sun for us. I believe that might be a bit unseasonably cool for this time of year in Austin, but not overly so. In any case we were warm but never uncomfortable, and with bringing in an empty bottle and filling up at hydration stations, we never had any issues.

Stay
I wanted to stay in downtown Austin so that we could walk to all the pop-ups, F1 type events, 6th street, restaurants, etc. Hotels were expensive (as expected) but I did find a place called Placemakr by Hilton downtown that was reasonable. For four nights (Thurs-Sun) the total price of our room was $1350 (plus $100 for parking those 4 nights.) The room was a studio apartment with laundry, kitchen, balcony, King Bed. From this spot we could easily walk (or rent a scooter) to all the pop-ups, congress, sixth street, etc. We booked this hotel in December of 2025 which likely helped with the reasonable cost.

Flights
This will vary wildly for everyone depending on where you're coming from but for us the price of flights round trip through San Antonio were far more reasonable than Austin. We flew in on Thursday morning and out Monday late morning. Had no issues at all with TSA, crowds or anything like that and the price was actually less than half of what similar flights into Austin were. Definitely worth the 90 min drive from San Antonio if you were planning on renting a car anyway.

Parking
After research it seemed the consensus (if you're willing to pay a hefty price) was Parc Ferme parking (a private lot) by the circuit. I pre-purchased this online for $400 for three days of parking. Getting to this parking spot, frankly, was a massive pain in the ass all three days. The police shut down lots of roads that lead to this convenient parking spot and with it being right next to the track you spend a long time trying to just GET to the parking lot. The police had the road where Parc Ferme is located shutdown to normal traffic so I actually had to drive through the Exxon to get onto the road to get to the parking lot. On race-day the Exxon itself was a parking lot and I almost couldn't even get to my lot. With that being said, once parked in that lot by friendly folks it's a short walk to the main entrance (but still a long walk through COTALand to get to my T15 grandstand, but that's ok, we don't mind the walk.) Now, where this parking lot gets tons of kudos is in leaving the track. All three days I was out of the main COTA traffic nearly instantly. The lot is by paddock parking and police escorts essentially clear the way for traffic coming from that direction (even though I was far from a part of the VIP traffic). Sunday I left after podium celebrations, from getting to my car to getting to my hotel in downtown Austin was 35 mins. My friend who was in a COTA lot didn't even get out of his parking lot for over two hours.

To/From Track Logistics (from downtown Austin driving own car)
I had a rental car and private lot pre-purchased (see "Parking") so this was my experience driving myself to/from the track all three days. Getting 100k+ people to/from one location is always going to be tricky and I don't expect it to be flawless. This went about as well as can be expected. I went between 8-10am on Friday and Saturday and closer to noon on Sunday. Friday the traffic was the lightest (as you'd expect) and I was able to get within a mile of the track in about 30 mins from downtown Austin. Saturday was a bit heavier, maybe 40 mins and Sunday was by far the worst, about an hour to 90 mins. Seems like each day there were different closed roads and routes so just follow the cops directions and pray your Google Maps/Waze/etc knows the best route. Leaving was insanely easy each day for me (again, see "parking") but could be a nightmare depending on your lot. Each day it took between 30-40 mins for me to get back downtown.

At-Track Logistics
Getting around COTA was simple enough. Only at the most busy of times on Sunday did we have any difficulty at all. Friday and Saturday we could always walk right into a bathroom, up to a bar, into a shop, up to a food counter. The COTA app for your phone was useful for finding things you needed and for finding your way around. Going through COTALand seemed a bit like walking through a mirror maze and could've had better signage for figuring out where to go but it was fine. Crowds moved easily, no bottlenecks/pinch points that I came across unless you were trying to do the track invasion after the race (we didn't.) Lines were long for the popular attractions (Lego, Pit crew, sim racing, etc) but very reasonable for everything else, including the Ford off-roadeo where they took you around a dirt track at speed.

Merch/Food/Drink
Large selection of Merch available. If it was F1/Team branded it was stupid expensive. In most cases you could find the same thing online for less than half the cost. The reasonable merch was COTA merch. T-shirts and hats with COTA branding were only in the $30s or so. Food was expensive but not ungodly. Alcoholic drinks were very high. $16ish for a beer before tip, $21ish for mixed drinks. Plenty of hydration stations for free water bottle filling.

City/Pop-ups/etc
Austin was a ton of fun. Sixth street is famous for its bars and entertainment and we had a great time when we went out. The crowds were a mix of F1 fans from afar and locals. We had a great time with everyone we met. The pop-ups we went to were good, some great. Enchante x Ford (danny ric's clothing company) knocked it out of the park. Very cool setup with open bar, sims, free tattoos, free food, good vibes. It was the best of the ones we went to. Red Bull had a nice setup and we saw Yuki and Callum. Esses Magazine was ok. Never made it to Lando's pop-up but heard good things. Mercedes had one on Congress but we never made it to that one either (Enchante's open bar was hard to be pulled away from lol.) Tons of good food in Austin, of course, special shout out to Moonshine Grill right down the road from where we were staying as they had a good dinner menu but an unbelievably good Sunday brunch.

Total Costs (For 2 people)
Seats $2700
Hotel + downtown parking $1450
Track Parking $400
Rental car $300
Rental car gas $40
Flights $2000
Total (before food and drink): $6890

Comparison to my experiences in Montreal and Miami
These three races and experiences all felt very unique. Montreal is a very cool city with lots to see, Miami has the beach. Two were street tracks and one purpose built. The logistics at all three had their pluses and minuses, Canadian GP by far had the worst logistics but it's on an island and it rained all weekend causing more chaos than usual. Miami was super hot but had more shade. I spent a similar amount of money at all three races and probably feel like I got the most bang-for-my-buck at COTA but if you asked my wife she'd probably say Miami because she was also able to enjoy the beach & ocean when we weren't trackside. We had a blast at all three. Planning Vegas next year (as it's the next obvious choice for someone living in the US.)

I’ve been an F1 fan since Checo Pérez made his debut with Sauber back around 2011–2012; I used to play F1 games as a kid, which is where I learned a lot about the sport. I started planning this trip as soon as the 2025 season ended, traveling from Monterrey, Mexico, to Austin with my girlfriend.

We bought our tickets through Costco in June and booked our hotel in August. We stayed in Round Rock (about 30 minutes from COTA). For parking, I followed a tip from another user here and parked at "El Chanclas Taqueria" on FM 812. It cost $25 for the day, plus $10 for a round-trip shuttle service via golf cart—highly recommended! The owners were very welcoming, and they even gave me some free beer.

On Friday, we packed snacks and water in our backpacks. Once inside, we bought more drinks and tried a pretzel and a hot dog. We sat at Turn 1 for the first practice session (P1); I felt a huge rush of excitement the moment the first car hit the track, having only ever watched it on TV before. We checked out the outlet shop nearby, but they only had very small sizes left (I’m a fan of Colapinto). We also headed to the Fanzone to visit the Topps booth—I was surprised by the distance; it took nearly 30 minutes to get from Turn 1 to the Fanzone, navigating through crowds and over bridges. For P2, we moved to Turn 3, right under the bridge—it was fantastic! By 6:30 PM, we were back at our hotel, where we took the opportunity to do some shopping and grab a bite to eat. On Saturday, during P3, we headed to Turn 18. The view was great, and it wasn’t too crowded; it was also easier to get there via COTALAND. We arrived early, hoping to try out the F1 simulators, but it was completely packed. Later that day, we stopped by the Topps booth and then found a spot under the Texas flag (near Turn 5, I believe). Traffic on the way out was heavy—our shuttle took over 40 minutes to arrive. Afterward, we headed back to Waco to visit family, which is about an hour and 50 minutes from COTA.

On Sunday, we were even better prepared and left with more time to spare. I was a bit anxious—I was still having breakfast at the hotel, and I’d seen photos online showing people arriving as early as 4:00 AM! I had hoped for Turn 18, but realized there was no gate for a track invasion there, so we ended up at Turn 2—a bit lower down, but with a fantastic view, right in front of a big screen. We left five laps before the end to reach the track-invasion gate. It was a bit chaotic—people were tripping and falling—but we managed to get through. We went over to the area outside Colapinto’s garage, though he didn’t come out like drivers have in previous years. We snapped a few photos on the track, then headed out. Since the traffic looked terrible, we walked from COTA back to the parking lot and were already back at our hotel by 7:00 PM.

I’ll definitely be back next year! I met some great people from Mexico, as well as some Argentinians. We stood out a bit in our Alpine gear, since everyone else seemed to be supporting Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes, or McLaren. People even gave us Alpine-themed wristbands and stickers, noting how rare it was to see fans wearing Alpine apparel! Next year, I’ll be back—whether in the grandstands or general admission, depending on what my budget allows, haha! Thanks so much to everyone who offered advice and help—I really appreciated the support from this forum.

A group behind me in mind for the shuttle loudly told their plan. Each three days they took an uber there. And on the way back, they just joined the shuttle lines covered their wrist with bagss. And all three days they went on.

Maddening

Thank you to the folks at Parc Ferme for one of the easiest entry/exit to an F1 event. Worth every penny. The staff was great, location was fantastic.

Thank you those who post to r/CircuitOfTheAmericas - your time and info made a real difference to the trip.

Hello all! This was our first F1 experience and I couldn't find the answers to some of these questions ahead of time so I thought I would share our experience so others can improve upon it! I'm going to try and make it as brief as possible.

We were traveling as 58 year old parents with 24 year old twins and we all like F1 and follow all year. That's my biggest take away. I was trying to talk my other son into coming with but he knows nothing about F1 and after the weekend I was really glad he didn't come because he wouldn't have enjoyed it. So make sure you are true fans or it's probably just annoying, hot, dirty, inconvenient and expensive. We had a great time! (I say this because I did hear other conversations in line like, how many drivers are there per team and the guy next to me in the stands asked if qualifying was over so not everyone there really knows what's happening.)

We stayed in south Austin at a VRBO and that worked well because we had a rental car. We were able to go downtown easily and it was 30 min to the track. Be aware that they close some of the roads from the south (Moore) for VIP access so follow signs or come around from the southeast through Elroy.

We wanted to park at Park Ferme but I couldn't find the info to pay ahead of time (I did see that someone else did, so I missed it somehow) and we couldn't get to the lot. They closed the small road by the Exxon and the next road down to the east was also closed for VIP's. We ended up at Pop's for $180 for the weekend which worked just fine and they were really nice workers--porta potties and water/drinks for your walk over. We had no problems leaving the back way from the field Friday, on Sat we stayed for the Post Malone concert and had no issues then either, Sunday we stayed for 1 1/2 hours after the end of the race and did have some trouble. We left the back way and there was a random line we were following across a field and when we got 2nd from the front a police officer came over and completely yelled at the driver of the car in front of us and told the line we couldn't leave until everyone else was gone. Clearly they need more traffic control because we were just following the crowd. Lucky for us, a nice driver waved us all in so we only sat for 5 min and the officer was on to the next problem by then.

I really debated between seats at Turn 15 or 19 because my husband gets overheated easily. We chose 19, row 14. I will post a photo because the official F1 experience people said the seats were only covered from row 15 up, but when I looked at photos it looked like it was covered further down, which was true. I forget to take a side photo for you all, but you can tell from my photo. I would say the cover ended around 9-10 and as the sun sets lower, the rows slowly come into the sun. By 5:00, our knees in row 14 were just getting sun. I hope this helps someone else. Also, they had nice fans all along around row 12 that would have been great but they NEVER TURNED THEM ON! WHY?! If it was raining you would also have cover above 10-11ish.

While we enjoyed our seat location--turn, seats, cover, location to food, etc, we walked over to turn 15 to watch the F1 academy races because they were no longer checking tickets and WOW--what a view there! I can see why it's a favorite. I wonder why they don't cover those stands to make it less harsh?

I read a lot of complaints about the food and bathroom lines but I found they moved fast except for the women's bathroom a half hour before the race. Line was way too long so I had to ditch.

I agree it was a little hard to find refill stations but once you do, you're good for the weekend. We did bring in 8 bottles in our backpack for 4 people.

We found the 15-20 min walk through Cotaland to Turn 19 was annoying. Why did they add that? We also couldn't figure out where to do the track invasion exactly. One son waited by the ferris wheel and those gates opened. There was a large group a little further into Cotaland around 20 but that gate didn't open so it was a long run around all the rides to the entrance to the main grand stand. We ended up on a grassy hill watching because there was such a crush of people. I wouldn't do that again. I didn't like leaving the race early and it wasn't worth it.

However, we went up the Main Grandstand after the podium was done and hung out and relaxed watching the pits for an hour and a half to let the traffic clear. There were probably 50 people there all spread out and we were treated to Max coming out in his shorts and slides to take a photo with his crew about an hour after race end and Kimi also took a pic in his garage. Max was kind and waved to the handful of people that were left there haha.

As someone else posted, merch was expensive so don't buy it there. My son wanted a Cadillac golf shirt and it was $220. No thanks.

We enjoyed the driver interviews in the morning and thought it was worth it to get there early. What's up with the pong though? Painful.

Everyone said to wear old shoes because they get dirty, but I think if you aren't staying for the concert, you can wear whatever. But walking out to the concert grass was mostly dirt. Also, it was a 2 mile walk back from the concert venue to Pop's parking at the end of the night.

A lot of people were in the Turn 9 stands for the concert and while I'm sure you could hear from there, I think the experience at the venue was better and we just sat on the grass. Post Malone's drunk performance is a topic for another time.

We chose to fly out of Austin because it was the same cost for us as San Antonio. We chose late afternoon flights so we didn't have to fight the rental car return line and got there around 1:30 and it was fine.

Our total cost for 4 adults flying from 4 different states and meeting up, staying at a VRBO, rental car from Thursday-Monday, $900 Turn 19 covered seats ($3600 total) and food, etc was $9K.

Looking forward to another F1 experience at another track! Open to suggestions!

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Our view from row 14, Turn 19. As you can see the cover goes down a few more rows. Fans are NOT ON.

I want to know what was worth it? What did you get or do that was worth it? It could be food/drinks, track invasion, merch, tickets, anything that made your experience at COTA better.

This was my first F1 GP and we knew going in that it wasn't going to be cheap. We got 3 day grandstand tickets, lot K parking, stayed near the track. For us it was: the grandstand on Sunday, a COTA hat, bringing food in, staying near the track. We found a walking taco stand that was extremely worth it compared to food at the fan field.

I'm just trying to help other first timers...

On Turn 1 after the final porsche race on Sunday. Thanks!

We didn’t act fast enough and missed out on the plain white (may have been a tech t) shirt with black lettering on the front that said United States Grand Prix.

Does anyone happen to have a picture of one?

Haven’t been able to find one online.

Small touch, massive consequences. Both cars had floor damage, Bearman was losing 1s/lap. Is this just a racing incident or was the penalty fair?

Did anyone get the Cadillac bandana from the track this past weekend?

Willing to part with it?
Wife left hers in the Airbnb and has been trying to find it through F1 merch with no luck. She’s a big bottas fan and it was our first-ever race that we got to attend in person.

Hey guys planning to book for Suzuka in April. Looking for hospitality and so far I’m only seeing paddock or Champions club. I’ve only been to 1 GP (Abu Dhabi) which was amazing and it’s my only experience. It had sofas, high top tables, endless food and dj’s-just over the top amazing. Looking for a similar experience and I haven’t come across it yet. Anyone have experience on this and what they booked/who they booked through? TIA. 🏎️

visiting from Norway to attend COTA/F1 and I thought I was in Mumbai.