Before watching Formula 1: Drive to Survive on Netflix, I knew very little about the F1 nor did I have any interest in in. But the Netflix series brought a relatively niche sport like Formula 1 to the front and centre for people like me.

When the chance to watch the USGP in Austin Texas came up last year in October 2023, we figured why not! We’re only a 3 hour drive away from Austin.

My husband and our friend, who are both Formula 1 enthusiast, did all the planning. This was on of the few trips we’ve done so far in America where I did zero planning and I was along for the fun ride.

This is a break down of what they did to plan this 1 night 2 day trip to Austin for the USGP at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), just outside of downtown Austin.

Getting Tickets

You can buy tickets from the official F1 website or through third party ticket resellers like Seakgeek. As we only decided to head to the Austin F1 Gran Prix around a month before the event, the official tickets were sold out. We bought our 3 tickets from Seakgeek.

If you want to get in early, a tip from this Redditor is to sign up to be notified when tickets are officially released so you don’t miss out.

The Austin F1 Grand Prix is a 3-day event, running from Friday to Sunday. Each day focused on a different key events and also gave you access to the nightly concert.

• Friday: Practice session and qualifying session
• Saturday: Sprint shootout and sprint race
• Sunday: The big race day

There are a bunch of different ticket pricing depending on:

• Which day you want to attend
• Whether you want an allocated seat
• Which grandstand and where exactly the seat is in the grandstand

General admission tickets are essentially ground passes to COTA. That means bring-your-own chair.

We opted for grandstand seats to get assigned seats and a better view of the race. We also decided to just attend Saturday and Sunday instead of all 3 days.

On Saturday, we bought tickets for the Turn 1 Grandstand. We had a good view of the start of the starting line of the race and the first big hook turn of the track. The reseller ticket cost USD$350 per person.

Sunday was race day, so tickets were far more expensive across the board compared to Saturday. So we opted for a cheaper grandstand and chose the Turn 9 grandstand. It still costed us USD$501 per person.

Getting to Austin (Circuit of the Americas)

October in Texas is still very hot.

It was around 30+ degrees celsius for both days at COTA. So dressing for the sun was very important since the whole event was outdoors with little shade if you purchased General Admission tickets or grandstand tickets.

The drive from Houston to COTA was a smooth drive on the many highways that connect the whole of Texas. We dropped by Buc-ees half way for a quick cold coffee and takeaway.

If you ever make a visit to Texas, checking out Buc-ees is a must. It’s more than a gas station and convenience store to stop at on a road trip. It sells Buc-ee themed merchandise that is very Texan, and has some of the best Texas-styled hot food.

Where to Stay

Since it was a the Austin Grand Prix weekend, accommodation cost across Austin was expensive, especially if you were staying downtown. We initially booked a 1-night Airbnb, but the host cancelled on us last minute so we had to find alternative accommodation.

We ended up finding a couple of rooms at Hotel Ella in Austin, outside downtown, for a reasonable price. You can find my full review of Hotel Ella here.

Getting to the track / parking

For Saturday, we decided to park off site at Barton Creek Square Mall and take the shuttle to COTA. The shuttle ride from the carpark to COTA costed around $46 per person.

We planned to stay after the race to watch the concert at night at COTA, and preferred not to be driving in the dark from COTA to our hotel. So we opted for the shuttle to COTA.

This was also a bit cheaper than parking at COTA.

For Sunday, we were driving straight from COTA back to Houston after the race finished in the afternoon. So we opted to fork out the $282 for parking at COTA.

It ended up taking us over an hour to get out of the COTA car park! The traffic was that bad.

If you plan to park at COTA, just make sure you take that addition time into account.

Watching the race

This is where the fun really begins. Even if you’re not a big F1 fan, it’s like attending a live concert. The atmosphere of the event gets you into the groove of things. The live commentating, excited fans shouting and cheering, fan dressed head to toe in their favourite team colours and kit.

You can’t help but get into the F1 vibe yourself.

We brought along ear plugs, expecting the cars to be very loud when they raced by. But surprisingly we didn’t need them. It was loud but only for a split second since the cars were speeding by so quickly.

It was definitely fun to watch it live and in person compared to just watching it on TV.

Even though you could only see one segment of the track when you’re at the F1, there is a giant TV that shows you what else is happening on the race track. Also the cars are going around the track so quickly, you’re never waiting too long for the next F1 car to speed by in front of your grandstand.

Getting around COTA

Be sure to wear comfortable shoes, wear a hat and slap on sunscreen often. COTA is massive and hilly, and you’ll need to walk everywhere.

Also, there is very limited reception at COTA, so if you’re splitting up with your travel buddies make sure you discuss where to meet ahead of time. Don’t rely on access to cellular service to use your SMS or messaging apps!

Food & Drinks

There are food and drink sections everywhere in COTA. You’ll find the usual offerings you get at stadiums and other events: ice cream, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, hot dogs, nachos, burgers, pizza, stirfry noodles.

As you would expect, food and drink aren’t cheap, especially for the quality of food you get. But it’s no different to any other event. Be prepared for massive crowds and long waiting lines.

Given the hot weather, the ice cream and cool drinks were very popular.

You can bring your own bottle of water and there are water refill stations scattered across COTA, just get ready to line up for them.

Photography at the F1 Grand Prix

Like attending any stadium, event or concert, check the specific venue policy on photography and cameras.

For COTA, personal cameras were allowed in. But tripods, monopods and detachable telephoto lenses were not allowed.

All the photos shared on this page were taken with my Fujifilm X-T4 with the Fujinon 18-55mm f2.8-4 lens. It’s a lightweight camera kit that makes it walking around COTA with it didn’t feel too heavy. The 55mm focal lens gave me enough reach to get some closer shots of the cars on the track and the general atmosphere of COTA.

A few of the images shared in this post were taken with my Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Watching the After-Race Concerts

Every ticket includes an after-race concert.

We stayed for the Saturday night concert. Queen and Adam Lambert were rocking it out on the big stage. It was first come first serve, no seating arrangement with out tickets. Even though the stage was pretty far away, the big TV screens still gave you a decent view of what was happening on stage.

Since we didn’t want to drive back to Houston in the dark on Sunday night, we skipped Sunday night concert.

After the race (Getting out of COTA)

For Saturday night, we left the concert before the last song to catch our shuttle back to the car park to and drive into Austin to check into our hotel. It was a long walk to the shuttle stop and then a bit of a drive to our hotel.

We didn’t get checked in and settled into our hotel until midnight.

For Sunday, like most people, we left straight after the big race. Exiting COTA and walking to our car park took a while with the massive crowd doing the same.

It took us a good hour or two from the end of the race to physically leaving the COTA carpark!

So be prepared for the long grind through the crowd and cars.

Wrap Up

Attending an F1 Grand Prix feels like a once in a life time experience. A bucketlist item if you will.

When you add up the cost of the tickets, accommodation, transport, food and drinks. It’s a bit of an expensive experience, so save up for it and once you do, its well worth it. There is nothing like a live and excited crowd and seeing the hype up close instead of on TV.

Will I attend another F1? Maybe, if right opportunity comes up in another city or country.

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