Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is a Grade 1 FIA-specification 3.426-mile (5.514 km) motor racing track and facilities located within the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Austin, Texas.
Accommodation:
Austin is a major city, and you can get hotel rooms pretty easily, but to be safe, you should book a couple months in advance, or be at risk of staying at a rundown motel. As a rule of thumb, the closer to the track (and farther from the city center) you are, the cheaper hotels get. The hotels never, ever sell out for this race. AirBnb is pretty big in Austin, and is always a good bet, but book early. I've heard of people staying in San Antonio and making the 1hr drive to and from the track every day, but I personally can't say I'd enjoy that. The San Antonio - COTA drive isn't really much farther though. There are also lots of camping/caravaning/RV spots, if that's your thing, but they are extremely costly.
Getting to the track:
Parking isn't the best. You can shell out $150 for a 3-day pass, which allows you to park in a dirt/grass/mud lot not too far from the track. My COTA parking experience was skewed by the underwater hell that was USGP 2015, but it's a little very extremely disorganized, poorly planned & executed, and way too expensive. COTA said they were going to fix the bad-weather parking situation by paving much of their parking areas, but they never followed through. If you're willing to walk, some neighbors operate lots near the track for as little as $20 per day. If you park at one of these lots, usually $40 cash, you can take a free shuttle to the track entrance (I did this last year for race day, and it was nice.)
Beware of conflicting or premature communications from the track regarding weather issues, etc. During the big rain event in 2015, even though FP3 had not been cancelled, COTA closed its gates on Saturday morning, telling fans the track would be closed until further notice. FP3 went on as scheduled with very few fans on site.
There is a shuttle from downtown Austin that will drop you at the front gate for $50 per day, or drop you at the "drop point" a mile away from the nearest gate, on McAngus Road (more on this later) for $15 per day. I've heard mainly negative things about these, so use them at your own risk. The shuttles tend to be very disorganized, especially after the race, causing massive queues and sometimes a bit of chaos. That's all the public transportation you're gonna get, no train station in the middle of the Texan fields.
In 2017 there was also a shuttle from parking lots at the Travis County Expo Center to COTA. It wasn't used in 2018. It's unclear whether that shuttle will be in place this year.
You can use a ridesharing service (Uber and Lyft are back after an absence in 2016), but the designated "drop off point" is quite literally a mile walk from the track. "Helpful" locals will agressively accost you to pay $30+ for a bicycle rickshaw ride instead of the walk. My advice is to just come 15 minutes earlier and walk. If you're lucky, your driver will be willing to drop you off closer on property. All pick-ups will be at the designated point off property though, so you will have to make the long walk out there when you are leaving the track.
Seating:
T12 and T15 are great seats to sit in if you want to see the race action. These are the two best passing zones on track, and you're guaranteed to see some passing. In 2016, I sat at T15 and got to see Alonso get past Sainz and Massa in the last few laps. If you buy one of the flex-passes, I would spend at least part of the Friday at the esses, it's really cool to see the cars change direction so quickly. T9 is underrated IMO, as you get a good view of almost half of the track. You can see the esses, the T8-9-10 complex, the T11 hairpin, and the long back straight. If you buy T1 grandstand tickets, you can also see a ton of the track as well as the first turn of the race. The main grandstand is cool to watch the starting procedure and the pits and podium ceremony, but you really won't get a great view of the racing action.
In terms of general admission seating, sitting on the grass at the 16-17-18 triple-righthander is awesome. So is sitting at T1. You won't be able to see as much as the grandstand, but you get real close to the cars, and a great view of the start. Get to T1 super-early on Sunday to claim a good viewing spot. There's also a good view of T19 from general admission, but you can't really see anything else but 18-19-20 from that spot. Of course the beauty of GA is that you can always move somewhere else if you want a different view. The best GA views tend to be from turns 2 to 11, especially along the esses.
General Admission seating is by far the best value at COTA. It wasn't always that way. In the first year there were many grandstands blocking most of the best views, but over the years they've progressively removed around half of the grandstands to match demand. Now there are huge, fantastic general admission views almost all of the way around the track.
View of General Admission in Turn 1. This is at 9:06 a.m., shortly after the gates opened, and there are already hundreds of people who ran to this section.
This GP has never sold out, so don't feel undue pressure to buy tickets quickly or to pay more than face value for them. You can very often get tickets on the secondary market for less than face value. That way you get a good deal and also avoid paying the rather costly extra fees that COTA and Ticketmaster add.
Food:
A lot of the food that you're gonna get at the track is good. I really haven't gone wrong buying food there, but be warned, some all of it is overpriced. The BBQ at the track is good, but not particularly special by Austin standards. I've only been to a few BBQ places in the city, but Freedmen's is good, Salt Lick is better, and John Mueller is incredible apparently Micklethwait is the best bang for the buck (and wait). I've never been to the famed Franklin's, but almost everyone says it's worth the wait. Back at the track, security might take your bottled water, but not if you hide it well (Funny story, last year I just asked security if I could have a couple unopened bottles they confiscated. They were a bit surprised I asked, but they let me have them). There are a couple of Greek food stands at the track as well. I've found those to be a lot better than you think they might be. Definitely a step (or three) above typical track food.
Security allows one unopened bottle of water. You can refill it at the big watering stations that look like giant jugs, but beware, I saw one of those hooked up to a fire hydrant in 2018.
What to avoid:
There's a big (read: massive) truck selling BBQ on the lawn between the 16-17-18 complex. Not bad food, but bad lines and prices.
Merchandise is expensive, and I know it will be tempting to buy a shiny new cap or shirt, but eBay is your friend here. Grab a 2002 USGP Indianapolis hat for cheap to look like a seasoned pro, or buy an Orange Arrows cap and act like you supported Verstappens before supporting Verstappens was cool.
There is zero shade at COTA outside of the Main Grandstand. Prepare accordingly.
Don't wear shoes that you wouldn't want to walk in. COTA is a massive complex, so unless you're Chase Carey and get dropped off at the door, you're going to be walking.
It takes a long long long time to walk around the entire track, so get there early if you want to check out the whole track. When the race starts, I don't recommend moving. Last year, I started at T1 and then halfway through the race, we decided to try the track shuttle and go to another turn to get another view...you have to wait for the shuttle away from the track and it is super slow, you can't see anything during the ride, and eventually we decided to not even get off but just take it back to T1 in order to cut our losses and not miss the last laps. So avoid the track shuttle during the race. Pick a good place and stay there the entire race. Go back next year to get a different view ;)
Wi-Fi and cell reception may be a little suspect, depending on your carrier.
Misc:
Austin's a great city, TripAdvisor and Yelp know more than I do.
Unlike some other F1 host cities, Austin no longer has any significant F1-related events happening anywhere away from the track. There used to be a Fan Fest downtown, but that diminished year after year until they just abandoned it altogether.
If you want to go autograph hunting, keep an eye on the COTA twitter on the weeks leading up to the event to find out what drivers are signing on which day. In 2016, drivers were spread out throughout all three days. Keep in mind, if you want to have guaranteed signatures you will likely have to sacrifice watching certain on track sessions.
Bring sunblock, I'm sure I'm not the first to tell you.
If you have a seat in the bleachers, be sure to bring a seat cushion to keep your rear from hurting later in the day. Bring your own or buy one at the track, although it will be overpriced.
Take a ride up to the top of the tower, it's $25 $30 but a really fantastic view. Friday is the best day for this, it's by far the least busy. 'Premium' packages are offered as well, with the only difference being front of line access for the elevator ride up and a glass of champagne once at the top.
If you want to get on track for the podium ceremony, there are gates on either end of the main grandstand, T19, and at T1 at the top of the hill. Plan on arriving 5-7 laps before the end of the race for a prime spot. You get to go onto the track for the ceremony and walk around the track for like twenty minutes the ceremony ends. The people at the front like to hop up on the fence for the best view. Walk up the hill to T1 -- it's awesome!
Comments