Circuit of The Americas joined the F1 calendar in 2012 as the sixth different host of the United States Grand Prix. Here are all the facts and statistics you need to know about COTA ahead of the United States Grand Prix!
Track length: 5.513km
Race length: 308.405km
Laps: 56
Turns: 20
Circuit opened: 2012
F1 first visited: 2012
Races held: 12
Track Record: 1:32.029, Valtteri Bottas, 2019
Lap Record: 1:36.169, Charles Leclerc, 2019
RACE WINNERS
In 2012, Circuit of The Americas became the sixth different venue to host the United States Grand Prix in World Championship history.
There have been 12 races held at COTA since F1 first visited for the 2012 United States Grand Prix. From those 12 races, six different drivers have taken victory here.
Hamilton has won almost half of the races at COTA
Lewis Hamilton has the most wins at COTA, having taken five wins in Texas.
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are the only drivers to have taken back-to-back wins at COTA. Hamilton holds the record for the most consecutive wins at the circuit, having taken four wins in a row here between 2014 and 2017. Verstappen took three wins in a row from 2021 to 2023.
Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel are the only former winner of the United States Grand Prix at COTA not on the current grid. Of the current grid, Lewis Hamilton has more wins here than any other driver, with five victories, while Max Verstappen has won three times. Valtteri Bottas took his first United States Grand Prix win in 2019, while Charles Leclerc took his first COTA win in 2024.
Mercedes have the most COTA wins of any team
Mercedes have more wins than any other team in Texas, with five, while Red Bull have won the United States Grand Prix four times. Ferrari recorded their second win in 2024, while McLaren have conquered the track once.
Mercedes have powered the most victories at COTA, with six wins in total.
Mercedes and Ferrari are the only team to have recorded a 1-2 finish at the circuit. Mercedes have had four 1-2 finishes at the track, most recently in 2019, while Ferrari recorded their first 1-2 result here in 2024.
The average win margin at COTA is under five seconds
Seven races at COTA have been won by less than five seconds, with the smallest win margin being just 0.675 seconds; the gap by which Lewis Hamilton took victory in the circuit’s inaugural event.
Just two COTA races have been won by more than ten seconds. Lewis Hamilton won by 10.143 seconds at the 2017 United States Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen set a new record for the largest winning margin at COTA in 2023, winning by 10.730 seconds.
From the 12 races held so far at COTA, the average win margin has been 4.989 seconds.
ON THE PODIUM
14 different drivers have recorded podium finishes in Texas. Lewis Hamilton has more top three finishes here than any other driver, with nine appearances on the podium. He also stood on the podium in 2023, but was disqualified from the race result afterwards.
Mercedes and Red Bull are tied for the most top three results at COTA, with 12 apiece. 2024 was the first time not Mercedes drivers finished on the podium at the track since 2013, while 2017 is the only time since 2016 that Red Bull have not been on the podium here.
Britain leads the way in terms of most podiums for a nation at the track, with ten. Hamilton has taken nine of Britain’s podiums here, while Lando Norris finished as runner-up at the 2023 United States Grand Prix.
POLESITTERS
Eight different drivers have started from pole at COTA.
Lewis Hamilton has the most poles at COTA
Lewis Hamilton has the most poles of any driver here, with three, while Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg have each set the fastest qualifying lap twice.
Britain and Germany are tied as the nation with the most poles here, with four each.
Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel are the only previous polesitters at the track who are not on the current grid. Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris are the other drivers to have taken pole here.
Four drivers have taken back-to-back poles at COTA. Lewis Hamilton has taken the most consecutive poles at the track, recording three in a row between 2016 and 2018.
Mercedes have the most poles of any team
Mercedes are the team with the most poles at the track with six, while Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren are the only other teams to have taken pole here. Red Bull have three poles at COTA, while Ferrari took their first pole at the track in 2022 and took pole again at the 2023 United States Grand Prix. McLaren secured their first COTA pole in 2024.
There have been four occasions on which a team has locked-out the front row at COTA. The four front row lock outs came in consecutive seasons, from 2013 to 2016. Red Bull locked-out the front row in 2013, while Mercedes set the two fastest qualifying times in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The closest qualifying session at COTA was decided by 0.012s
The largest pole margin at the circuit came in 2014, when Nico Rosberg took pole by 0.376 seconds.
Pole has been decided by less than a tenth of a second only four times at COTA. That happened for the first time in 2018, when Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time by just 0.061 seconds.
The smallest pole margin at the circuit so far came in 2019, when Valtteri Bottas secured pole by just twelve thousandths of a second.
From the 12 races held here so far, the average pole margin for the United States Grand Prix has been 0.138 seconds.
SATURDAY TO SUNDAY
The United States Grand Prix at Texas has been won from pole on five occasions. Five of the other seven wins have come from second on the grid.
At the 2023 United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen became the first driver to win at COTA having not started from the front row of the grid. He started sixth. Charles Leclerc won from fourth on the grid in 2024.
Until 2022, every COTA polesitter went on to finish on the podium – but they have now not done so since 2021. Carlos Sainz was eliminated on the first lap of the race in 2022. Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc also failed to score having started from pole at the 2023 United States Grand Prix. He finished sixth on the road, but was later disqualified from the final result. Lando Norris finished fourth from pole position in 2024.
Carlos Sainz’s first lap DNF in 2022 aside, every United States Grand Prix polesitter at COTA has finished the first lap in the top two positions except Nico Rosberg and Lando Norris, who ran fourth at the end of the opening lap in 2015 and 2024 respectively.
From the 12 races held at COTA, the polesitter has led at the end of Lap 1 on five occasions. In the past seven races at the track, Valtteri Bottas is the only polesitter to have led at the end of the first lap, doing so at the 2019 United States Grand Prix.
The top three qualifiers have all gone on to finish in the top three in the Grand Prix on four occasions in Texas. 2016 and 2021 are the only times the top three qualifiers have finished in the order which they started.
The furthest back podium finish here came in 2018, when Max Verstappen finished as runner-up having started from 18th on the grid.
SUNDAY STATISTICS
Since F1 first visited the track in 2012, 672 Grand Prix racing laps of COTA have been completed.
From the 246 cars which have started a Grand Prix at the circuit, 205 have crossed the finish line. That gives an overall finish rate of 83%.
The highest number of cars to finish a race here is 22, which happened in 2012, while the highest percentage of cars to finish a race at the track is 96%, which happened in 2013 when 21 of the 22 starters reached the end.
The fewest cars to finish a race at COTA is 12, which happened in the 2015 United States Grand Prix.
Safety Cars and Red Flags at COTA
The Safety Car has made an appearance in five races at COTA, while the Virtual Safety Car has also been used in four Grands Prix at the track. The most appearances for the Safety Car in one race here is two, which happened in 2015, when there were also two VSC stints, and in 2022.
The 2015 race is the only Grand Prix in Texas to have been affected by rain. The track started out wet and dried as the race went on.
There is yet to be a red-flagged United States Grand Prix at COTA and every race here has run to its scheduled distance.
Vettel has the most fastest laps at COTA
Seven drivers have set the fastest lap of a United States Grand Prix at this circuit. Sebastian Vettel has set more fastest laps here than any other driver. He’s set the Sunday pace on five occasions at COTA.
Hamilton has led the most laps
Lewis Hamilton has led the most laps at COTA, having spent 255 laps at the front of the field.
11 drivers have led laps here in total – with four of those drivers failing to ever win a race here. Nico Rosberg has led the most laps at the track without taking victory, having spent 44 laps leading races at COTA. Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Romain Grosjean are the other drivers to have led laps at the circuit without winning.
There’s yet to be a COTA race in which the winner has led every lap of the race.
The fewest laps led en-route to victory at COTA is 15, which is how many laps Lewis Hamilton led on his way to victory at the 2012 United States Grand Prix. That’s the only time that the winner of the race has not been the driver who led the most laps of the Grand Prix.
The highest number of drivers to lead a lap in a race at COTA is five. Five different drivers led at least one lap during the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX
CHAMPIONSHIP GLORY
Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to have been crowned World Champion at COTA, winning both the 2015 and 2019 Drivers’ Championships at the track.
The Constructors’ Championship has been decided at COTA on three occasions. Red Bull were crowned champions here in 2012 and 2022, while Mercedes clinched the Constructors’ Championship title here in 2017.
The winner of the race at COTA has won the championship in the same season on six occasions.
The leaders of both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships after the United States Grand Prix at Texas have gone on to win the title in every season since the event was first held in 2012.
The 2013 and 2023 United States Grands Prix are the only races at COTA in which both championships had already been decided prior to the race. In addition, the Constructors’ Championship had already been decided before the COTA race in every season between 2013 and 2016, and in 2019, while the Drivers’ Championship was decided prior to the 2022 United States Grand Prix.