Race Start
Sunday, October 25 at 4:00 PM EDT
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Free .ics download — sessions appear in your local time in Google, Apple & Outlook calendars.
Round 17 of 22 · Circuit of the Americas · October 23–25, 2026
Free .ics download — sessions appear in your local time in Google, Apple & Outlook calendars.
| Session | Eastern | Central | Mountain | Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Fri, Oct 23, 1:30 PM EDT | Fri, Oct 23, 12:30 PM CDT | Fri, Oct 23, 11:30 AM MDT | Fri, Oct 23, 10:30 AM PDT |
| Practice 2 | Fri, Oct 23, 5:30 PM EDT | Fri, Oct 23, 4:30 PM CDT | Fri, Oct 23, 3:30 PM MDT | Fri, Oct 23, 2:30 PM PDT |
| Practice 3 | Sat, Oct 24, 1:30 PM EDT | Sat, Oct 24, 12:30 PM CDT | Sat, Oct 24, 11:30 AM MDT | Sat, Oct 24, 10:30 AM PDT |
| Qualifying | Sat, Oct 24, 5:00 PM EDT | Sat, Oct 24, 4:00 PM CDT | Sat, Oct 24, 3:00 PM MDT | Sat, Oct 24, 2:00 PM PDT |
| Race | Sun, Oct 25, 4:00 PM EDT | Sun, Oct 25, 3:00 PM CDT | Sun, Oct 25, 2:00 PM MDT | Sun, Oct 25, 1:00 PM PDT |
Circuit of the Americas in Austin is America's permanent F1 home and one of the best modern circuits anywhere: a steep climb into the blind Turn 1 hairpin, an Esses sequence borrowed from Suzuka, and a long back straight with real overtaking. COTA draws the biggest crowds of the F1 season, and the racing consistently delivers. It also opens a three-race swing through the Americas that often decides the championship.
Circuit of the Americas opens with the most dramatic first corner in modern F1: a 40-meter climb to a blind, banked left-hand hairpin where the entire field funnels uphill on lap one. From there the track quotes the world's greats — an S-curve sequence inspired by Suzuka's Esses, a Hockenheim-style stadium section, and a multi-apex triple right modeled on Istanbul's Turn 8 — before a kilometer-long back straight delivers the lap's second guaranteed overtaking zone.
COTA races tend to be strategy-rich: the abrasive surface and the long, loaded esses work the tires hard, two- and three-stop races both stay live, and the twin overtaking zones (Turn 1 and Turn 12) mean a faster car on fresher rubber can actually use its advantage. Bumps in the surface — a consequence of building on expansive Texas clay — add a physical dimension drivers grumble about and fans quietly enjoy.
Austin rescued the United States Grand Prix. After decades of wandering — ten different US venues had hosted F1, from Watkins Glen to a parking lot in Las Vegas — COTA opened in 2012 as America's first purpose-built F1 circuit, and Lewis Hamilton won a duel with Sebastian Vettel in its inaugural race. It became the sport's American heartland years before the Netflix boom, and now regularly draws over 400,000 fans across a race weekend, the biggest attendance on the calendar.
Home-country timing: every session is in comfortable US afternoon hours, with the race starting Sunday mid-afternoon. No conversions, no alarms — this and Miami are the two weekends the time zones work entirely in your favor. The run up the hill into Turn 1 on lap one is the best start of the year.
Peak time-zone comfort: the race starts at 3 PM Central — Austin's home zone — which is 4 PM Eastern and 1 PM Pacific, with every support session in daytime hours. COTA opens the season's Americas triple-header, with Mexico City and São Paulo following on consecutive weekends, so this stretch of the calendar is the most US-viewer-friendly month of the year. Lap one into Turn 1 is the single best start of the season; don't be late.
The race starts Sunday, October 25 at 4:00 PM EDT. That's 3:00 PM CDT Central, 2:00 PM MDT Mountain, and 1:00 PM PDT Pacific.
No, it uses the standard format: three practice sessions, qualifying (Saturday, October 24 at 5:00 PM EDT), and the Grand Prix.
56 laps of the 5.513 km Circuit of the Americas, a race distance of about 309 km.
Turn 1 is a blind left-hand hairpin at the top of a 40-meter climb from the start line — drivers brake uphill into a corner they can't see. On lap one, with 20 cars arriving together, it produces more position changes than almost any single corner in F1.
New to Formula 1 or planning your viewing weekend? Read our guides to watching F1 in the US, how a race weekend works, and why F1 start times vary.