Since its inception in 1959, several permanent tracks and city streets in the US have played host to Formula 1 races — the Indianapolis 500 was even part of the F1 World Championship. But only six different tracks can claim they hosted the official United States Grand Prix (US GP). Each fell away for one reason or another until 2012, when F1 arrived at the Circuit of the Americas. Over a decade after its inaugural event, one might wonder why this particular locale has succeeded where others have failed. A glance back through the history books to the lost US GPs better reveals why they are no more.
1959 - Sebring International Raceway
The United States Grand Prix first appeared on the F1 schedule in December of 1959, serving as the season finale.The 42-lap race around the iconic Florida road course featured a 19-car field that included six Americans. Among those representing the red, white, and blue, were Phil Hill, Harry Schell, Harry Blanchard, George Constantine, Phil Cade, Rodger Ward, and Bob Said. While modern US fans clamor for an American F1 star , this race alone had a future F1 World Champion [Hill] and that year’s Indianapolis 500 winner [Ward].
A young driver would take the first US GP win: Bruce McLaren. The founding father of what would become one of the sport’s most prestigious race teams was just 22 years old when he won this race, driving a Cooper T51. The dramatic finish had Jack Brabham leading at the white flag, only to run out of fuel. His car crawled to a stop just a few hundred yards shy of the finish line, allowing McLaren to take the checkered flag.
It wasn’t all bad for Brabham. He got out of the car and pushed it across the line to finish fourth, which was still enough to earn him the 1959 Formula 1 World Championship.
Despite the excitement, the US GP never returned to Sebring for the same reason so many races fade into the annals of history — financial viability. The crowd was nowhere near that of the 12 Hours of Sebring and event organizer Alec Ulmann was lucky to break even.
1960 - Riverside International Raceway
Ulmann returned in another attempt to host the US GP, taking his idea to the other side of the country in California. And so, for the 1960 season, F1 raced into Riverside.
The change of coastlines didn’t do much to help as attendance, again, was an issue. For whatever reason, US racing fans were just not excited about F1 in America.
Then there was Ulmann’s mistake of insulting the Los Angeles Times. For backstory, the LA Times had sponsored a sports car race earlier in the year at Riverside which drew a crowd nearly triple the size of the US GP. Ulmann then made a comment about his confidence regarding interest for the F1 race, stating that the Times-sponsored race wasn’t even a true Grand Prix. The insult didn’t win him any free publicity for his event, to say the least, which might have been crucial for the area’s draw. To his credit, despite the financial hit that followed, he still dug into his pockets to pay out all the prize money and appearance fees.
Stirling Moss would be first to see the checkered flag end the 1960 season finale event, but the title had already been decided entering race weekend, with Brabham becoming a back-to-back champion. Brabham also had a chance to win this US GP, but in a bit of irony, he actually over-filled his car, and the excess fuel ignited into a troublesome fire.
1961-1980 - Watkins Glen International
Ulmann struggled to deliver a new home for the US GP in the third year of his contract with the FIA. After Ulmann struck out, track owner Cameron Argetsinger stepped up to the plate, signing a deal to make Watkins Glen International the host venue for the US GP less than two months before the scheduled race date on October 8, 1961.
Race weekend at The Glen was a hit with around 60,000 fans in attendance. American Phil Hill had already clinched the title, but a newly crowned American F1 World Champion certainly didn’t hurt enthusiasm. It was the first US GP to actually make any money, and so, the series was more than happy to return in the years that followed. A true home for the US GP had finally been found. But nothing ever lasts forever.
As Formula 1 continued to grow and become more glamorous, WGI remained as it was. Watkins Glen is in a very rural area in Upstate New York, and a far cry from many of the other high-end locales that were hosting F1 races into the late ‘70s. There were also the rowdy infield parties that didn’t really jive with the image F1 cultivated around the world. Beyond that, safety became a real concern as the track failed to keep up with the increased speeds and danger in the sport, resulting in the tragic deaths of Helmut Koinigg (d. 1974) and François Cevert (d. 1973).
Unable to pay its bills and lacking necessary safety upgrades, the track was axed from the calendar. Watkins Glen eventually went bankrupt in 1981, later bouncing back with the help of NASCAR and IMSA in the years that followed.
Attempting to gain a foothold 'West' in the US
While Watkins Glen faltered, F1 experimented out west in an attempt for the series to gain a foothold Stateside. These ‘experimental’ races don’t technically fit into the list as true US GPs, but still play an important part in this story.
Despite the failure of Riverside, F1 wasn’t quite done with California. In 1971, Ontario Motor Speedway hosted the Questor Grand Prix, won by Mario Andretti. But like many race tracks, financial woes meant that it would never host an F1 race again.
That brings us to Long Beach, where the United States Grand Prix ‘West’ took place from 1976 to 1983. The vision was to make this street circuit the Monaco of the US, but Long Beach isn’t exactly Monte Carlo. Despite the lack of living up to the splendors of Monaco, it did draw large crowds and appeared to be a perfect replacement for Watkins Glen. Though never officially called the US GP without the ‘West’ tagline, it was the only American F1 race in 1983.
Though Long Beach appeared successful, bringing the F1 circus across the world was really expensive, making its continued existence financially unfeasible for race co-founder Chris Pook, who butted heads with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. Instead, Pook turned to American open-wheel racing and established what we now know today as IndyCar’s Grand Prix of Long Beach. Despite Long Beach's success, F1 never returned.
Long Beach wasn’t the only western F1 race of the early 1980s. This was really F1’s “try anything era” in the US, as you’ll soon see. The new season finale in 1981 and 1982 was the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas, which sounded prestigious until you realize it was taking place in the casino parking lot. rivers complained about the tight, cramped layout, and holding it in intense heat wasn’t ideal either. Naturally, fans were not very interested in coming out in scorching temperatures to watch drivers battle heat exhaustion.
Following the failures of Long Beach and Vegas, F1 was desperate to find a home in the US. It was out of that desperation that the Dallas Grand Prix of 1984 was born. Another temporary street circuit taking place in 100 °F (38 °C) temps, it appeared to be a recreation of the Vegas flop, but the layout was at least an improvement. Concerns over safety, especially after Nigel Mansell collapsed from exhaustion after attempting to push his car over the finish line, along with pushback from the local community, and the lack of money resulted in again, another American F1 failure. Additionally, one of the race founders was also under investigation with the FBI. The event filed for bankruptcy in March of 1985.
1982-1988 - Detroit
Again, not a true US GP, but F1's Detroit race is still worth mentioning. During the early ‘80s, F1’s American obsession led them to the rust belt and the eventual creation of the Detroit Grand Prix, or sometimes called the United States Grand Prix East. Detroit was one of the three US-hosted F1 races in 1982. Here we had yet another temporary street circuit with a slow, meandering course that was extremely tight. There were issues from the start with the first practice session canceled and Friday qualifying delayed. The track was not very smooth and the violent bumps were a nightmare for drivers. This was also a summer race, and the heat played a major issue. And despite prior experiences with high temps at the Dallas and Vegas races, F1 organizers appeared to have not learned their lesson.
By 1988, the track was breaking apart. After the event, the governing body of the sport wanted a permanent pit lane facility, but the city was not willing to accommodate. There was also an offer to facilitate the race at nearby Belle Isle, yet F1 declined. The Belle Isle plans would become home to the CART and eventual IndyCar series instead. Finally deciding that this event was more trouble than it was worth, F1’s Detroit race was put out of its misery after lasting far longer than it had any right to.
1989-1991 - Phoenix
The United States Grand Prix *officially* returned in 1989 after a nine-year absence. After F1 declined the offer to keep the race in Michigan at Belle Isle (instead of a crumbling Detroit circuit), they returned west for a race in Phoenix. The street circuit in the heart of Phoenix was made up almost entirely of 90-degree corners, but the long straights did make passing a possibility. The inaugural event failed to sell out, irking Ecclestone as the local population avoided the triple digit temperatures.
This led to the F1 moving the event to earlier in the season to March for 1990 and 1991. McLaren was unstoppable all three years, winning the first event with Alain Prost and the next two with Ayrton Senna. After the third event, members of the FISA voted to end the contract with Phoenix despite the city already investing over a million dollars in the 1992 event.
New races in Manhattan and the Las Vegas Strip were discussed to replace Phoenix, but they never went beyond the preliminary discussions phase. The US GP was dead … until the next century.
2000-2007 - Indianapolis
Enter one of the most iconic race tracks on the planet. The new millennium brought F1 to a permanent track, utilizing the infield road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). The crowd was enormous with estimates putting attendance above 200,000. It was the perfect year for racing in Indy with the track hosting its iconic Indianapolis 500 in May, a NASCAR crown jewel event with the Brickyard 400 in August, and F1 following suit in the fall. It was later moved to the summer, taking place between the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 as it tried to find its place amongst the American racing giants.
Despite finding a home at IMS, the race went through its fair share of growing pains, especially when it came to timing or controversy. The second running of the event took place just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, which had put a cloud over the event as the country grieved. NASCAR, for example, had actually canceled and moved its New Hampshire race originally scheduled for that same weekend.
The following year, there was a staged photo finish where Michael Schumacher gifted the win to Rubens Barrichello as a favor for controversial team orders earlier in the season, which wasn’t something US fans were used to seeing.
But in 2005, it all came crashing down in a spectacular failure that made it one of the most infamous races in F1 history. Michelin discovered that the banked Turn 13 (Turn 1 on the oval) was putting too much stress and load on the tires with the speeds the drivers were carrying through the turn. While there were a couple of tire failures the previous year, a newly resurfaced track only made the situation worse. Michelin quickly updated the compound for the race, but it was not enough to rectify the issue with the tire manufacturer believing it was only to run ten laps max on a set of tires.
There were several proposals to address the problem including one for a chicane in that section of the track to slow down the cars, but this was vetoed by Ferrari, who were running Bridgestones. A mandatory pit stop every ten laps was also suggested, and there was even an idea to implement a speed limit in the banked corner. None of these plans came to fruition.
No solution could be found and to the shock and anger of the over 100,000 fans at the track, 14 cars filed down pit road at the end of the formation lap. All refused to run the race. Only three teams with a total six cars lined up on the grid. They were Ferrari and the far slower Minardi and Jordan teams. Fans were livid, loudly booing and walking out of the event. Some even threw things. The race had disillusioned many and was off the calendar within two years. It no longer made financial sense to continue.
2012-2019, 2021-present - Circuit of The Americas (COTA)
In the early 2010s, Ecclestone was obsessed with bringing F1 to New York City or the area around it with four different track locations being discussed. However, a brand new permanent facility emerged in the heart of Texas. Designed by the one and only Hermann Tilke, the Circuit of The Americas in Austin got a 10-year deal to host Formula 1, beginning in 2012. Even with construction briefly halted at one point, the track was still completed in time despite some doubts over its viability.
The circuit looked good, the layout was fascinating, and the event drew quite the crowd for its inaugural event. 117,000 fans watched as Lewis Hamilton passed Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps, winning the race by less than a second. The fan interest was stable and the track did a good job bringing celebrities for their event. There were appearances from Taylor Swift, Brittney Spears, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, and even former US president Bill Clinton. However, the US GP at COTA was about to become a whole lot more important.
Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” (DTS) debuted in 2019, and the modern age of F1 was born. New fans were coming out of the woodwork and the sport saw its popularity surge in the United States. Unfortunately, there was no United States Grand Prix in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed the world, forcing droves of these new US fans to wait patiently for an opportunity to see a race in person.
With DTS fans fully engaged and an incredibly tense title battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the return of the US GP in 2021 saw the most-attended F1 weekend in history with about 400,000 over the race weekend. That figure basically doubled from pre-pandemic numbers. The record was broken again in 2022 and has remained steady since.
Even with the addition of street races in Miami and Las Vegas, COTA remains special. There was some concern that more American races may hurt COTA’s popularity, but it seems to have done the opposite, as it remains beloved and respected by fans. So what sets it apart? Well, not only does it hold the title of US GP, which alone makes it more significant, it also feels like the race for the average F1 fan. While the other two events seem specifically made for the elite, COTA feels a bit more down to earth. The top-three finishers’ drivers aren’t chauffeured to a secondary location in a vintage car for podium celebrations and there isn’t a fake marina with yachts. It’s just cowboy hats and thrilling action around a 20-turn, 3.426-mile (5.514 km) circuit. And perhaps most importantly, ticket prices remain far more reasonable than its American siblings in Miami and Vegas. COTA also signed a new contract, deservedly securing its place as the home for the United States Grand Prix until at least 2026.
As we’ve already seen, it’s naive to think this, too, will last forever, but it’s hard to see COTA losing its place as the home of the US GP anytime soon.
