Can’t wait to see the F1 cars away from a street track? Keen to see the fallout from another McLaren intra-team clash? Or maybe we’re about to see the 2026 Driver’s Championship being handed out to the youngest ever? Covering that and more is our United States F1 Grand Prix Preview Prix-View answer some of those big questions and more that you didn’t ask for.
The Gurgler’s United States F1 Grand Prix Prix-View brings some thoughts on what the race weekend ahead might bring, rate the chances of a great Grand Prix with our Race Potential Rating, and we throw in more than a few barely interesting stats to sort wheat/chaff.
Essentially a quick summary of what a casual F1 fan needs in the shortest possible time for your convenience.
And if you’re really bored why not read our Half Season Report below or catch up on the last race and more.
F1 2026 Season Catch Up
Here’s the standing and the key stats ahead of this weekend’s race.
READ MORE – HALF SEASON REPORT: 2026 HALF SEASON REPORT
READ MORE – WHAT HAPPENED LAST RACE: 2026 SINGAPORE GP REVIEW
READ MORE – LATEST DRIVER RATINGS: 2026 SINGAPORE GP RATINGS & SEASON STATS
United States F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Race Potential Rating
The Gurgler does like to use some obscure drivers in our Race previews and report, so who better to use than Teo Fabi to determine a race rating system.
So before each race we give a rating out of ten for four key category that are loosely based on each letter of Teo Fabi’s surname. Don’t know who Teo Fabi is, you should.
CIRCUIT MAP
Courtesy of Formula 1 website.
FAST 7/10
From a certain angle the Austin track map looks like a microscope, and indeed this track does examine and test a driver’s ability. It’s kind of a compilation album of a few good bits from other tracks, and like a mixed tape it kind of works. Score is kept to seven because they replicated the most boring part of Hockenheim.
ACTION 7/10
Last season saw a Sprint Race crash that had almost Championship defining consequences for the McLaren drivers, as Oscar Piastri wiped out his team mate at the first corner, although from memory Piastri had some help in the incident from another car. That first corner does make up a lot of the score for action, as it looks impressive and the width allows for some different racing lines and action on the first lap. As does the last few corners too. The use of Cowboys hats are always welcome too.
BIG HISTORY 7/10
The US Grand Prix is actually one of the longest serving races, but a few gaps here and there, and the constant chopping and changing of venue doesn’t help it’s history. For Austin itself it’s been around for just over a decade and being later in the season it has had the occasional championship key moment. For Big History look into the GPs at Watkins Glen, Long Beach, the one-off Dallas event, even Pheonix.
INCLEMENT WEATHERÂ 2/10
Weather Channel says not much chance of rain and conditions are in the low 30’s which sounds kind of nice.
RACE POTENTIAL RATING 77% – It’s a good all round package, except for the timeslot for those in Australia.
2026 United States F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Ratings Summary
We’ve taken a pile of race and qualifying stats from this season, previous seasons, and various other F1 related stats and combined up all of our calculations of various points for racing well, qualifying high up the grid, and beating your team mate. The driver with the highest total gets our tick of approval, and subsequent drivers are rated against the top score.
United States F1 Grand Prix Prix-view – Stats Summary
Want to know if your favourite driver for this weekend is a master of the track or the track is a master of them? Here then are some barely interesting facts and stats and visuals to back them up. This history section covers 2001 onwards cover the careers of all active drivers.
- Four winners and five pole sitters from the current field here at Austin.
- Eight podium winners from the current field.
- Both McLaren drivers have made Q3 at every visit here and scored a point in every race.
- Team Stats visual shows the gulf between top four and the rest here.
Driver Stats – United States F1 Grand Prix
Team Stats – United States F1 Grand Prix
History Stats – United States F1 Grand Prix
History of all F1 races held at the Austin circuit.
Since there have been so many circuits used for F1 races in the USA, here’s a history of all F1 races held in the USA.
Other Stats – United States F1 Grand Prix
Below stats from 2000 onwards.
99 = a DNF. Grid position 20 is overstated as that was also used for cars starting in pitlane. Results from all races for long term history and from 2000 from Grid to Race positions. stated.
