This past Sunday in Austin, Texas, saw the 38th Formula 1 United States Grand Prix return to Circuit of the Americas, where one hell of a race broke out. Compared to some underwhelming races in 2016’s Formula 1 season like the Italian Grand Prix and the Bahrain Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix gave the fans a show that they’ve been looking for. Although there were many fantastic moments that set this race apart, here are 10 notable moments that really made this race synonymous with the phrase, “Everything’s bigger in Texas.”
1. Taylor Swift’s first and only live performance of 2016
To Swift fans, 2016 has been a rather idle year as far as she was concerned—although in all fairness, she just finished a world tour. But the superstar stepped out from her one-year hiatus to perform after the qualifying session to fire off the United States Grand Prix at Austin. So if you thought Formula 1 was just some local fete only for your average car nerds, you are fantastically wrong; it’s actually Bring-Taylor-Swift-out-of-a-break kind of a big deal. Nearly 100,000 people were in attendance to see Taylor Swift in her only live performance of 2016, and 160,000 more stayed to watch the race, making it one of the most popular single sporting event in America this year.
2. Dutch Air Force in for air support
The opening ceremony of the race was decorated by the 302 squadron of the Royal Dutch Air Force stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, who flew their Apache and Chinook helicopters in a “missing man” formation in tribute to fallen soldiers in combat. The squadron also expressed their “full support” for a fellow Dutchman on the grid, the 19-year-old Max Verstappen, who is the youngest driver ever to win a Formula 1 grand prix. Not a bad bidding on Squadron 302’s part, then, had Verstappen’s gearbox not blown up during the race.
3. The contention between the two Mercedes
The competition between the two drivers of Mercedes-AMG Petronas team for the prestigious Driver’s World Championship has only gotten hotter as the practice sessions concluded at Austin. German driver Nico Rosberg might have been leading at the points by a considerable margin, but defending world champion and last year’s USGP winner Lewis Hamilton was everything but out of contention for World Championship (although opinions might differ among fans on that subject). Both Mercedes drivers poured out their everything to beat not just everybody else on the grid, but also each other. After 56 laps of driving at the absolute limit from both drivers, it was Lewis Hamilton who won at the country that he calls “his second home” and take the top podium place.
4. …And the little Red Bulls behind them
Red Bull Racing have constantly threatened Mercedes’ supremacy in this year’s F1 season, and the USGP was business as usual between the two rivaling teams. The two Red Bulls started right behind the Mercedes cars at 3rd and 4th positions and mostly stayed there, hot on their tails just so that the world championship fighters had another thing to be nervous about. Despite a questionable pit stop error and dramatic engine failure from Max Verstappen, the Number 3 Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo finished just behind Mercedes to remind them that they are not so far behind the triple Constructor’s Championship-winning team.
5. First home race for the first American F1 team in three decades
Haas Formula 1 Team, the first American Formula 1 team in three decades, celebrated their first home race here at Austin. Despite being a newbie compared to other teams who were polished with experience, Haas managed to bring many solid finishes, finishing in points-earning positions in front of veteran teams like McLaren, Force India and Toro Rosso—a phenomenal result for a first-year team. Back home at United States, the team at first encountered a brake failure that forced one of its driver Esteban Gutierrez to retiring, its main driver Romain Grosjean finished at 10th position, another solid finish for a startup team.
6. Ferrari’s pit stop debacle
As the most experienced team in the current Formula 1 lineup, the pit crews of Scuderia Ferrari are not the ones you hear about making mistakes. However, as the race crossed its midway point, a signal error caused driver Kimi Räikkönen to take off with an untightened tire. This disastrous error spelled a shaming end to Ferrari front man’s fight for the lead.
7. Collision on the first corner
What makes Circuit of the Americas a modern F1 icon is the first corner, which is an uphill hairpin corner with a blind entry. Meaning, drivers are speeding into the first corner at speeds nearing 200 miles per hourblind. Yeah, I’ll let that sink in. As if that was terrifying enough for the drivers, on the very start of the race was a major collision that put a Force India of Nico Hulkenberg out of the race and caused damage to Williams of Valtteri Bottas. But imagine how it must’ve felt for them. You are turning into a corner at triple-digit speeds, unable to see what’s about to happen next, and you are surrounded by 21 other cars. Then, you feel the impact as someone crashes into you. Now if you tell me that you wouldn’t have soiled your pants if you were in that situation, you are lying.
8. The Battle of the Spaniards
As the race neared its close, the battle for fifth place between two Spanish drivers Carlos Sainz jr. of Scuderia Toro Rosso and two-time world champion and Sainz’s childhood hero Fernando Alonso came to its climax as the latter muscled his way through a Williams driven by Felipe Massa and the two Spanish drivers duked out for superiority. At the end, experience won over as the former double world champion finished in front of the younger Spaniard.
9. The Return of the “Shoey”
Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo is a brilliant racer and an all-round top chap with a beaming smile always on his face along with a good attitude. He’s like that one friend you have who knows how to celebrate an occasion. Imagine this: you’ve been hard at racing for two grueling hours at your absolute physical and psychological limit against the best drivers in the world, and you finish in a podium position; obviously, that's got to be an occasion to celebrate. But Ricciardo took his podium celebration to another level when he took the complimentary champagne, poured it into his sweaty shoe and drank straight right out of it. He also got actor Gerard Butler to do it as well, although he had a shot of Red Bull instead of a champagne since Butler didn’t drink alcohol. This (rather bizarre) celebration has become the Australian driver's staple, and it is about as awesome as it is disgusting.
10. Hamilton strikes back
Lewis Hamilton is Formula 1’s most popular driver right now; he’s also triple world champion and defending world champion in the 2016 season’s fight for championship. For most of this season, however, he’s been trailing behind his rival and teammate Nico Rosberg and overall having not the best of seasons. But at United States, which the driver calls his “second home”, saw another victory for the Briton that he desperately needed not only to keep himself in the championship contention, but to keep his confidence up as a driver.
