The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is an Austin, Texas motor racing facility, which opened its doors on October 21, 2012. The local climate is generally hot, with long summers and short winters, and heavy rain usually happens only in May. Its FIA Grade 1 racetrack hosts several high-profile international motorsports events every year, such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix of the United States, the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas, the NASCAR Series Texas Grand Prix, among many others.
COTA's 3.426-mile (5.514 km) raceway runs counterclockwise and has 20 turns with a total vertical gain of 135 feet (41 m). The Formula 1 race track designer Hermann Tilke took inspiration from several features of European racetracks and incorporated them in COTA, with some necessary adaptations to leverage the natural ups and downs in the field. Some distinctive segments of the track are the hairpin-shaped turn 1, which comes right after a steep 133-feet climb uphill; the recreation of Silverstone's Maggotts–Becketts–Chapel in turns 3 to 7, and other segments that bring to mind features from Hockenheim and Istanbul tracks.