Taylor Swift’s 2016 Austin concert showed how F1 weekends could be more than racing

Taylor Swift’s only public concert of 2016 took place at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, where her 15-song set drew an estimated crowd of around 80,000 to Circuit of The Americas.

After the hugely popular 1989 world tour in 2015, Swift wanted time to rest and recover, Formula 1’s retrospective says, but an invitation from the race organisers caught her interest. She had appeared at the Grammys in February, making the Austin show her second performance of the year. A Saturday general-admission ticket gave fans access to qualifying and the concert later that evening.

At the time, few circuits were using concerts as part of a Grand Prix weekend, Luke Smith, an F1 journalist at The Athletic, told Formula 1. He described COTA as ahead of the curve in making a Grand Prix a broader event for fans. Smith said the approach helped COTA reach a younger, more female audience and could attract people who came first for the concert before becoming interested in F1.

Smith also linked F1’s wider audience shift to Liberty’s takeover and the boom in Drive to Survive. Concerts have since become an established part of many Grand Prix weekends, and Smith described COTA as one of the circuits that led the way, with others following its festival-style model.