The F1 U.S. Grand Prix draws huge crowds every year. A new preview day adds time for more people to experience the weekend without spending hundreds of dollars.
Photo courtesy of Circuit of the Americas
The Formula One (F1) U.S. Grand Prix is one of the biggest annual events in Austin, and in 2026 it will get even bigger with a new kickoff day. Called Grand PrixView Thursday, the event extends the F1 GP to four days and aims to offer "an affordable way to explore the COTA campus before race weekend officially gets underway," according to a press release.
The first Grand PrixView Thursday will take place October 22. There will be action on the track, behind-the-scenes looks, and more. Affordability is subjective, of course, but this event is significantly less expensive than any other Grand Prix event at $20 for the day.
"We're always looking for ways to make F1 more accessible," said chairman and founder of Circuit of the Americas (COTA) Bobby Epstein in the release. "Grand PrixView Thursday is like an open house for our Central Texas community. For just $20, you can come, get up close with F1 and see what all the excitement is about."
Fans will be able to watch the F1 Academy, an all-female race series for up-and-coming drivers, which will be on the track to prepare for the weekend. Visitors will also be able to check out the F1 Pit Lane to see teams preparing in the garage, and explore fan villages, hang out in the Fan Zone, and get a first shot at shopping official merch.
One of the highlights COTA points out is a "no-lines day" at COTALand, the on-site theme park. However, admission is sold separately. Further, although the preview day may be lighter in attendance, admission is included for all three-day ticketholders and hospitality holders.
Few people are strong enough to resist the lure of Girl Scout cookie season every year, with the cookies’ limited availability and unique flavors a strong incentive to indulge. But only the girls and their families who have sold the cookies know the joys and stresses of trying to get people to buy them, a process that is detailed in the new documentary, Cookie Queens.
The film by documentarian Alysa Nahmias uses the stories of four different girls to represent the nationwide ritual for the Girl Scouts. They include 12-year-old Olive in Charlotte, North Carolina, a longtime top seller; 8-year-old Shannon Elizabeth in El Paso, Texas, who wants to earn the reward of going to camp; 5-year-old Ara in San Diego, California, whose goal is modest compared to most other girls; and 9-year-old Nikki in Chino, California, who has to compete with her older sisters in the cookie-selling bonanza.
The girls represent a cross-section of both ages and backgrounds, with some girls coming from wealthy families and some girls dealing with more limited means. And how much money your family has makes a big difference, as not only does someone richer have more freedom with their time and supplies, but all scouts are required to reimburse the organization for every box they take in, regardless of whether they’re able to sell it or not.
That caveat makes the journeys of the four featured girls feel wildly different. It’s clear from the start that Olive and Nikki’s families don’t give a second thought to the personal economics of selling cookies, with each girl taking in thousands of boxes at the beginning of the six-week selling season. With both Olive and Nikki rightfully confident that they’ll have no problem offloading their supply, their stories turn to how selling is personally affecting them, with each trying to reconcile the fun of doing it with the pressure they feel from their family members.
Shannon Elizabeth’s story is more harrowing, as her parents feel a strong desire to help her accomplish her lofty goal, but worry that the cost might literally be too high for the family as a whole. More than once, the parents are shown fretting that they won’t have the money to pay back what they owe should they fall significantly short in their sales. Their selling approach, which includes walking through an empty swap meet and standing outside a chain restaurant at night, only adds to their stress.
The most fun story to watch is that of Ara, whose innocence is matched by her confidence. Her parents teach her how much money they’ll owe with her small goal of 55 boxes, but right away she takes on more responsibility than expected. She’s shown making sales pitches and tallying the total number of boxes she’s sold with little to no help from either her mom or dad. With her high voice, glasses, and a monitor on her arm to manage her diabetes, she becomes the cute and sympathetic part of the film.
There are times that the film starts to feel more than a little manipulative, however. While many of the moments documented come off as organic, some of them seem like Nahmias is actively guiding the participants in order to get a better story. This is especially evident with Shannon Elizabeth and her family, whose early struggles turn into a miraculous feel-good story by the end, a turnaround that seems implausible at best. Everything with them might have been aboveboard, but Nahmias and her team edit the family’s journey in a way that pushes a bit too hard for emotion.
Cookie Queens, which was produced by a company owned by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, helps to give insight into the business of selling Girl Scout cookies for those who’ve only been on the purchasing end of the transaction. The dedication of each girl toward selling their allotted supply proves fun and interesting, even if the filmmaker tries to gild the lily on occasion.
