Welcome to Texas! What you must know ahead of F1's return to the Lone Star State

The Circuit of The Americas celebrates its 10th birthday in 2022, and with it, Formula 1's 10th running at the track. The circuit in the State of Texas almost didn't see the light of day, but despite the setbacks and obstacles preventing it from coming to life, it emerged victorious to host the race on the planned date: 18 November 2012.

Mario Andretti, the 1978 F1 champion, officially opened the track on 21 October, just a few weeks before F1's debut at the venue.

But for the more-than 100 000 spectators in attendance, it was the first time since the 2007 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis that the sport returned to the country. And what a showing it was!

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel secured pole position with a blistering lap, but Lewis Hamilton took the win in his McLaren-Mercedes. It would also be his last victory in McLaren colours before switching to Mercedes-AMG in 2013.

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Hamilton's 'race'

Following his win in 2012, Hamilton would go on to win again from 2014 through to 2017, making him the most successful winner at the venue. In 2018, Kimi Raikkonen jumped on Hamilton at the race's start, leading after the first turn and winning his 21st - and last - F1 race.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen look to be favourites going into the race, with the RB18 in a class of its own.

McLaren's Lando Norris said of Sunday's race: "I'm buzzing to be back in Austin, it's such a great city to race in, and the fans are always brilliant, so it should be an exciting weekend.

"The track is a fun one, with some cool features similar to tracks such as Suzuka, so I'm looking forward to getting out there and seeing how the new regulation cars run. I've had