Which F1 Drivers Are Swifties 10 Years After Taylor Swift Performed at the 2016 US Grand Prix?

The 2016 Milestone: How Taylor Swift Reimagined the Austin Grand Prix

This year marks a full decade since pop superstar Taylor Swift took the stage at the United States Grand Prix, an appearance that transformed the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) into one of the 2016 Formula 1 season’s flagship spectacles. At the time, Swift was taking an intentional hiatus following her massively successful 1989 world tour in 2015. Outside of an appearance at the Grammy Awards in February, the Austin race concert served as her second overall performance and her solitary public concert of that entire calendar year.

F1 organizers in Texas seized upon Swift’s historic roots in country music, viewing her as the perfect cultural fit for a venue deeply steeped in Lone Star State traditions, which range from cowboy hats in the paddock to custom Stetson hats on the podium. Organizers bundled Saturday general admission access to Formula 1 Qualifying with an evening pass to Swift’s 15-song stage show. The crossover strategy resulted in massive commercial success, drawing an estimated 80,000 attendees to the circuit and establishing a major attendance high point for the Austin event.

Setting the Entertainment Standard: COTA as a Blueprint for Modern F1

When COTA signed Swift in just its fifth year of hosting Formula 1, the move broke away from traditional European motorsport hosting models that focused predominantly on track action. Instead, Austin designed a hybrid sports-and-music festival that appealed directly to untapped demographics, preceding the sport’s global surge in popularity under Liberty Media ownership.

F1 journalist Luke Smith of The Athletic highlighted the significance of the event in comments to Formula1.com:

“I think at that moment, not many Formula 1 tracks were doing the ‘concert model’ and a lot of circuits were focused on more of the racing side, as opposed to the whole fan event that goes around it – which is very much the norm nowadays,” F1 journalist Luke Smith of The Athletic explained to F1.com.

“COTA was very much ahead of the curve, and it managed to tap into that younger, more female audience that, again, in F1 nowadays is very much the norm,” Smith continued.

“We have seen that big shift happen since the Liberty takeover in the last five to ten years. The boom of Drive to Survive has played a big part in that, but I think that the route of having the concert did help open F1 up to a wave of new fans who perhaps came to the circuit chiefly for the concert and then became interested in F1 because of that.

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“COTA has been one of the tracks leading the way on that. They do really put a lot of effort into ensuring that it is a festival around what is happening on the circuit and it’s not just a race, which is a blueprint and a model that a lot of other circuits have followed.”

Swiftie Culture in the Modern F1 Paddock

The cultural crossover sparked at COTA continues to resonate among modern Formula 1 drivers, several of whom have publicly expressed their admiration for Swift. During the European legs of the record-breaking Eras Tour in 2024, Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly attended the Milan show alongside their partners, with both drivers openly declaring themselves fans of her music.

Similarly, Mercedes driver George Russell attended Swift’s performance at Wembley Stadium in London with his niece, sporting a pink fluffy cowboy hat for the event. Newer talent has mirrored that enthusiasm; Haas driver Ollie Bearman featured five Swift tracks—including “…Ready For It?”, “Bad Blood”, “Cruel Summer”, and “Love Story”—in an Apple Music playlist shared earlier this year.

Why This Matters

Taylor Swift’s 2016 COTA performance provided a functional blueprint for modern Grand Prix promotion. Well before the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive catalyzed Formula 1’s mainstream renaissance in the United States, Austin’s organizers proved that Tier-1 musical acts could attract younger, increasingly female audiences to race weekends. Today, headline concerts and entertainment festivals are standard operating procedure across the global calendar, from Singapore and Abu Dhabi to Miami and Las Vegas.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Taylor Swift perform at Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix?

Taylor Swift performed on Saturday evening following Qualifying at the 2016 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. It was her only public concert appearance of that entire year.

How many people attended Taylor Swift’s F1 concert in Austin?

An estimated crowd of approximately 80,000 spectators gathered at the Circuit of The Americas stage to watch her 15-song set, significantly driving Saturday general admission ticket sales.

Which Formula 1 drivers are known fans of Taylor Swift?

Several current grid drivers have documented their support, including Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, who attended the Eras Tour in Milan, George Russell, who went to a Wembley Stadium show, and Ollie Bearman, who included multiple Swift songs in his curated Apple Music playlist.