F1 rolls out ‘Grid Gigs’ at COTA as Liberty leans further into the show
Formula 1’s latest crossover with live entertainment lands this weekend in Texas, with the series debuting a new “Grid Gigs” concept at the United States Grand Prix. Backed by American Express, the pre-race build-up will feature a short opening show on the grid as cars begin to head out for their sighting laps, with country artist Drake Milligan tapped to set the tone at Circuit of The Americas.
It’s an overt nod to what Liberty-era F1 does best: package the sport with spectacle. And while “Grid Gigs” is new in branding, the move isn’t coming out of the blue. Singapore sampled a similar flavour earlier this year when former Spice Girl-turned-DJ Mel C spun a quick set on the grid; increasingly, live music has been stitched into the F1 weekend without getting in the way of the main act.
Formula One Management says the new feature is inspired by the F1 75 Live season opener at London’s O2 Arena, which it claims drew 7.5 million views across the championship’s social channels. Think of Grid Gigs as the formalized, commercially backed sequel—portable enough to travel, flexible enough not to appear at every round. FOM has already earmarked Las Vegas for the next run.
The timing is deliberate. F1’s television product has faced a louder-than-usual inquest in recent weeks, particularly after Singapore, where broadcast cuts to reaction shots in garages and VIP areas came at the expense of on-track storylines. Carlos Sainz summed up the frustration post-race, saying there’s room for celeb reactions—just not when it competes with the action that matters. Earlier in the season, the director’s choice to squeeze the flag-fall into a small window while chasing another battle elsewhere sparked the same debate: are we here for the race, or the show around it?
Grid Gigs sits right in the middle of that argument. Done well, it injects energy in the dead air before lights out—no harm, no foul. Done carelessly, it feeds the perception that F1 is more obsessed with the circus than the sport. The difference is execution: a tight, three-minute burst while engines are firing and tension is rising can heighten the moment, as long as the cameras and comms keep their eyes on the prize once the visor goes down.
It’s also the latest page in a Liberty playbook that’s already brought sprints, an expanded 24-race calendar—the maximum allowed under the current Concorde Agreement—and a well-documented push into new markets. Since acquiring F1’s commercial rights in 2017 for around $8 billion, Liberty has made no secret of its intent to grow the pie by broadening the product. Grid Gigs is another bid to raise the floor of the live experience, especially at long, hot, sold-out days when fans at the track crave more than a formation lap and a DJ set miles from the asphalt.
There’s a balance to strike. Teams have their own pre-race rhythms; engineers don’t want a bassline rattling through the garage while they’re trimming flap angles. The early indication is that Grid Gigs will live outside the critical run-up to the start, slotted as the field rotates out for sighting laps, which should keep sporting operations untouched. If it stays there—short, sharp, respectful of the grid’s choreography—it could become a neat calling card for a handful of marquee events without turning every Sunday into a variety show.
Texas is a sensible test bed. COTA crowds bring enthusiasm and patience in equal measure, and the open grid walk is already a sensory overload. Add a live performer with American backing, and you’ve got a made-for-broadcast moment that doubles as an on-site perk. Las Vegas, meanwhile, is practically begging for it.
The bigger picture hasn’t changed: F1’s core appeal is still wheel-to-wheel risk at 300 km/h, not the playlist. But if the cameras keep the racing front and center and the on-site experience gets a little more juice without tripping over parc fermé, few fans will complain. Put simply: let the music warm up the crowd, then let the cars do the talking.
We’ll find out on Sunday whether Grid Gigs hits the right note at COTA—or drowns out the one sound nobody wants to miss: five red lights, out.
