It is our constitutional right as Americans to buy anything and everything at bulk superstores like Costco — and now, that even includes your Formula 1 tickets. If you were hoping to head to the 2023 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, then I’ve got some good news for you: You can nab your general admission passes alongside enough toilet paper to last you through the nuclear apocalypse and your $1.50 hot dog.
If you don’t believe me, you can head right over to the Costco website to check out the for yourself. Or you can consult the Tumblr post of a Formula 1 fan who saw this bad boy out in the wild:
Basically, if you’re keen on heading to an F1 race, you can grab a limit of five of these eVouchers per Costco membership. You’ll then enter that eVoucher code into a website, then head to the box office at COTA to swap it in for a wristband, which will grant you access to all of COTA’s numerous general admission sections throughout the USGP week.
The $349.99 price tag is admittedly a little steep (and also appears to be pre-tax), and you don’t appear to gain any benefit by buying your GA eVouchers in bulk the way you would to justify buying approximately 15,000 double-stuffed Oreos. However, it is a much better deal than what you can find on COTA’s website, where the three-day GA wristband runs about $475. And that’s well before you tack on an additional parking pass ($150 to $275, depending on whether or not you’re willing to park and walk into the track) or a shuttle pass ($89 to $129, depending on your pick-up and drop-off location).
These Costco purchases seem to be regionally limited; I’m able to purchase from my location in Texas, but other folks at Jalopnik who live in different states received a message that the eVouchers weren’t available in their location.
Back in my day, I remember being able to buy season passes for COTA that cost under $300 and got me access to F1, MotoGP, WEC and/or IMSA, and any GT or vintage races held at the track throughout a calendar year. It might not be the greatest sign of the times that F1 tickets have grown so damn expensive that fans have to turn to Costco for a discount.