Ticket sales for this month’s US Formula One Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, “took off” after Max Verstappen stopped winning, according to the race promoter, Bobby Epstein. Verstappen started the season in dominant fashion, winning four of the first five races and seemingly destined to wrap up his fourth drivers’ title well before the end of the campaign.

The Dutchman, who won 19 of 22 races last year, has failed to win any of the last eight, however, with McLaren’s Lando Norris his closest challenger and now 52 points behind with six rounds remaining.

“Our ticket sales really took off when Max stopped winning and it got more competitive,” said Epstein. The promoter had feared a “weakest year in four since the pandemic” but said sales were trending upwards for the sprint race weekend that takes place on 18-20 October.

The race will be the first since Red Bull dropped Daniel Ricciardo, a big favourite of the US crowd, and replaced him with Liam Lawson last month.

Epstein hoped Ricciardo would still attend in another role. “I’m not sure necessarily people are buying tickets to come see him race if he’s not in a competitive car, right?”

“If you’re coming, though, because he’s part of the F1 community, he can still be part of the F1 community in a pretty meaningful way. He’s really, really loved in Texas and I think he likes it here.

“I hope he’s still coming here because we’ve got a lot of people that would love to shake his hand or get his autograph or take a picture or just see him around town. We’ll keep him busy.“

The circuit will be hosting an Eminem concert after the Saturday sprint and Epstein expected a crowd of 130,000-150,000. There will also be a college football game between the Texas Longhorns and the Georgia Bulldogs, a heavyweight meeting that has sent hotel prices soaring in the state capital. “We’ll have a weekend like we’ve never had before in terms of overall excitement and things to do,” said Epstein.

“The fact that we’ve got the top-ranked college game happening on that Saturday is going to make for an amazing weekend.”