TICKETS SNAPPED UP AS MAX STRUGGLES

US promoter calls it 'hockey stick' effect, as champ's drought makes race more attractive

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LONDON - Ticket sales for October's Formula One United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, "took off" after Max Verstappen stopped winning, according to race promoter Bobby Epstein.

Red Bull's Verstappen started the season in dominant fashion, winning four of the first five races and seemingly set to wrap up his fourth drivers' title well before the end of the campaign.

But the Dutch 27-year-old, who won 19 of 22 races last season, has failed to win any of the last eight, 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," Epstein, whose Circuit of the Americas hosts a sprint race weekend on Oct 19-20, told reporters.

The promoter had feared a "weakest year in four since the pandemic" but said there had instead been a "hockey stick" effect of sales trending upwards.

The US Grand Prix will also be the first since Red Bull-owned RB dropped Australian Daniel Ricciardo, a big favorite of the US crowd, in September and replaced him with New Zealander Liam Lawson.