From 17 to 19 October, Formula 1 returned to the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin—and the weekend delivered everything fans expect from one of the sport’s most popular venues. Max Verstappen secured sprint and race victories that tightened the championship fight, while McLaren’s Lando Norris remained at the center of attention for UK audiences after a tense sprint qualifying and a dramatic collision with teammate Oscar Piastri. Off-track stories also made headlines, from Ferrari’s rumored approach to Christian Horner to Lewis Hamilton’s remarks on the speculation.

Amid all the sporting intensity, news publishers faced another kind of competition—for visibility in Google’s mobile News Boxes. This analysis looks at how UK publishers performed during the Austin weekend, which narratives dominated Google’s results, and how editorial timing, keyword focus, and content type shaped success.

The article begins with a detailed look at the keywords that drove visibility in the UK mobile News Boxes, followed by an examination of the top 10 publishers—their visibility shares, peaks in ranking performance, and the articles that captured the audience’s (and Google’s) interest. Together, these findings show how sporting, national, and speculative storylines intersected to define the digital race for attention alongside the one on track.

It’s lights out and away we go (with the analysis)!

Keywords that drove UK News Box visibility during the US Grand Prix

The keywords that ranked in the UK mobile News Boxes between 17 and 19 October reveal how the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix became a multifaceted story which blended sporting performance, team drama, and off-track speculation. In total, there were 48 keywords that reached 3,008 keyword rankings in the mobile News Boxes.

Unsurprisingly, the most visible terms focused on Max Verstappen and the Austin location. “verstappen” (340 rankings) and “austin” (324) led the field, confirming that coverage centered strongly on the race winner and the host circuit rather than the broader championship narrative. The prominence of “sprint” (240) and related phrases such as “f1 sprint qualifying” (94) and “sprint race” (16) reflects how the condensed sprint format once again became a headline driver for UK publishers, particularly after Verstappen’s sprint victory and the dramatic McLaren collision that took both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri out of contention.

That incident explains the cluster of McLaren-related terms: “verstappen norris” (108), “norris piastri” (44), “norris clash” (12), and “lando norris oscar piastri” (14). The recurrence of these pairings shows how the intra-team storyline—first in Singapore and then repeated in Austin—shaped keyword visibility. UK publishers’ strong focus on Norris is also reflected in entries like “norris practice” (30), “lando norris f1” (24), and “practice norris” (18). Together, they indicate that coverage went beyond results to capture the weekend rhythm—qualifying, sprint, and practice—with Norris as the domestic anchor for UK audiences.

At the same time, the presence of “lando norris singapore” (118) and “singapore lando norris” (64) highlights the carry-over effect of recent context: the earlier McLaren clash in Singapore remained part of the framing around Austin. This spillover of previous race narratives is typical for high-interest F1 topics and often helps UK publishers maintain continuity in News Box coverage.

Beyond team drama, a second major thread involved Ferrari and Christian Horner, visible through “ferrari” (104), “ferrari christian horner” (66), “christian horner ferrari” (60), and “lewis hamilton christian horner” (34). These combinations point to heavy engagement with speculation about Ferrari’s talks with Horner and Hamilton’s response to it, a story that connected leadership, brand prestige, and driver commentary. Keywords linking Hamilton and Horner show that news-feature-style content (rather than race reports) also found visibility within the News Boxes.

More general Formula 1 and event terms such as “f1” (212), “us grand prix” (74), “grand prix” (54), and “2025 race” (4) rounded out the landscape. Their moderate but consistent presence reflects the way Google’s News Boxes capture multiple angles of an event: core race terms for breaking coverage, plus secondary terms for analytical and contextual pieces.

Two smaller but notable entries, like “formula 1 apple” (18) and “apple deal” (12), connect to reports about Apple securing future U.S. streaming rights for Formula 1. This business-media angle offered a forward-looking element that complemented the race coverage and appealed to tech and business publications with sports desks, such as the BBC or Sky News.

Overall, the keyword distribution paints a clear picture of how UK publishers approached the United States Grand Prix. High visibility clustered around three dominant storylines: Verstappen’s victory and sprint dominance, McLaren’s internal setbacks and Norris’s domestic relevance, and off-track intrigue involving Ferrari and Christian Horner. Together, these themes demonstrate how sporting performance, national interest, and leadership speculation intersected to shape the News Box rankings during the Austin weekend.

Top publishers in the UK mobile News Boxes

This screenshot from the Trisolute News Dashboard shows the most visible publishers on the US Grand Prix in UK mobile News Boxes and their courses of visibility throughout the examined time period from 17 to 19 October, 2025. The flags mark the most important milestones during the weekend, namely the practice session (FP1) and the Sprint Qualifying on the 17th, the Sprint and Qualifying on the 18th, and the Grand Prix race on the 19th. Down below we’ll take a closer look at the top 10 publishers, their visibility score and peak visibility times, as well as keyword and article performance.

Top 10 publishers in UK mobile News Boxes on the Formula 1 US Grand Prix

1. Sky Sports
   Sky Sports led the field with a visibility share of 20.32%. The publisher’s visibility peaked twice—on October 17 between 6 and 8 p.m. during Free Practice 1, and again the following morning after the Sprint Qualifying session—each peak accounting for roughly half of its overall visibility. Sky Sports ranked for 542 keywords, most prominently “f1” (61 rankings), “verstappen norris” (53), and “verstappen” (48). Its top-performing article, “United States GP: Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri to Sprint pole after close battle,” aligned perfectly with real-time search interest and showcased the broadcaster’s strength in delivering up-to-the-minute event coverage.
2. BBC
   BBC Sport followed in second place with 13.05% visibility, reaching its peak on October 17 at 8 p.m., between Free Practice 1 and the Sprint Qualifying. The publisher appeared with 326 keyword rankings, driven by “sprint” (39 rankings), “verstappen” (48), and “lando norris singapore” (36). The headline “US Grand Prix: Max Verstappen beats Lando Norris to pole for sprint race in Austin” captured the UK audience’s focus on the Verstappen–Norris rivalry while maintaining the BBC’s trademark balance between event reporting and analytical framing.
3. Formula 1
   Formula 1’s official site ranked third with 9.74% visibility and recorded the single highest visibility score overall (53.45%) on October 17 at 10 p.m., just before the Sprint Qualifying. With 266 keyword rankings, its most frequently ranked terms were “f1 sprint qualifying” (35 rankings), “austin” (31), and a tie between “f1 qualifying” and “sprint” (19 each). Its top article, “Verstappen beats Norris to Sprint pole in Austin,” mirrored the timing of official session updates and underlined Formula 1’s dominance for immediate, authoritative race information.
4. The Guardian
   The Guardian secured fourth place with 7.30% visibility, peaking on October 18 at 10 p.m. during the start of the Qualifying session (28.67%). The outlet reached 190 keyword rankings, led by “f1 qualifying” (48 rankings), “sprint” (25), and “lando norris singapore” (20). Its top article, “US Grand Prix qualifying: Verstappen wins F1 pole ahead of Norris – as it happened,” emphasized The Guardian’s strong live-blogging format and contextual narrative style that performed well in News Boxes during key event moments.
5. PlanetF1
   PlanetF1 followed with a 5.87% visibility share and a visibility peak of 36.67% on October 18 at 10 p.m., also aligning with the start of Qualifying. The publisher achieved 204 keyword rankings, most commonly for “verstappen” (45 rankings), “f1 sprint qualifying” (22), and “ferrari” (17). Its top article, “2025 United States Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying F1 results (COTA),” reflected a data-centric, session-driven approach that appealed to fans searching for concise, results-oriented updates.
6. Crash.Net
   Crash.Net achieved 5.48% visibility, peaking on October 17 at 11 p.m. during the Sprint Qualifying session with 46.43% visibility. The site appeared with 151 keyword rankings, led by “sprint” (20 rankings), “f1” (18), and a tie between “austin” and “christian horner ferrari” (17 each). Its most visible article, “Lewis Hamilton weighs in on ‘distracting’ Christian Horner to Ferrari F1 rumours,” stood out for blending off-track intrigue with championship-context relevance—a combination that often earns strong News Box performance.
7. Autosport
   Autosport followed closely with 5.21% visibility, peaking just after the Sprint Qualifying on October 18 at 12 a.m. with 32.1%. The outlet reached 151 keyword rankings, primarily with “verstappen norris” (37 rankings), “verstappen” (21), and “verstappen russell” (20). Its most visible piece, “F1 US GP: Verstappen wins sprint race, Norris and Piastri taken out in start crash,” combined real-time reporting with technical precision, solidifying Autosport’s reputation as an authoritative source for race-specific coverage.
8. Daily Mail
   Daily Mail ranked eighth with a visibility share of 4.91% and an early peak on October 17 at 2 a.m., well before the first on-track sessions (31.86%). The outlet achieved 115 keyword rankings, dominated by “ferrari christian horner” (33 rankings), “christian horner ferrari” (30), and “ferrari” (20). Its top article, “Lewis Hamilton gives verdict on Ferrari’s stunning talks with Christian Horner over Formula One comeback,” capitalized on pre-event speculation—showing how early-published human-interest and leadership stories can secure News Box placement even before racing begins.
9. The Race
   The Race followed with 3.59% visibility, peaking on October 18 at 8 a.m., the morning after the Sprint Qualifying (28.44%). It reached 88 keyword rankings, with “sprint” (24 rankings), “f1 sprint qualifying” (16), and “f1 qualifying” (13) among the most frequent. The article “Winners and losers from F1’s Austin sprint qualifying” exemplified analytical post-session content that continues to rank well as readers look for synthesis rather than breaking updates.
10. The Telegraph
    The Telegraph completed the top 10 with 2.87% visibility, peaking on October 19 at 12 a.m., following the final Qualifying session (14.19%). The publisher achieved 68 keyword rankings, led by “f1 qualifying” (34 rankings), “verstappen” (10), and “f1” (6). Its top article, “United States F1 GP qualifying: Verstappen beats Norris but Piastri only sixth,” demonstrated the outlet’s concise, results-focused approach with emphasis on British driver outcomes—a familiar formula for The Telegraph’s sports coverage.

What publishers can take away from this analysis

Want to see how other major sporting events performed in Google’s News Boxes? Explore more (motor)sports analyses powered by the Trisolute News Dashboard:

• The PDC 2025 World Grand Prix
• Ryder Cup 2025: Which publishers scored Mobile News Box visibility?
• Football’s Back: Top Keywords and Publishers That Kicked Off the Premier League 2025/26
• Silverstone 2025: Who Drove Visibility in UK Mobile News Boxes for the British GP?
• Who Served Best? Wimbledon 2025 in UK Mobile News Boxes
• Australian Grand Prix 2025

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