AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The governing body for Formula 1 fined the organizers of the United States Grand Prix nearly $550,000 after a group of spectators invaded the track at the Circuit of the Americas while cars were still finishing their cooldown lap following Sunday's race.
The FIA said about 200 fans in the grandstand opposite pit lane climbed a fence, dropped about 6 feet, then cleared another fence and barrier to get to the track itself. Fans are allowed in the area for the postrace podium celebrations but only after all the cars are off the track.
Premature track invasions are considered serious safety violations.
Race officials fined the organizers for “failing to take reasonable measures, thus resulting in an unsafe situation.”
Track president Bobby Epstein said his staff “will review the video” but declined further comment.
The track must give the FIA by the end of the year a plan to prevent an invasion from happening again and a review of the entire track to identify and correct any areas where a similar violation could occur.
The FIA suspended about $378,000 (350,000 euros) of the fine until Dec. 31, 2026, provided no other track invasion problems happen at COTA at the 2025 and 2026 grand prix.
The FIA also noted part of the fine was a suspended because it was the first time the track had a security breach.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, of Monaco, steers into a turn during the U.S. Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, of Monaco, wins the F1 U.S. Grand Prix auto race at the Circuit of the Americas, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Patrick Fallon/Pool Photo via AP)
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, of Spain, left, and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, right, of the Netherlands, celebrate after they finished second and third respectively behind winner Charles Leclerc in the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Didlick)
North Carolina's Biltmore Estate will soon reopen after being forced to close when floodwaters pushed by Hurricane Helene devasted the area.
The popular tourist destination announced over the weekend that they plan to open and “celebrate the joy of the holiday season” on Nov. 2.
“For more than 125 years, Biltmore has been a witness to the resilience of this community,” the Asheville-based estate posted in a statement. “The compassion and resolve of our region have been rising every day from beneath the weight of this storm.”
Here are a few things to know:
On Sept. 27, the remnants of Hurricane Helene destroyed large swaths of the Southeast as flooding overwhelmed communities, swiped out roads and knocked out power for thousands. North Carolina's largest mountain city was left largely isolated as many of the main routes into Asheville were washed away or blocked by mudslides.
Officials have warned that rebuilding after Helene will be lengthy and difficult. Helene first roared ashore in northern Florida on Sept. 26 as a Category 4 hurricane and quickly moved through Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast, where to date nearly 250 deaths have been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Western North Carolina was hit especially hard because that’s where the remnants of Helene encountered the higher elevations and cooler air of the Appalachian Mountains, causing even more rain to fall. Asheville and many surrounding mountain towns were built in valleys, leaving them especially vulnerable to devastating rain and flooding.
It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.
According to the Biltmore Estate, the 8,000-acre property was impacted very little by Hurricane Helene. Along with the Biltmore House, the estate includes a conservatory, winery, gardens and overnight properties, which received varying degrees of minimal or no damage.
Instead, some of the property's more low-lying areas were the most impacted by the storm. Notably, the entrance to the Biltmore Estate experienced flooding and is currently undergoing “extensive repairs.” The estate's website says the recovery effort will result in the removal of weakened poplar trees that lined the entrance gate.
The Biltmore Estate was completed in 1895 during the nation’s Gilded Age. It was anchored by a 250-room French chateau built at the direction of George Vanderbilt and is the largest privately owned home in the United States.
Biltmore draws about 1.4 million visitors on average in a year and employs nearly 2,500 employees — all of whom were accounted for after the storm, according to the estate's website. The estate is one of the largest employers in the Asheville area.
The mansion has rarely closed since opening to the public. When Biltmore laid off most its staff in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the estate said it was first time it was forced to close since World War II.
FILE - Biltmore Estate crews raise a 40-foot-tall Fraser fir tree in the Banquet Hall of the Biltmore House on Friday, Nov. 1, 2013, in Asheville, N.C. The tree, from an Avery County farm, arrived by horse-drawn carriage. (Bill Sanders/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
FILE - The Biltmore House, a 1890s French Renaissance-style, 250-room chateau in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is shown in Asheville, N.C., Dec. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Alan Marler, File)
FILE - A horse-drawn trailer carries a 34-foot live Fraser fir to the front doors of the Biltmore House in Asheville, N.C Friday, Nov. 2, 2007. (Bill Sanders/The Asheville Citizen-Times via AP)
This satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows flood-hit area of Biltmore village, N.C. after Hurricane Helene, on Oct. 7, 2024. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies via AP)
