Throngs of Formula 1 fans will head to Circuit of the Americas this weekend for the U.S. Grand Prix.

Why it matters: F1 — an international racing championship — brings glamour to Austin, as it sits alongside locales like Monaco and Mexico City in a 24-city calendar-year circuit.

• The Austin airport sees some of its busiest travel days around F1 weekend, and local economists estimate the economic impact to be in the hundreds of millions.

State of play: After cruising to victories early in the season, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has seen his lead cut to 52 points by McLaren's Lando Norris.

• The race winner will get 25 points, the second-place finisher 18 points and the third-place driver gets 15. (Lesser sums are awarded to drivers who finish fourth through 10th place.)
• There will be five more races after the U.S. Grand Prix for Norris to make up the gap — in Mexico, Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Zoom in: Practice sessions kick off Friday, and the weekend concludes Sunday with the Grand Prix.

• Three-day grounds passes, which include access to musical performances, are still available for $389 apiece before fees. Sunday Grand Prix tickets start at $249.
• You can also watch the action live on ESPN, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes.

What we're watching: Final attendance figures.

• Austin set a new F1 record in 2022 with a three-day attendance of around 440,000 fans.
• But that dropped slightly — to 432,000 — in 2023, the year of the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.

When Texans decide to leave the state, most of them are heading to California, new Census Bureau data shows.

State of play: While moving overall is at an all-time low, there's been an uptick in state-to-state migration.

By the numbers: A five-year pooled average over 2018-2022 shows that about 37,005 people annually made the journey to California.

• Florida comes in second at 31,333, while Oklahoma is third at about 29,005, with Colorado and Georgia close behind.

The big picture: That California is the top destination isn't entirely surprising, given its reputation as the incubator of the future.

Yes, but: Nearly 90,000 Californians left for Texas during the period as many tech companies relocated from the Bay Area to Austin, including Tesla.

• For years, Gov. Greg Abbott and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have sought to woo each other's residents.

Between the lines: Some tech workers are now seeking to return to the West Coast, citing Texas' conservative politics and natural disasters.

• Still, the states Texans are heading to span the political spectrum.

The bottom line: Most Americans stay close to home — but plenty are still making big moves, whether for a job, an education or family reasons.

🥞 Displaced by the Interstate 35 expansion after nearly 60 years in business, Stars Café — known to many as Star Seeds — will close Nov. 10 and move to a new location away from the highway. (KVUE)

🎓 Hispanic students make up nearly half of Texas public high schoolers who earn college credits before graduation, per a new study. (Texas Tribune)

💰 The Spurs' Victor Wembanyama is suing an Austin man for allegedly using his name, image and likeness to sell products without permission. (NIL Daily)

🏈 Stat du jour

The combined total pay of the Georgia and Texas head football coaches in 2024 is $23.6 million, more than the spending of at least 99 Division I athletic departments in the 2023 reporting year.

Motorsports content company The Race Media has been acquired by RAFA Media, the companies announced in Austin ahead of Formula 1 this week.

Why it matters: Company officials say the acquisition will take The Race's podcast and video production to the next level, allowing them to scale as F1 becomes more popular in the U.S.

Catch up quick: The Race Media, which launched in 2020, is the company behind The Race, WTF1 and Driver Database.

• The Race Media's WTF Talent launched in 2023, becoming the only influencer agency focused on motorsport. It now has a roster of over 50 influencers.

Zoom in: RAFA Media, founded by Rafael Martinez, is a collective of motorsports businesses, including Houston-based RAFA Racing Club, Grid Finder and Traxion.

• Martinez said the company's mission is to "democratize and grow motorspots" to make it accessible to everyone.

What they're saying: "Formula 1 is in a tremendous growth period at the moment, in the US especially," Andrew van de Burgt, founder and CEO of The Race Media, said in a news release. "Being a part of RAFA Media will allow us to ride this wave and expand into new territories."

Between the lines: Formula 1 has seen its popularity in America surge in recent years, largely due to the Netflix docuseries "Drive to Survive."

Disclosure: Axios co-founder Roy Schwartz is an adviser to The Race Media.

It's a big sports weekend, with the Longhorns facing Georgia in football on Saturday and Formula 1 racing at Circuit of the Americas running throughout the weekend.

• If you had to pick one, would you head to the Longhorns game or F1?
• Or would you rather just stay at home?

Take our poll.