It served as the eighteenth round of the 2018 Formula One World Championship and marked the seventh running of the United States Grand Prix at this circuit.

[7] Hamilton entered the weekend holding the record for the most Formula One wins at the Circuit of the Americas, having won five of the six races held at the track.

[8] Lando Norris and Sean Gelael drove in the first practice session instead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Brendon Hartley for McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively.

[12] Lewis Hamilton was fastest, setting a lap time over a second quicker than the second-placed driver, his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Ferrari used the session to test a floor upgrade, and resulting struggles meant Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen placed fifth and sixth, behind the two Red Bulls.

[14] The session was briefly red-flagged when Charles Leclerc ran off the track into the gravel; Vettel was later given a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently for the red flags.

Most of the grid only completed a handful of laps, and five drivers (Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen, and Valtteri Bottas) did not set a time.

Max Verstappen placed third in Q1, but was forced to end his qualifying early after an impact with a kerb damaged his car's suspension.

Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon were fifth and sixth, and Nico Hülkenberg placed seventh—his joint-best qualifying result of the season.

A chaotic start saw multiple early collisions, with yellow flags waved for a first-lap incident between Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, the latter of whom was forced to retire with chassis damage.

[26] Further up the grid, Romain Grosjean braked early while challenging Esteban Ocon, locking up and driving into Charles Leclerc.

Following his early spin, Vettel had managed to return near to the top of the grid and pitted on lap 27, emerging fifth behind Hamilton, Räikkönen, Verstappen, and Bottas.

[28] Hamilton was eventually forced to make a second stop on lap 38 due to tyre wear, surrendering his lead and rejoining the race in fourth, ahead of Vettel.

On the penultimate lap, Vettel capitalised on Bottas' tyre wear, taking fourth position as the Mercedes driver ran wide at turn 12.

[28] By winning, Räikkönen ended his record 114-race winless streak which had lasted since the 2013 Australian Grand Prix and included 14 second-place finishes.

[32] Hamilton expressed his surprise and frustration at Mercedes' performance, saying they "made it so hard for [them]selves", and that he did not fully understand the team's race strategy.

[35] Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle was critical of Vettel's performance and said he "seems to be on the receiving end of contact every single time he gets into a squabble" and that he had "forgotten how to do wheel-to-wheel combat".