WHEN the first Grand Prix of the Automobile Club of France was held in 1906, the course was some 64 miles of poorly surfaced public roads near the city of Le Mans, and the event was scheduled for six laps on each of two days, about 769 miles in all. The winner, whose total time was 12 hours and 12 minutes, finished 32 minutes in front of the runner-up, with an average speed close to 63 miles an hour.

The action will unfold at a much faster pace on Sunday, when the Formula One circuit returns to the United States for the first time in five years. The race, the 19th of 20 in the 2012 season — and possibly the decisive one in awarding the driver’s championship — is scheduled for 56 laps of a new 3.4-mile purpose-built road course near Austin, Tex., where the surface is likely to be as smooth as your kitchen table.

The regulations limit the event to a maximum of 190 miles or two hours, whichever comes first, and if the winner is as much as 32 seconds ahead at the finish, it will be a surprise. That he will average better than 100 m.p.h. will surprise no one.

Despite its huge global audience, Formula One has struggled to establish a presence in the United States, and the Texas race, along with a potential race in New Jersey scheduled for 2014, may provide the settings for greater acceptance. There are large audiences in America tracking the Indianapolis-type open-wheel cars and the Nascar stockers, after all, though the similarities of Formula One and IndyCar may be confusing to casual fans of motor sports.