On November 11, 2015, the Texas government cut nearly $6 million of the required $25 million in funding to host the event. Attendance numbers had dropped to 224,011 in October 2015, for the 2015 United States Grand Prix event, after heavy rain from a quickly dissipating Hurricane Patricia. On March 9, 2016, it was confirmed the race would continue to run in Austin, despite the funding cuts. 2016 turned out to be the best-attended Grand Prix in Austin: boosted by a heated World Drivers' Championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, good weather, and the allure of a Saturday night concert from pop singer Taylor Swift, nearly 270,000 people went through the turnstiles during the race weekend. On October 22, 2017, Lewis Hamilton won the race. Former US president Bill Clinton awarded the winning trophy. Justin Timberlake's concert helped boost the Grand Prix attendance by 40,000 over the previous year. In 2018, Britney Spears and Bruno Mars performed.