The F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Speed, Glamour, and Huge Controversy
Years in the making, F1 racing roared back into Las Vegas in back in 2023, kicking off a ten-year contract between Formula 1 racing and Sin City.
It was rather an inglorious start, with lawsuits, exploding manhole covers and some people using the term Stripageddon to describe the nine-month makeover needed to build the track down the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard for more than a mile.
These disruptions and controversies have lead to general apathy, if not downright hostility from locals toward the upcoming 2024 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Las Vegas F1: Brief History
More than 40 years ago, Caesars Palace, attempting to play on its luxury brand image, sought to bring F1 racing to a track behind its casino. Races were held in 1981 and 1982 but were poorly attended.
And worse, it did not draw the interest of the high-end gambling public Caesars had hoped to pique. The Caesar Palace Grand Prix went to CART racing for two years and then was disbanded altogether.
Hopes were higher for the Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix scheduled for 18 November 2023 and expected to see racecars hurtling down the world-famous Las Vegas Strip at more than 200mph.
This would also be the twenty-first and next to final race of the F1 2023 World Championship Series and was intended to draw fans from all over the world to Las Vegas.
Image credit: Cristiano Barni/Shutterstock
Dual In The Desert
The F1 Las Vegas would be a night race in the desert winding through walls of neon casinos and was expected to present quite the spectacle. F1 spared no expense in making preparations, including buying a parking lot for pit and paddock functions outright with partner Liberty Media for $240 million and eventually spending more than $500 million on the completed Las Vegas Grand Prix Plaza near the Strip.
The layout’s design was handed over to Carsten Tilke and Tilke GMBH. It snakes through some of Las Vegas’s iconic features, including circling the new Sphere entertainment complex and a flat straight shot down Las Vegas Blvd., which saw Charles Leclerc hit a race speed record of 350.5 kph, or about 218mph during the event.
With 17 turns and a lap distance of about 6.2 kilometers or about 3.8 miles, the track was called “massively challenging” by F1 racer Lewis Hamilton. George Russell was quoted as saying, “It’s good for racing, but maybe not the most exciting to drive”. Still, Oscar Piastri turned in a Las Vegas one-lap record of 1.35.4. With a total of 50 laps, however, drivers had a long Saturday night ahead of them.
Bright Lights And Big Money
As one might expect, many brands were eager to combine the excitement of Las Vegas and F1 racing with what they hoped would be well-heeled attendees from all over the world—even more so than the other F1 races in the US held in Miami and Austin.
The race sponsor, Heineken, was joined by American Express, Nieman Marcus, T-Mobile, Puma, and even Sports Illustrated, among many others. All held extravagant parties and hosted displays in the almost 300,000 square feet of hospitality space added just for the event.
The musical lineup for the Las Vegas F1 Grand Prix Opening ceremony on Wednesday, 15 November, included John Legend, Tiesto, Keith Urban, Journey, acts by Cirque Soliel, and many others, followed up with the official lighting show, which featured drones, fireworks, and lasers.
Among the many decadent event choices were a $5,000 per person dinner and whiskey tasting at Jean Georges in the Aria, a $1,000 and up ticket to see Kylie Minogue at the Amber lounge in the Venetian, or an extravagant invite-only after party on the 66th floor of Resorts World with DJ Pee.Wee.
Speaking of invite-only, Sotheby’s held a private auction at Wynn’s Awakening theater on the Friday before the race. They auctioned off several dozen cars, including a 2021 McLaren Elva and a 2008 Bugatti Veyron. But the star of the show was the very first 2013 Mercedes AMG Petronas driven by Lewis Hamilton in 14 F1 racing events in 2013. The winning bid was $18,815,000.
The F1 Vegas Car-tastrophe
Because it was a night race, the F1 Las Vegas schedule was a bit different as well. The three practice sessions were all scheduled for after dark since the race would start at 10 p.m.
The first was scheduled for Thursday from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., and then a second one from 12:00 to 1:00 a.m. Then, on Friday, a final practice session was to be held from 8:30 to 9:30, with qualifying rounds from 12:00 to 1:00 a.m.
Only about eight minutes into the first practice session, those plans literally came to a screeching halt. Carlos Sainz, in his Ferrari, somehow hit a dislodged manhole cover, which tore apart huge parts of his car’s underbelly, leaving him stranded on the track.
Esteban Ocon also suffered damage to his car, forcing him to install a whole new chassis before the second practice began. In an abundance of caution, F1 stopped the practice and began discussions on how to fix the issue.
Unhappy Fans and Disappointed Drivers
But this was not a huge hit with fans, many of whom had spent tens of thousands of dollars on F1 Las Vegas tickets. The second practice, scheduled for midnight, was pushed back first to 12:30 a.m., then to 2:30 a.m. when the second practice finally got underway after more than 30 manhole covers were filled with sand or cemented more firmly into place.
With a tight deadline of 4 a.m. to hand the track back over to the city each morning and claiming to fear for fan safety, the Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO, Renee Wilm, and F1 President Stefano Domenicali made the tough decision to clear the track of spectators around 1:30 a.m.
Almost all had been cleared out by the beginning of the delayed second practice run, which has resulted in several lawsuits from those who purchased F1 Las Vegas Tickets to witness the Thursday Practice sessions.
Carlos Sainz, who, after replacing engine components as well as much of the body and chassis of his Ferrari, had his second-place qualifying spot dropped ten spots for a “penalty “for replacing said parts and ended up in sixth place overall, added insult to injury for many fans who felt race organizers were to blame for the necessary repairs in the first place.
Ultimately, Max Verstappen won the race at 1:29:08, followed closely by Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. But as it turned out, it wasn’t just the fans, Carlos Sainz and the Ferrari team that left the Las Vegas F1 race disappointed.
Image credit: Cristiano Barni/Shutterstock
F1 Las Vegas: The Debacle in The Desert?
Media coverage of the event included words like embarrassing, nuisance, huge headache, and debacle in the desert. Even after the fans’ lawsuit was filed, lawsuits from casinos and local businesses are still incoming, claiming millions in lost revenues due to construction and traffic rerouting.
Many locals say they lost tip money and scheduled work hours due to construction and the arcane system of both pedestrian and vehicle bridges, which funneled traffic over and around the raceway as it was being built over the course of nine months and completely dried up business for some casinos and local businesses. These traffic headaches also tripled some worker’s commute times.
Clark County commissioners and Liberty Media, the event’s co-sponsors, have acknowledged the many issues around the Las Vegas 2023 inaugural race. However, they point to a $1.5 billion impact from the weekend event, including about $884 million in direct consumer spending by attendees, at a rate about 3.5 times more than the average Las Vegas visitor. Las Vegas F1 also created and maintained about 2,200 jobs over that nine-month build-out period.
Despite these seemingly huge benefit, the F1 Las Vegas lawsuits continue to roll in, with a new group of businesses set to sue Clarke County and the race promoter, Liberty Media. The basis of the new lawsuit is the same as the previous one brough by Ellis Island Casino, lost earnings due to the ongoing construction and the privatization of a colossal 3.8 miles of public roads in the Strip corridor for the track.
Las Vegas Convention Authority Under F1 Fire
In mid-summer 2024, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the Las Vegas Convention Authority had given out more than $4 million in taxpayer money in the form of tickets to the 2023 F1 race. Some of these tickets had a face value of $15,000, and some recipients received as many as five.
While the bulk of these tickets went to customers of the Convention Authority, many others went to staff, influencers, sports stars, celebrities, and politicians. Four of those politicians were Clark County commissioners, who are now facing a complaint from the Nevada Ethics Commission.
This reporting and subsequent investigations have only deepened many Las Vegans’ concerns and complaints about the race.
Putting the Sparkle Back Into The F1
Despite controversies, lawsuits, ethics investigations and general malaise from those who live in the Las Vegas Valley, the F1 Race Las Vegas saga will probably continue through 2026 and likely through at least 2033 as F1 has a $500 million real estate investment it would like to see some return on.
However, they are already seeing some ticket package pricing like the Heineken GA+ slashed by more than 80%. And many Strip casinos have reportedly shaved room rates by more than 50%, and that is still many months out from the actual race.
In typical Las Vegas Grand Prix fashion, there is some confusion about whether or not the county commissioners even signed a contract to begin with. But attempting to turn back now would be a costly and litigious mess.
When Is F1 Las Vegas 2024?
People wondering when is the F1 Las Vegas race is being held this year will be relieved to hear that tickets are on sale now for the race events from November 21st to November 23rd, with F1 promising cheaper tickets to try and draw in the crowds.
The F1 Las Vegas schedule of future races is for the weekend before the Thanksgiving Holiday for all upcoming years, should you wish to make plans.
It will once again attempt to showcase the luxury and opulence of Las Vegas with the excitement and energy of F1 against one of the most visually stunning backdrops in the entire world. Hopefully this time with all the lessons learned from the first year, it will be more spectacle and less sputter.
Title Image credit: Cristiano Barni/Shutterstock
