The Gamble Of The Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023

Total Revenue

It's no doubt that the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix was going to be a big spend after being announced in 2022, having not been raced in this iconic city since 1982. However one can say that the times have changed since then; The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority expressed that the race weekend would bring in $966 million into the city, plus another $316 million in event operations and support costs. To put that into perspective, that's double what the Super Bowl brings yearly!

Along with ticket prices, luxury hotels, exclusive experiences and celebrity guests, this idea being turned into reality seems like the perfect choice to host a Formula One race.

Tickets In 2022 Compared To 2023

Ticket prices would vary for the weekend, with getting one as low as $40 a day or spending as big as $1 million on some of the city's most luxurious suites for the weekend or even $5 million for the 'Emperor Package' (Wood, I. 2022) These tickets were released to the public on Saturday 5th Nov. 2022, providing views from the iconic Sphere Zone, Harmon Zones or General Admission including Shared Hospitality and Suites just like any other race.

Although it was planned to oversee that these would sell out immediately, it posed the problem of your average racing fan: all of the tickets were just too expensive. People didn't want to have to pay for travel and buy the tickets due to the rising costs. It almost seemed as if it wasn't a race for the average viewer. By the start of November this year, Saturday ticket prices were dropping by 23% and down 50% a month prior. Even worse were the Thursday and Friday tickets which dropped by 20% and were down by 70% (e.g. $919 down to $119!) Another reason could also be the fact that Max Verstappen had already won the championship by the Qatar Grand Prix and didn't show as much excitement as the title contenders back in 2021, Verstappen himself and Lewis Hamilton.

'We Don't Want You Here!'

As glorious as the weekend sounded, many Las Vegas residents had some very strong opinions about the idea of Formula One driving into their homes. Many issues were involved around 'blocking traffic' and 'disrupting the accessibility of the city', all of which are completely valid points with the amount of money it costs to live and travel there.

Jim Gibson, who oversees and has jurisdiction over the work that happens on the Las Vegas Strip, states that "it’s been a very heavy lift for our community to take the steps necessary to have a successful event. Everyone who lives here, who works in the resort corridor in particular, has had to sacrifice because of the significant roadwork and construction" (fortune.com)

Vice president of the race organisation, Vanessa Anthes, has even discouraged people to come to Las Vegas if they don't have a ticket by expressing that there may not be parking spaces or hotels to stay in. So the question states as to whether this can be an event that runs on a yearly basis even if Formula One have a 10 year deal with the circuit? How can an entire city shut down for a weekend?

Although, Las Vegas explain that during the Thanksgiving season, the revenue of the city slows down. Since the race was held a week before this, it has most likely done the city a favour and offered over 7,700 jobs with $361 million in salaries and wages.

Issues Regarding Construction

It's no question that the city of Las Vegas would have to go through a multitude of changes in order to hold a race weekend. This would mean months of preparation, warning and compromise.

Again this isn't to say that people enjoyed their presence. For a race that was steadily approaching, scaffolding and construction work would be prevalent throughout the city for the most part of 2023. Individuals took to social media to record the chaos inside of the bustling city showing the amount of traffic build-up from insufficient planning, even going as far as 'chopping down trees in the middle of the night' (VegasStarfish on TikTok). Unfortunately on the 23rd September 2023, a construction worker also died in hospital due to a 'major laceration to the neck' while working on sites around the Bellagio Fountains.

People also complained about the grandstands being put up in front of the fountains along the Boulevard and at some points, we didn't even know if the track would be finished in time for the race weekend as improvements were still being made two weeks leading up to the event.

Amongst all these challenges, it was almost certainly a miracle that the track was finished in time.

And so the weekend begins!

Formula One had arrived for the weekend after defying many odds. For lots of the drivers it would have been one of the best weekends of the year, notably Daniel Ricciardo of Alpha Tauri who has expressed wanting to race here for years but nearly missing out on the opportunity after only gaining a seat half-way through the season when Dutch driver, Nyck de Vries, was dropped by the team.

Thursday night practice finally comes around after waiting in anticipation, but it doesn't take long for everything to start going wrong. At only 8 minutes into the hour long practice session, it was drawn to a close as Carlos Sainz of Ferrari drove over a loose manhole cover and caused the Spanish driver to stop his car on the side of the road. Moments later, Esteban Ocon of Alpine ran over some of the debris that the initial impact caused.

The session was not restarted and FP2 was delayed over two hours to try and solve the issue, however it was ran for an extra 30 minutes. Fans thought it was absurd that they were being kicked out of their paid seats with barely any compensation for these sessions, their complaints being completely reasonable and another point for the 'thumbs down' portion of the weekend.

Although, this left a hefty fix for the Ferrari garage, proving controversial amongst fans as the driver was given a 10 place grid penalty due to the damage. Was this entirely fair?

Friday night at the circuit proved to be a more positive day for most teams, allowing more time for the drivers to get used to the track layout.

And so comes the main event, Saturday night on one of the famous strips in the world. Oddly compared to most Formula One tracks, positions further at the back curved around Turn 14 however this proved no difficulty for Ricciardo, Norris, Ocon, Zhou, Piastri or Tsunoda.

More controversy was caused at the front of the race with Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, narrowly missing a big collision on the first corner. The championship winner only walked away with a 5 second time penalty served in his pit-stop, but could it be argued that Charles was on the racing line?

After 4 laps in the race, Lando Norris of McLaren suffered a big crash and headed into the run off area just enough to miss other drivers. Even though his radio messages seemed like he was in a lot of pain and taken to hospital, he was declared to have zero injuries.

The spectacular race ended with Verstappen on top, his teammate Sergio Perez third after Leclerc was able to pull off a breathtaking overtake through the chicane, earning him crypto.com Overtake Of The Month award. The cooldown room was fancily replaced with the drivers being escorted down the strip to the ceremony celebrations, something to definitely set apart this race from others.

A Big Win or A Big Loss?

All in all the Las Vegas Grand Prix showed a spectacle of an event, representing the economic growth of motorsport in recent years. Well-funded leagues now have the capacity to make big gambles like this one which in the end has ultimately paid off. Or has it?

Better planning and awareness is a factor that could have had more attention in the matter of making a successful race in forthcoming years but this has been a one of a kind event that will have to experience challenges along the way.