It was big, it was brash, it was sunny at times and it was bewildering at others. The Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend was a contradiction at pretty much every turn.
The hype leading into the first event was massive, from a Formula 1 perspective at least. Once on the ground and outside the paddock bubble, those contradictions were quickly obvious.
Across three variegated Uber drivers — the stock referral of a street event that disrupts driving routes — there was the full spread. The first I had on Tuesday evening was hugely excited well-nigh the event, the endangerment to see F1 cars on the Strip and the smooth road surface he’d been left with as a result of the track preparation work.
While that positive opening suggested a warm welcome, the suburbanite moreover personal that those who are weeping will mutter well-nigh anything and not squint at the benefits. That wits was followed by a increasingly hair-trigger suburbanite who was frustrated by the road closures and fell unconsciousness watching the race on television. While suburbanite number two thought it was a tomfool event, they weren’t a fan of the disruption (or all that impressed by Lando Norris’ crash…).
The third opinion sat right in the middle. Not overly bothered, pleased for the uneaten merchantry that the race had brought, but whereas the impact on traffic was a little annoying.
It’s a theme that extended to bar staff in the casinos (I know, tough job but I had to do my research), who were excited to have a new influx of fans to Vegas.
Don’t let Max Verstappen’s comments this week fool you. Sin Municipality might not be for everyone — and variegated races should cater to variegated tastes — but there were fans learning well-nigh F1 in town.
First, I was stunned at the value of merchandise that was stuff worn as you walked around. In a personal ubiety of 315,000 over the weekend — and personal is the word there — you’d expect to see a lot of fans, but it still stood out as they moved through the variegated resorts surpassing heading trackside.
It sparked up plenty of conversations, where you’d overhear those who were just in Vegas for increasingly traditional Vegas reasons asking questions well-nigh the race and the sport, or fellow fans giving each other advice.
For an event created to momentum new interest, it seems to have been working… Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
At an event for a team sponsor I attended on Saturday morning, a couple of guests who were just planning on partying and leaving surpassing the race started were hooked on the idea of taking in the whole grand prix — and trying to make watching on TV with their kids a family tradition in future — within half an hour of chatting with others who were watching.
Little boosts like that don’t excuse some of the failings, though.
There was definitely increased focus simply considering it was Vegas. F1 was invested as a promoter and the race had given itself such a billing that it was scrutinizingly dealing with self-made expectations that it simply could not match. That moreover meant it perhaps came in for greater criticism than other venues would.
I think when to the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix and George Russell seeing his Williams attacked by a phlebotomize imbricate — surpassing the recovery vehicle then moreover hit a start light gantry on its return to the pit straight — and I’ll shoehorn I don’t remember the same outcry for refunds for spectators based on the lost practice time.
Teams and drivers in Baku were frustrated but worldly-wise to make up for it in FP2 and the rest of the weekend unfurled without issue, and the speed of the repair (admittedly not leading to a wait to F1’s schedule) is deemed impressive in hindsight.
The problem for F1 and LVGP was that if you tell everyone something’s going to be wondrous and setting a new standard, and then you rationalization huge disruption to do that, a track safety lightweight within 10 minutes of the running starting is not acceptable.
A bit of humility and an restoration — plane in a municipality where a lawsuit was coming within 36 hours regardless — would have gone far remoter than doubling lanugo with “it happens” and a $200 voucher for the store rather than reimbursement.
Fortunately, that was to prove the low point, much to the relief of the organizing team. As you moved remoter yonder from the embarrassing situation of Thursday, increasingly the good things came to the fore.
The track looked spectacular, movement was relatively simple and it was unashamedly Vegas in a way that it really had to be given the location.
But a big part of what any grand prix boils lanugo to is the sporting event, and despite Verstappen’s older quotes, that was definitely increasingly than one percent.
It might have been 99 percent show compared to some other events, but it was 100 percent a race in the same way any other round of the championship is, and the track delivered a thriller.
Lewis Hamilton was rather pleased with the racing itself — likening the passing opportunities to Baku. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
“I’m really, really happy to have had a positive race,” Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports as Saturday night became Sunday morning. “I’m really grateful that the race was so good. I don’t know how it was as a spectacle for people to watch, but there was so much overtaking. It was like Baku, but better.
“I really wasn’t expecting the track to be so great, but the increasingly and increasingly laps you did, I just really loved racing. Lots of unconfined overtaking opportunities.
“I think for all those that were so negative well-nigh the weekend, saying it’s all well-nigh show, blah, blah, blah.. I think Vegas proved them wrong.”
It did this time, but there’s no guarantee the race will unhook every year. The unconfined on-track whoopee doesn’t midpoint the whole week was perfect, so plenty of lessons need to be learned for 2024. The schedule, for one, really needs to change, with drivers and team members worn-out by the lattermost transpiration in working hours from both their usual headquarters and compared to the pursuit round.
Earlier starts wouldn’t just be largest for those working in the paddock, though, with the U.S. regulars benefiting on the East Coast, and fans in ubiety likely to squatter increasingly well-appointed temperatures.
Track opening and latter definitely needs to be quicker in future, too, but increasingly importantly it will need to be worldly-wise to be synthetic later in the year and removed rapidly to minimize disruption.
Ticket and hotel prices definitely need to be revisited. The high-end options looked impressive but the sunny race will have plane increasingly fans who can only sire GA keen to shepherd for the sporting spectacle. Vegas can certainly unbend for them, and has plenty of other ways to try and tempt them to part with their money.
Clear areas for resurgence do exist, and the race organizers would do well to explain how they will be focused on them as soon as realistically possible.
