Has there been a more contentious issue in Las Vegas over the last three months than F1? If there has, I can’t think of it.
The 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix took place 16 – 18 November and with it came all the glamour of a F1 spectacle alongside all the chaos it takes to host an event of that size.
Put simply, the Las Vegas Strip was not built for F1.
Cue many months of resurfacing roads, relaying pathways, building viewing platforms, constructing rigging, temporary bridges, and basically everything required to make the event possible. Even after all of that, a wonky manhole nearly derailed the whole thing, but that’s a different story.
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The point is, while F1 was always going to look out-of-this world spectacular on the Las Vegas Strip, it took a hell of lot to get it that way and in doing so, caused a lot of upset.
Uprooting of long-established trees in front of the Bellagio Fountains not to mention blocking of the view with ugly metallic construction for several months was just one of the issues.
Add in restricted walkways, closed roads, traffic congestion, stickers on bridges to block views and basically a lot less freedom for visitors, not only during the event, but weeks before and weeks after too and you can see the issue.
The response to all of the negative reaction came in the form of dollar signs. F1 was tipped to be the biggest money-earner that Las Vegas had ever seen and, according to post-event figures, it was.
Race officials reported a capacity crowd of 315,000 and an estimated economic impact of $1.2billion. Of course, these figures are impossible to interrogate. However, they are double the value that the Super Bowl is expected to bring in early this year.
For fans of Las Vegas, it seems there are two camps – those who believe the event was worth all of the upheaval, and those who don’t. There isn’t really a right or wrong, it just depends on personal choice.
However, there had been an ongoing debate about whether F1 bit off more than they could chew with Vegas. Max Verstappen himself, called the event 99% show and 1% sporting event, stating he felt like a clown standing on stage at the opening ceremony.
Despite making a 3 year deal with Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and a ten year commitment with Clark County, F1 did, by their own admission, make a lot of mistakes in 2023.
This included leaving thousands of unhappy guests out of pocket on the first practice night after seeing just 8 minutes of action. As well as the disruption and race restrictions having a negative impact on lots of smaller businesses and hotels in the area. So the question remained whether it would return to Sin City or not.
But that has all been put to bed now with an announcement of start times for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The 2024 event will take place 21-23 November with a race time, once again, of 10pm.
For everyone’s sake, the hope is that lessons have now been learnt and the organizers will benefit from their experience and know-how to make the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix a much smoother and positive experience for all.
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