Is Las Vegas Worth the Gamble for Formula 1?

On March 31st, Formula 1 announced that in November 2023, the Las Vegas Grand Prix would return to the F1 calendar. A simple scroll through social media will tell you that the news has been received with mixed reactions. So, what’s the reasoning behind the return to Las Vegas and is it worth the risk?

Let’s see if we can find an answer.

Las Vegas hosted a number of Grand Prix back in the 1980s, famously in the car park of Caesar’s Palace. Those races weren’t exactly the highlight of their respective F1 calendars, and it wasn’t a surprise when F1 decided to stop racing there.

But a few factors in recent years have made Las Vegas’ return seemingly inevitable. First, when Haas joined the F1 grid back in 2014, it re-opened F1 to the American audience as they now had an American F1 team to root for.

Given Haas’ recent resurgence following their trimming down of dead weight and return to form on track, this has made the American outfit one of the most attractive teams in the new era of Formula 1.

Second is the impact of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that it too has introduced F1 to a brand-new audience around the world, particularly in America. This addiction to a binge worthy F1 reality show helped to boost the numbers of fans in attendance to the Austin Grand Prix to record highs in 2021.

DTS is also partly responsible for Formula 1 adding a second U.S circuit to its calendar – Miami. Set to debut in May this year, it will also play host to the doubleheader season opener for W Series.

It’s also worth noting that W Series has an American team entering it this year run by Caitlin Jenner. It’s a significant entry, given that Double W Series World Champion Jamie Chadwick has signed to race for the team alongside Chloe Chambers. Miami’s track will essentially be a street circuit and Las Vegas has followed suit in this regard.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Street Circuits in the past have thrown up interesting and entertaining races. Look at Baku and Saudi Arabia in 2021 as well as Valencia in 2012 and Singapore in 2017.

But with Vegas – and to an extent Miami, you get a distinct impression that the focus will be more on the experience of the weekend overall rather than the actual racing.

Some have argued that Formula 1 and Las Vegas are a brilliant partnership of glitz and glamour that go hand in hand and makes perfect sense. Hence the less need to focus on if the racing is superb or not.

But the thing is, we have that already in Formula 1. It’s called the Monaco Grand Prix. Actual royalty attends the races, celebrities from all over the world flock there, yachts and superyachts pull up in the harbour and Champagne comes by the bucket load.

Sure, the racing may not always be the best (that may change this year due to the new 2022 regulations) but the track continues to prove to be a unique challenge for the drivers in a way very much unlike any of the other circuits on the F1 calendar. It’s also steeped in F1 history and is the race that every driver wants to win – it’s on level at least with wanting to win your home Grand Prix.

There’s a reason that it’s the jewel in the F1 Crown.

From the look of the Vegas track so far, it looks fine. There’s a long back straight which should provide some opportunities for overtaking and a couple of the corners could be primed for some of the more ambitious drivers to chance their arm and roll the dice.

But if we look at how the Las Vegas Grand Prix is being marketed already, you can’t help but cringe. It looks tacky, forced and unnecessarily over the top – a bit like the last two seasons of ‘Drive to Survive’ really. Again, this isn’t necessarily a criticism.

Those qualities made DTS entertaining to watch for casual viewers or individuals new to Formula 1. But for long-term fans of the sport and those that actually care about the racing, it came across as fake and gimmicky – even Max Verstappen agrees.

While the Las Vegas Grand Prix may turn out to be a good popcorn flick, it’s got a lot to live up to if it wants to rank as high as some of the other street circuit races I mentioned earlier.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix also begs the question that if this is the third U.S Grand Prix, then where does it end? New York’s always been in the rumour mill for a Grand Prix and there are plenty of other worthy racetracks spread across the rest of American that would make for excellent venues.

Moreover, for a World Championship, why should American get three in one year when all of the other host countries, bar Italy, only get the one? That and the fact that with the exception of the Brazilian Grand Prix, there are currently no races in either South America or Africa.

One starts to see F1 as less of a World Championship when you take that into consideration.

So why has F1 decided to give America a third bite of the apple? An easy answer would be money. We’ve seen how that’s played out elsewhere in the world with the Middle East currently hosting three Grand Prix (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi) with a fourth (Qatar) on the way.

Of those four, Bahrain is arguably the only one that has brought consistently good racing with little pushback from fans. Saudi Arabia (even with the track changes in 2022) is still a dangerous circuit – both on and off if recent missile strikes are anything to go by – and the only reason Abu Dhabi is still hotly talked about is because of last year’s Championship deciding kafuffle – and that happened as much off track as on it.

Races at venues such as Silverstone, Montreal, Suzuka and Monza have all stayed on the calendar for as long as they have because they consistently provide great racing action with barely any controversy.

They’re all also fan favourites, something that only Austin could be considered as too by both new and old F1 fans. These are proper tracks which give fans proper racing and are reliable moneymakers in the process – the best of both worlds for Formula 1.

Will Las Vegas be worth the gamble for Formula 1 then? In financial terms, almost certainly. Hotels and casinos along the strip and in the surrounding area are all but guaranteed to make a killing next November.

In terms of racing, it’s hard to know. The new regulations have already proven to make for better racing and by the time we get to Vegas, there’s no telling how much more this will have improved.

For now though, it does seem more like F1’s focus is in just trying to please everybody, irrespective of if you’re actually an F1 fan or not. As long as you enjoy the experience and come back for more, then that’s all that matters.

As Lewis Hamilton himself said in a past season of ‘Drive to Survive’ – cash is king.

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly