F1’s Las Vegas GP is finding the right balance, but has it found its right place?

Opinions may still be divided, but following a disrupted, over-the-top start in 2023, Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix is slowly but surely hitting the right notes.

F1 has yet to provide official attendance figures beyond labelling the race as being «sold out». It is not clear if that means the event is up from last year’s figure of 306,000, which was a decline from 315,000 in year one. But it has shifted some of its ticket offerings to more palatable options to appeal to a wider part of F1’s diverse fanbase, with less of an exclusive reliance on high rollers who feel they have already ticked that box once.

Opinions are still split among the local residents, from Uber drivers to bartenders we struck up conversations with, with some still deploring the – admittedly reduced – disruption the event is causing, while others are accepting the inconvenience for the greater economic good of the event for the city.

F1 has transformed one of the quietest weekends of the year, before Thanksgiving, into a marquee date. It still comes at a price for the F1 community itself, which is now dragging itself from Las Vegas to Doha, usually via a 15-hour economy flight from Los Angeles, followed by a third-straight weekend plus post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

There seems to be a direct correlation between people’s place in F1’s food chain and just how glowing their opinion of Las Vegas has been. Team principals and commercial chiefs are in dreamland with the B2B potential the event offers as F1 keeps hitting unprecedented levels of popularity.

Meanwhile, mechanics are groaning over the prospect of a long journey and time zone shift as part of a triple-header which finishes a couple of weeks before Christmas in Abu Dhabi. That’s only seven weeks before the first 2026 shakedown in Barcelona, by the way.

Those two trains of thought aren’t mutually exclusive. One can recognise Las Vegas is objectively a net win for F1, because it absolutely is. But a more palatable middle ground might be for the event to be twinned with Brazil, while giving mechanics, set-up and hospitality staff an opportunity to recover ahead of a more logical Qatar/Abu Dhabi double-header.

F1’s paddock community is being supported by several drivers, who saw first-hand how worn out their crew was by the time they had dragged themselves to Abu Dhabi the past two years.

«The place in the calendar, if I’m totally honest, is difficult for us,» two-time world champion Fernando Alonso said, who also felt the circuit’s lack of grip in the November chill is borderline unacceptable by F1 standards. «To come here with the time difference and how far it is from Europe, and Brazil two weeks ago. And we go to Qatar now and it’s 17 hours by plane and an [11]-hour time difference.

«I don’t think any other sport in the world will accept that. I heard that we do it now because it’s the quietest weekend of the year for Vegas, but we cannot do things like that. If not, we will go to Monaco in February because it’s quiet, you know? For certain things we need to think about the sport first.»

When quizzed about Alonso’s thoughts, GPDA director Carlos Sainz said: «It’s something that we’ve been quite vocal about, also to Stefano [Domenicali, F1 CEO]. For me, it should be a back-to-back with Brazil, because at least you don’t have to go back to Europe and then come back here. I couldn’t agree more that a triple-header of Vegas, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, I don’t think that’s any good to anyone.»

Alonso and Sainz are understandably going to bat for their mechanics, but of course a 24-race calendar is a complex puzzle to solve, and putting on an event like the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which effectively shuts down a large part of the city, involves many moving parts. As recently as 10 years ago, the prospect of a sport like F1 shutting down the Strip for a week seemed a ludicrous challenge. But somehow it has worked, and by bringing the timetable forward by two hours the 2025 edition felt the most manageable of the three, at least for those who had the privilege of being on site.

F1 management is aware of the complaints, and having finally been able to move the Canadian Grand Prix for next year it has vowed to look at ways to keep fine-tuning the calendar. But solving Vegas won’t happen in 2026, when it continues to be part of the final triple-header.

«Stefano is trying to do everything he can to improve the calendar,» Sainz added. «He’s already going to do some good steps for next year. So, being objective, I think there’s room for improvement, but I’m sure Stefano is doing everything he can to do it.»

Mercedes’ Toto Wolff, who had a jam-packed Vegas schedule including a speaker appearance at F1’s Business Summit, thinks those downsides are worth it given what the event is offering the series.

«Maybe from a team’s perspective and you guys [the media], it’s a gruelling few weeks, but the most important [thing] is that the product is good, and this is the best weekend we can have in Las Vegas,» he said.

«We’ve had weekends free in between, and we want to finish the season not too late, like we’ve done a few years ago, so it’s just what it is. Let’s embrace it. And it’s not always going to be nice or easy for everyone.»

Sauber – soon to be Audi – team boss Jonathan Wheatley joked: «In terms of optimisation, if anyone can tell me how to get a good sleeping pattern here I would really appreciate it!

The Paddock at dusk prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

«But I mean, I stood on the grid today looking at that pit building complex, looking at where we are, looking at racing in Las Vegas – it’s an extraordinary set-up. Obviously, it works for Las Vegas to hold it at this time of the year.

«It’s a pretty brutal triple-header, isn’t it. I think Formula 1 has always been a test on not just the drivers, but everyone involved in the sport. But we learn and we seem to adapt, and Liberty [Media] is very open, Stefano is very open to discussing maybe a slightly different approach if it’s required.»

The tricky part, as Wolff pointed out, is spacing out the calendar enough without racing until Christmas Eve. And as there are commercial reasons why Vegas falls on the weekend it does, it is not just down to FOM to move it around as it pleases but it requires to close collaboration with the city, the casinos, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Clarke County.

Bringing the event forward would also potentially encroach on races like Austin and cause issues elsewhere on the calendar.

But following an over-the-top start, the event itself seems to have matured and gained the approval of the drivers. Look no further for a balanced view than no-nonsense Max Verstappen, who has been a reluctant part of Vegas’ flamboyance at best, but also understands why the weekend is important to the people that pay his salary.

«Some people like more show, some people like different kinds of tracks as a fan, and I also have my opinions about what I like,» said Verstappen, who celebrated two wins and one world championship in the gambling capital. «I still like to be in Vegas, but I’m personally less of a showman. But it’s part of the calendar and if you’re in Vegas, it needs to be like this. So I get it, and that’s fine.»

The bottom line – pun intended – is that overnight Las Vegas has become a pillar of F1 for its off-track appeal, but that it is no modern Monaco either. It doesn’t have the history, but it has at least produced an on-track product that matches or surpasses that of many traditional venues. Ironically, the bemoaned lack of grip might actually help the show.

As the event matured into year three, what F1 has achieved deserves to be celebrated. It’s now harder to imagine a calendar without Vegas than with it. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement still – for the benefit of the fans, personnel and the local community alike.

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— The Autosport.com Team