Column: F1 'circus' in Vegas proves to be more forgettable than memorable
Formula One’s return to Las Vegas was a flop.
While the views of race cars speeding past casinos on The Strip were picturesque, the race itself was overshadowed by controversy.
Even before teams had arrived in Sin City, locals and non-F1 tourists had become increasingly vocal about how the event would temporarily close The Strip and create a traffic nightmare. Race fans were also disappointed at the high ticket prices, which priced out the average fan.
And hotel rooms, rental cars and other associated costs went sky-high in many cases, as well.
Though ticket prices on the secondary market did decline closer to race day, they were still over $800 come Saturday. Even the cheapest tickets to just watch practice on Thursday night were selling for roughly $100 - and fans didn’t get to see what they paid for.
Free Practice 1 ended rather quickly when the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz hit an improperly secured drain cover, damaging his car and forcing track workers to manually inspect and seal every drain cover and manhole on the 3.853-mile, 17 turn street circuit.
To throw salt in the wound, right before FP2 finally started at 2:30 am PT on Friday, fans were forced to leave and threatened with trespassing charges. Some media reports indicated that security guards would not be available and F1 was unwilling to pay overtime -- but again, those were just rumors.
Formula One offered no refund to ticket holders, only offering a $200 merchandise gift card to fans who had only Thursday tickets and nothing to weekend ticket holders. Now, fans are suing.
Both qualifying and the race itself went off without a hitch, as Max Verstappen overcame a penalty to win for the 18th time this season.
But the eventual race winner had been one of the event’s biggest critics, describing the race course as “not very interesting” and stating that the event has been “99 percent show and 1 percent sporting event”.
Formula One races always draw plenty of celebrities, and those in attendance Saturday night included Rihanna, David Beckham, Heidi Klum, Shaquille O'Neal, Paris Hilton, and Axl Rose, and Justin Bieber - who waved the checkered flag when Verstappen crossed the finish line.
(Editor's note: Justin Bieber???? Are you kidding us???? Since when did The Biebs become an F1 fan????)
On Wednesday night, Keith Urban, Journey, Kylie Minogue and 30 Seconds To Mars all performed during the opening ceremonies, which also included fireworks and a drone show as well as the introduction of all 20 drivers.
“I’m also not going to fake it, I just always voice my opinion on positive things and negative things,” Verstappen said of not toeing the company line. “That’s just how I am.
"Some people like the show a bit more, I don’t like it at all. I grew up just looking at the performance side of things and that’s how I see it as well. So for me, I like to be in Vegas, but not so much for racing.
“If someone wants to go in this direction -- you want a lot more show attached to the program -- then I guess we have to deal with that. As long as everything goes well they can say everything is working well, let’s see how long fans also like this.”
While seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton described the event as “something we’ve been dreaming of”, he too echoed some of Verstappen’s comments, stating that F1 shouldn't be a "circus that shows up that's all glitz and glamor and people are affected negatively by it."
Now that the circus is over, work on dismantling the race track will begin to take place, with officials hoping things will return to normal by Christmas. F1’s contract with Vegas is for 10 years, although the city has an opt-out after year three.
Time will ultimately tell how many more editions of the Las Vegas Grand Prix there will be, but as this weekend showed, there is still plenty of room for improvement if the event truly wants to live up to its hype.
Michael Eubanks is the lead IndyCar beat writer for AutoRacingDigest.com.