My Las Vegas GP journey: From Netflix to trackside at F1’s biggest spectacle
Shortly after Liberty Media Corporation bought Formula One, drivers were asked at the 2017 season-opening Australian Grand Prix what they wished for from the sport’s new owners.
“A race in Vegas,” Daniel Riccardo said. “Race in Germany,” replied Sebastian Vettel. A Miami race was Lewis Hamilton’s wish. “Equal engines for everyone,” Fernando Alonso added with a smirk, the Spaniard mired in a difficult period driving for McLaren.
While Alonso wouldn’t get his wish, Vettel and Hamilton did. F1 returned to Germany for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The Miami Grand Prix debuted in 2022. Riccardo got his wish, too, as the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix is set for the third week of November. I didn’t know it at the time, but my wishes would eventually align with Riccardo’s.
Growing up in Illinois watching the typical American sports like football and baseball, I knew very little about F1 for the first 25 years of my life. My initial exposure to it came while working at NBC Sports when the network was F1’s broadcaster in the United States. Like many Americans, though, what attracted me to the sport was the Netflix series “Drive to Survive.” The show introduced me to the personalities of the paddock — the pettiness of Christian Horner, the emotional swings of former Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul and the politics of it all.
When F1 became one of the first sports to return during the pandemic in July 2020, I started watching every qualifying and every race, either tuning in live or streaming later. Increasingly enthusiastic, I got into the F1 video game, watched the Senna documentary and read Steve Matchett’s absorbing book on the 1994 season. And when Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fought their epic battle for the 2021 championship, I was hooked.
Fully engrossed in my newfound passion, the next step was to attend a race in person. In 2022, I headed to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix — the closest race to my home in New York. My first Formula One experience was a fantastic time. I toured the track on the back of a flatbed truck, walked the pit lane and gave the on-site racing simulator a go.
The grand prix itself was quite compelling. Saturday’s qualifying session saw rain play a significant role. As a fan who had gravitated towards the personality and humility of Sergio Pérez, I was disappointed to see him crash in Q2 and qualify in 13th place. My dismay was countered by the intrigue Fernando Alonso provided by qualifying on the front row, a rare occurrence last season while he was still with Alpine.
Max Verstappen ultimately won Sunday’s race, but a late safety car provided some drama and helped Carlos Sainz push the Red Bull driver to the finish. I went home thrilled by what I had seen but even more excited about what was coming next for the sport.
Why not Las Vegas?
In March 2022, when F1 announced the introduction of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, I immediately knew it would be the second race I would attend.
Attending this month’s race in Las Vegas offers quite a different prospect to Montreal. As a lifelong sports gambling … enthusiast, I’ve always been a fan of the city. Prior to the spread of legal sportsbooks across the United States that began in 2018, trips to Vegas offered a rare opportunity to enjoy an extensive menu of betting options.
While Miami and Austin and even Mexico City are closer to New York than Las Vegas, I never really considered them. For one, you simply cannot beat the spectacle that Vegas offers. It’s a city that exists for the purpose of putting on a show. As it has become somewhat more family friendly over the past several decades, the entertainment and dining options have only improved. You just have to look at its enthusiastic reception of the NHL’s Golden Knights to see how a new sport can thrive there.
What really sold me on attending this race, though, was its nighttime scheduling. I can’t resist the idea of seeing F1 cars speeding beneath the iconic lights of the Strip, watching the top three finishers spraying champagne in front of the famous Bellagio fountains, cheering amid a crowd sure to be rowdier than what you get on a Sunday afternoon in Montreal.
My Las Vegas GP logistics
I’ll be flying into the city on Thursday, November 16 and out on the following Monday. With more than 100,000 fans expected in attendance per day, traveling is sure to be a challenge, though I hope to have avoided the worst of it by steering clear of flying on Friday and Sunday.
At the Canadian Grand Prix, I sat along the pit straight. While it offered a great view of the race start and of a rolling restart after a safety car, it didn’t offer much else in the way of wheel-to-wheel action. With that in mind, for this race I’ve chosen to sit in a grandstand near the Sphere, the futuristic new music venue built by the Madison Square Garden Company. With turns 6-9 in view bunched together, I’m hoping to see some late braking and dramatic overtakes.
That’s my wish. Daniel Ricciardo got his, and returned to F1 just in time to enjoy it. All that’s left now is for Vegas to do what it does best — put on a show.
(Lead image: Alex Bierens de Haan/Formula 1 via Getty Images; Design: Eamonn Dalton/The Athletic)
