How Vegas went from byword for F1 indifference to grand Liberty coup

“I told myself I’d never come back…”

Dr Stuart Price makes no secret of his unease returning to Las Vegas in The Hangover 3. And rightly so. In the first edition of the comedy film trilogy, he had removed one of his own teeth for a bet, got married to a stripper and stole a tiger from Mike Tyson – all in one night in Vegas.

Formula 1’s sojourn in Sin City in 1981 and 1982 may have lacked such fictional chaos, yet it also came away with a sour taste. The grand prix in the car park of the Caesars Palace casino proved so uninspiring it became the standard against which all bad race events since have been measured. Though both events were title deciders, the desert’s extreme heat and the indifference of the American audience sapped the drivers’ energy levels and enthusiasm, and F1 called it quits.

But 40 years later, F1’s Vegas hangover has worn off. From 2023 it will be returning for a new street race that’s set to break with convention in a number of ways, and become one of the grandest coups of Liberty Media’s stewardship to date. This time around there’ll be no car park, no extreme heat, and hopefully no morning-after Vegas regrets.

Upon acquiring F1 back in 2017, Liberty officials spoke of their desire to take the series to so-called “destination cities” around the world. While a putative street event around Hanoi in Vietnam fell victim to the pandemic and remains in limbo, F1 overcame all manner of obstacles to get a deal over the line in Miami, proving its new philosophy could work.

Las Vegas had been on F1’s wishlist even before Liberty Media took over, yet it was hard to ever see plans properly coming off. The old highest-bidder-wins race hosting model that Bernie Ecclestone used to great effect to line the pockets of F1’s former owners was always going to be hard to pull off with Las Vegas. This was a city which didn’t need F1, especially at a time when the series was struggling to connect with the American audience.

The temporary circuit in the car park of the Caesar's Palace Hotel was lambasted as one of F1's worst-ever circuits

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Yet these are very different times. F1 is now booming in America, seen clearly with the 400,000 crowd over three days in Austin last October. TV figures are also surging upwards: this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the most-watched race on cable since 1995. Drive to Survive laid the foundations, but the momentum is building.

PLUS: The "total shift" driving America's F1 interest surge

“If you think where we were three years ago, it was difficult to have one grand prix full of people [in the US],” says F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. “Now we are heading to a situation where this year we are going to have two events totally sold out. It’s giving you the magnitude of what the US will represent for F1.”

F1’s new-found ability to put bums on seats Stateside paved the way for a return to Las Vegas on an initial three-year deal. The first race will take place next November, the date still subject to some loose ends being tied up, and will be the first race to take place on a Saturday since 1985, starting at 10pm local time to hit the primetime audience on the west coast and grab those waking up for breakfast in Europe. It’s a flexibility from F1 that adds to the unique nature of the event.

"We’re anticipating 170,000 visitors to town to watch this race. They will accommodate 400,000 room nights, which is absolutely amazing, and the direct economic impact is approaching half a billion dollars" Steve Sisolak

F1 always knew that if it wanted to return to Las Vegas, it had to do it the right way. A makeshift circuit on the outskirts of the city would never do, but to secure the Strip would require buy-in from officials on a city, county and state level. The acceleration of the series’ growth in the United States was instrumental to making F1 the kind of event that Las Vegas would not only take an interest in, but fully get behind.

All of the major players and resorts in Las Vegas are part of the ante. Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Las Vegas are founding partners of the race, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) has committed to spend $6.5 million per year on all the services to make the race happen.

“We think it’s a great investment,” says LVCVA president Steve Hill. “It’s something that is going to come back to pay the city over and over again.”

Las Vegas is a city where big bets fail far more often than they come off, yet Nevada state governor Steve Sisolak is confident that F1 will have an “enormous” economic impact.

Las Vegas hosted the Champ Car season-opener in 2007

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

“We’re anticipating 170,000 visitors to town to watch this race,” he says. “They will accommodate 400,000 room nights, which is absolutely amazing, and the direct economic impact is approaching half a billion dollars. The indirect impact will be over a billion dollars by the time we’re done.”

F1 will give a good excuse for many to head to Las Vegas for the kind of holiday that is often hard to justify, and appeal to more general sports fans looking to be part of a spectacular event.

One of the most significant elements of the contract is that F1 itself has skin in the game. In the announcement, F1 and Liberty Media confirmed they would “work together to promote the race in partnership with Live Nation and the LVCVA”. For the commercial rights holder to get involved in the promotion of a race is rare, last seen in the late 1970s when Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone manoeuvred for FOCA to help promote the ailing Hockenheim race.

“We’re really taking a larger role because of our belief in the opportunity and our belief in Las Vegas,” says Greg Maffei, the CEO of Liberty Media. “We believe racing on these historic streets, the special relationship with our local partners, and our growing fanbase will make the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix a marquee event on the calendar.”

F1’s role as a promoter means there is no hosting fee – it can’t pay itself, after all – but also means it can be more hands-on to make the event run exactly as it wants.

“It’s going to be interesting because it’s going to be promoted by F1, by Liberty Media as well and Live Nation,” says Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “It’s a different model, and it will be interesting to see how that works.”

For F1 to forego taking the cash another race might bring indicates a commitment to making this model work as part of the bigger picture.

The involvement of Live Nation should also bring a different spin on things compared with traditional race events. Michael Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation, says his company’s role is to “bring that live entertainment party to the weekend” and jokes his colleagues are “excited to be doing something other than Lollapalooza and a BTS concert”.

Las Vegas GP will operate on a different model as Liberty is acting as the promoter

Photo by: Liberty Media

This is very much an outsider-looking-in approach towards F1, which is not necessarily a bad thing. F1 has been increasingly working to add value for spectators and VIPs, adding off-track events and activations to make grands prix about more than the racing; Vegas surely has the resources to hit new peaks in this regard.

Turning one of the most famous pieces of roads in the world into a race circuit fit for purpose is no easy feat, even if the various hotels and resorts whose neon signage illuminates the Nevada sky are in on the plans. The street track proposed by Hermann Tilke’s design company is 3.8 miles long – third only to Spa and Jeddah in terms of length – and features three long straights, allowing for speeds topping 210mph.

But the need to balance the glamour of the event with the racing practicalities mean there could also be some tweaks, such as where the grid festivities take place – the start/finish line is quite a way from the Strip. The Saturday night start time is likely to be just the start of the breaks with tradition.

It will be the first time since 1982 (barring the COVID-asterisked 2020 calendar) that one country has hosted three grands prix. But all three occupy different time zones and each American event should appeal to a slightly different kind of fan. One would imagine Austin will still be what the more traditional race-goer picks, while Miami and Las Vegas can offer a different atmosphere and a level of hospitality that may break some perceptions of motor racing in the American market. Rest assured there’ll be no RVs or tailgating here…

The challenge for F1 will be to make this a success in the long-term beyond the initial rush and excitement of the first year, once the appeal of bringing F1 to the Strip is met with the realities of the inevitable disruption to their usual business, and probable NIMBY pushback

Las Vegas is a city made for high-rollers and deal-makers, making F1’s arrival timely given the growing American commercial interest the competitors are tapping into. More and more ‘big tech’ companies have become involved in F1, such as Salesforce, Oracle and even Google. Horner says the swell in US growth played “a large percentage” in Red Bull pulling off its major deals with Oracle and crypto company Bybit ahead of this year.

PLUS: How F1 finally cracked America

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff feels there is now a “transition from the traditional partners into big tech players” in F1, a shift the ever-changing sponsor portfolios for teams supports. If Monaco was the place for the tobacco giants to be seen to cut deals in the ‘good old days’, Vegas could well become the big business event of the future.

Beyond their natural excitement about a jaunt to Las Vegas, the drivers are also conscious of the wider benefits this will bring to F1.

“It’ll be good for the business,” said Lewis Hamilton. “I think Vegas will be an awesome addition. I have not seen the track layout, so I don’t really know how that will be, but just being there and the spectacle of another night race, we welcome it.”

Hamilton is one of many drivers who has welcomed the news that F1 will visit Las Vegas

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Unsurprisingly, the reaction from the paddock to the announcement has been universally positive. To quote Haas team boss Gunther Steiner: “We all like Sin City!”

Yet the challenge for F1 will be to make this a success in the long-term beyond the initial rush and excitement of the first year. Once the appeal of bringing F1 to the Strip is met with the realities of the inevitable disruption to their usual business, and probable NIMBY pushback from retiree slot-jockeys, the resorts and authorities will need to weigh up if it is all worth it. The fact they are all involved in the promotion of the event along with Formula 1 at least means they can tackle this first-hand.

The other bet F1 is making with Las Vegas is that the recent US growth will continue and not burn out. It has always been the problem market for F1 and, as exciting as it may be to now have three races, the battle will be to ensure each event remains sustainable. Domenicali is clear in saying there will be “no dilution” and only “added value for everyone” in the market; interest in the US needs to at least stay at this level, and ideally continue to grow.

Regardless of how long it lasts, Las Vegas has the opportunity to establish itself as something unlike anything we have seen before in F1. Demand for races is currently outstripping the allowance for 24 races under Concorde Agreement, meaning each event must prove its worth. Rotation is likely as F1 tries to juggle new markets with existing events, but will surely hit the heartland European races more.

The ‘die hard’ F1 fans may cry foul over this – even after the Vegas announcement, Twitter was awash with “what about Hockenheim?” chatter – yet it again shows how F1 is looking at the bigger picture. Las Vegas is the kind of race that will cement the series’ place among mainstream sporting and entertainment events, and help to chase the kind of audience that has been so successfully attracted via Drive to Survive. Nostalgia has value in the branding mix, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

They say you should never go back to Vegas, yet F1 is ready for round two to be an event unlike anything in its history. It will be the ultimate test for the series’ popularity in the United States and its place within mainstream global entertainment – and with so much buy-in from F1 itself, it is a bet that almost seems too big to fail. But as local celebrity Frank Sinatra once said, “Las Vegas is the only place I know where money really talks – it says ‘Goodbye!’”

Can F1 shake off the stain left by the Caesars' Palace GP when it returns in 2023?

Photo by: Motorsport Images