The enormous job facing F1 for its Vegas gamble to pay off

The first attempt to bring Formula 1 to Las Vegas wasn’t a success. A twisty and demanding track in the Caesars Palace car park, combined with the heat, made drivers literally throw up. Just ask Nelson Piquet. On his way to fifth in the 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix, which secured him that year's title, the Brazilian deposited the remnants of his lunch in his cockpit, then struggled to recover for another 15 minutes after the chequered flag.

It wasn’t all bad, of course. “The good part was Caesars Palace itself!” Marc Surer, who took part in both races in Las Vegas in the early 1980s, tells GP Racing. “It was easy: you walk out of the hotel, and you’re in the paddock. It was even possible to go from the paddock directly to the pool. So, after driving, when you were hot, you walked in your overalls to the pool, got changed, and jumped into the water.

“There were celebrities, too. I met Paul Newman. Diana Ross had the show, and all the drivers were invited backstage, which was nice. She also gave the trophies, if I remember it right.”

She did, indeed. And Michele Alboreto, who won the second and final edition of the F1 Caesars Palace GP in 1982, even got to kiss the ‘Female Entertainer of the Century’ on the podium.

But that was as good as it got.

“Well, I mean, we all were excited to go to Vegas,” Surer recalls, “but when you saw the set-up… That was just a joke. F1 in a parking lot? You can’t do that. And this destroyed everything because there was no fascination... It was like watching a go-kart race; you see the cars go up and down again and again between the walls. And, because of the heat, there were a lot of crashes. I remember Patrick Tambay had an accident just in front of me. The front end of his car was gone, it was in two pieces, and I saw his legs hanging out of the cockpit. He was so lucky to walk away from it without broken bones.”

The two grands prix in Las Vegas provided a humbling lesson for those who believed the mere act of staging races here would build F1’s audience in the USA. Instead it barely registered a ripple.

The Caesars Palace F1 venue was not a hit

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“There were hardcore F1 fans,” Surer recalls. “But it was really just a handful. When we went into the city, nobody knew about it. We could walk around and nobody recognised us. Even guys like Nelson or [Carlos] Reutemann, who was also fighting for the championship, were just seen as casino clients, like all the others.”
When F1 returns to Sin City this November after an absence of more than 40 years, things will be different. Very different.

Instead of a car park, F1 cars will race along the iconic Las Vegas Boulevard – the famous Strip – in front of the Bellagio fountains, on a proper street circuit designed by Hermann and Carsten Tilke, who have realised similar projects in Singapore and Baku. This will also be F1’s first night race in the United States, starting at 10pm local time on the Saturday night. And there’s hardly any better place for it than Las Vegas.

“It was extremely important to us at Liberty and F1 that we race on the Strip, at night, with all of the spectacle of the Vegas lights, including the Bellagio fountains,” Renee Wilm, CEO of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, tells GP Racing. “We wanted to be able to race by the fountain; that was the key for us. And then how you develop the track around that part of the Strip really became a matter of engineering and safety regulations. And that’s where Tilke came in to help us finish out the design of this dream.”

“What’s the difference compared with other street tracks? It’s the unique stakeholders we have here and the fact that everything needs to stay open” Carsten Tilke

The Vegas race is intended to be another step in the conquest of America, one of Liberty-owned F1’s great success stories. The inaugural Miami GP last May showed just how far F1 had come in this direction compared with the attempts of the previous century. The paddock at the venue next to the Hard Rock Stadium could hardly accommodate all the celebrities. The Vegas race is set to top that.

“When Liberty Media bought the sport seven years ago, this was our intent: we wanted to bring Formula 1 into the fibre of American culture,” says Wilm, who, in addition to being in charge of one of Liberty Media’s most ambitious projects since it bought F1, also serves as the company’s chief legal officer and chief administrative officer.

“We wanted to expand the American fanbase, diversify the demographics, [attract] younger fans, more women fans, and more diverse fans. So this is the combination, I would say, of a lot of really good intentions, and, you know, some luck along the way, some good decisions, such as [launching the] Netflix [Drive to Survive series] and opening up the sport to social media, and then just a lot of hard work behind the scenes.

“When you couple that with bringing our race to the sports and entertainment capital of the world here in North America, it’s just going to be an epic event.”

New Las Vegas venue will be in the heart of the city

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

You may view such language as hyperbole – after all, it’s Wilm’s job to promote the event – but this is a huge undertaking for F1’s commercial rights holder. For the first time, Liberty is acting as the promoter of a race, taking on the risks – including the financial ones – of running it.

Liberty’s investment in the project has already reached several hundred million dollars, a massive departure from the established ‘you pay – we come and race’ model. F1’s owner has spent $240million just to buy land in the heart of Las Vegas – less than a mile from the Bellagio fountains – for the construction of the pit building complex and paddock. In total, between the land purchase and the paddock construction, F1 is expected to spend around $500m.

Imagine telling Bernie Ecclestone he would have to spend half a billion of his own money to buy the land and build the circuit for a grand prix – which he would also have to pay to host...

The stakes are high. For this bet to pay off, Liberty had to get everyone on board, from local authorities to hotels and casinos. And that’s another hallmark of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Local businesses – the biggest hotels – are among the key stakeholders. They are embedded because they intend to be among the ultimate beneficiaries.

For those responsible for building the track, this presents another challenge – a tough one even for the experienced hands at Tilke. “What’s the difference compared with other street tracks?” says Carsten Tilke. “It’s the unique stakeholders we have here and the fact that everything needs to stay open. The logistics, all this is a big part. Street circuits, in general, are never easy. But here we have the biggest hotels in the world, and they are directly at the track.”

With 150,000 hotel rooms located on the Strip, Tilke and the track’s main contractor, Miller Project Management, will have to ensure that access to these rooms is not only maintained but also trouble-free.

Liberty has spent big to buy land for Las Vegas pit complex

Photo by: Las Vegas GP

“Vegas is different from Singapore, for example,” adds Terry Miller, whose company oversees the track and paddock build. “Singapore shuts down, and the race happens. Here we’ve got to keep everything going. Every property has to remain open; we have to maintain service and safety access for every property. They have to stay open and operate. And it’s unique from that standpoint even for a street circuit.”

Not only does the construction project include the installation of several pedestrian and vehicle bridges, it must be executed in a way that doesn’t disrupt the usual flow of life and business. As a result, construction will take place in stages. Work on the pit building started last summer, as soon as Liberty completed the land purchase. It’s planned to be open year-round to F1 fans and to become an additional tourist attraction for Vegas.

The dismantling of the existing road surface will begin in the spring and new, F1-compliant asphalt will be laid in its place. This work should be completed by early autumn. The construction of the grandstands and fan zones will take place in parallel from June onwards, and the track barriers will be installed in early October. The race organisers have pledged to keep the roads open – albeit with occasional lane closures – throughout.

Las Vegas itself is also on board. Even for this city, the party F1 is throwing here promises to be massive.

“It’s Vegas and the casinos have a lot of really wealthy clientele in their databases. If this is something they can build around our race, then we’re happy to bring them that value. I’m sure they’re going to be quite successful with their selling!” Renee Wilm

“One of the great things Formula 1 brings to any geography where it races is economic development,” says Wilm. “So, not only are we creating a ton of jobs this year as we build out the property we acquired, we’re also going to be creating opportunities economically year round – to make it the home of Formula 1 in North America. And that’s going to stir economic development for local businesses. We’re working with smaller local businesses. Terry works with a lot of subcontractors. So, it’s really important to us to give back to the community where we’re racing.

“We estimate, based on advice from our economic advisors, that we’re going to bring over $1.2billion of revenue to the state through our racing. Additionally, through our pre-registration campaign, instead of taking deposits for tickets, which most sporting events in America do, we took a different tack, and we asked everyone to donate $7.77 to be put on a priority list to have the availability to buy tickets – that donation went into our foundation. And our foundation is distributing those funds to the community, to areas where it really makes a difference. We have a million [free] meal programme, which we reached [the funding goal for] within 24 hours of launching this event. As a result, we’ve given out meals to local high school families who may find themselves in need.

“It’s a very different approach we’re taking in Vegas than maybe some of the other promoters are taking, but we really want to become part of the fibre of Las Vegas.”

F1 isn't the only major sporting action heading to Las Vegas

Photo by: Liberty Media

F1 also comes to Las Vegas at the right time, as the city seeks to establish itself as the new sports capital of North America. Just a few months after F1, in February 2024, Vegas will also host the Super Bowl.

“What I’ve always seen in Vegas is a remaking of Vegas every five to 10 years,” says Miller. “This is another one of those moments. It has in the past few years become known for its sports, world-class sports, and this [F1 race] adds to that. To put it in the heart of what is Las Vegas was just genius. And all the properties, again, are all arm-in-arm, working towards making this thing happen.

“And it’s funny because without naming names, there have been conversations I’ve been in where comments have been made, ‘Well, you know, first year, you may not hit it exactly right.’ And every property says, ‘That’s not how we do it in Vegas. We have to hit it right that first year.’ We can tweak it the next year, but it’s got to be right the first year. And that’s the mentality of everything they’ve ever done around their properties. I think we struck gold in terms of the Las Vegas environment.”

Of course, simply throwing a big party isn’t F1’s goal here. It doesn’t just want to recoup its investment in Las Vegas; it also wants to make a profit by acting as a de facto race promoter.

This event will be an exception in terms of its audience. General admission three-day tickets start at $500 and there are packages priced at several thousand dollars, while last November the Wynn Las Vegas resort announced a $1m option – a package for six that includes every conceivable service F1 can offer in conjunction with the gambling capital of the world.

“It’s Vegas,” smiles Wilm, “and the casinos have a lot of really wealthy clientele in their databases. If this is something they can build around our race, then we’re happy to bring them that value. I’m sure they’re going to be quite successful with their selling!”

F1s bosses are taking the unusual decision of promoting the Las Vegas race themselves

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Amid the hurly burly of commerce it can be easy to forget F1 is also a sport, but putting together a track capable of delivering good racing was also important to those in charge – because it will define perceptions of the whole event. The engine of the spectacle will be Las Vegas Boulevard where the almost two-kilometre-long straight will be laid out, ending with a 90-degree left-hander. Together with the first turn, it will provide the kind of main overtaking opportunity that was lacking on the 1981/82 circuit.

“I think you just cannot compare these two tracks,” says Tilke. “We’ll have a proper race circuit. It will be a very fast track. We have four main acceleration zones, and the biggest one is Las Vegas Boulevard, with a 1.8km straight. So we’ll have a lot of slipstream action. We widened the track before the corners, too, so we have more overtaking possibilities and better visibility [for the drivers]. I think we’ll see an interesting and cool race.”

Surer adds: “I’m sure they’ll do a much better job this time. Bernie was just desperate to get his foot into the United States. Whenever he got a chance to have a race in the US, no matter what, he did it. We raced at places like Phoenix, for example, where we drove around like in a ghost town. Nobody was there.

What is certain is that F1 and Vegas will create a spectacle unlike any other in the history of the world’s most popular racing series, or the city itself

“Liberty are much more professional. They know how to do these things. And they’ll do a much better job in Vegas, for sure.”

The Las Vegas GP is destined to become the flagship F1 event of the year. If it is successful, some believe it could even change the economic model of the series. Who knows if Liberty will want to act as a promoter for other races if it does manage to generate $500m in revenue from the inaugural Vegas race – as is its target, according to a recent Financial Times report.

What is certain is that F1 and Vegas will create a spectacle unlike any other in the history of the world’s most popular racing series, or the city itself. Even if Diana Ross won’t be handing out trophies and kissing the winner this time.

Organisers are determined to avoid the failures of last Las Vegas visits

Photo by: Motorsport Images