What F1 could do to make 2023’s best race even better

The Las Vegas Grand Prix was, really, the best race of the 2023 Formula 1 season so far. And with just the Abu Dhabi finale next up, that mantle is already nailed on.

The key ingredients for last Saturday night’s engaging contest were these: an exciting track layout that favoured overtaking, controversy from the first corner clash between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, and a multi-team scrap for the first F1 victory in Vegas in 41 years.

The last was the most important. Only Monaco, Monza and Austin offered slim alternative chances to a Red Bull walkover – other than, of course, its Singapore humbling. But the team had learned much about its set-up mistakes two months ago to perform much better at another track even with the bumps and kerb-riding requirements the RB19 detests. Here it had to be beaten.

The setting was also key to the sense of achievement. The TV shots of cars running down the Vegas Strip were as spectacular as F1 had hoped and very much hyped. It was all quite a significant step up on the Caesars Palace car park grands prix – that much-derided setting now a shopping mall.

But to be leaving Las Vegas on such a note stands in stark contrast to the feeling pervading across the track at 8.49pm last Thursday night. There was then instead a sensation of absolutely stunned silence in the moments following FP1’s cancellation.

The event simply got off to an awful start with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz striking the water valve cover dislodged by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon a few seconds earlier.

The Frenchman would be unfortunate enough to strike the debris on his return to the pits a lap later. But at least didn’t suffer the catastrophic car damage that Ferrari might reflect was another factor in Leclerc’s latest heroic defeat come the race, with Sainz sadly absent from the lead fight he had earned the right to join with his qualifying speed.

PLUS: The signs that show Leclerc really was set to beat Red Bull in Vegas

Before this, there had already been much griping about the event’s ‘show’.

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The drivers took centre stage in the show elements, including the opening ceremony, which triggered Verstappen's clown comment

This was then turbocharged online by Verstappen’s “you look like a clown” comment, following his participation in Wednesday night’s opening ceremony. But in Vegas of all places, pizzazz is to be expected, surely?

The opening ceremony wasn’t very long, looked decent on TV and the drivers really weren’t asked to do much. The title was about as grandiose as it got – an event for those at the race rather than those watching on TV. Although F1 might reflect that some speakers facing from the track towards the VIP areas Autosport had somehow infiltrated would serve the teams and guests paying eye-watering sums for hospitality far better if the concert start is to be repeated.

On the ground, the event was building up nicely – Verstappen’s forthright views a sideshow spectacle of themselves – especially with Ferrari’s race potential clear. Then came the FP1 catastrophe. It caused much embarrassment for F1 and the FIA, which had a general air that there was little else it could have done on the water valve problem ahead of time.

"We live on a Japanese time schedule, so, but then almost a different day. That is very tiring" Max Verstappen

That’s one thing, but at least the rest of the track action went off without another hitch via the urgent repair solution (asphalt and resin bedding down the other 30 such valve covers on the Strip, with others where the cars move at a slower pace and so exert less ground-effect force on the road deemed safe enough to be left alone).

Ultimately, F1 avoided a Spa 1985 situation – a race delayed by more than three months due to the resurfaced track breaking up. Unthinkable today.

But there has been a suggestion – embraced by the drivers and many team personnel – that everything associated with the event started far too late in the day (night, really). And that this contributed to much of the tension on the ground about the elongated opening schedule of track action.

An earlier start surely would have avoided the need for fans to be kicked out of grandstands and the track overall once the delayed FP2 running was confirmed.

Photo by: Francois Tremblay

The broken water valve covers triggered a nightmare start to the Las Vegas GP track action

We now know what time those problematic security shift patterns were set to, and several hours of extra daylight would have eased the situation that ended in much disappointment for the 35,000 spectators the Nevada law firm launching a class action lawsuit regarding the situation says were at the track on Thursday.

Getting going earlier would also have left people participating in the event generally feeling much happier with a more normal sleep schedule. Rather than essentially operating on Tokyo time throughout.

Verstappen had been pretty clear how he felt about that last Wednesday.

“We live on a Japanese time schedule, so, but then almost a different day,” he explained. “I don't really get that. I mean, that is very tiring. Also, [it’s at] the end of this season that we have to do this. It doesn't really make a lot of sense.”

The constant exhaustion the punishing schedule exacted wasn’t helped by hotel rooms across the Strip being raided by security staff searching for concealed weapons. This has become common in Vegas in the aftermath of the Mandalay Bay massacre, which rocked the city in 2017.

Following those dreadful events, it’s now regular policy for security staff to demand entry to rooms to try to reduce the risk of a repeat event in a country so infamous for its gun violence tragedies.

This is an understandable, even sensible consideration. But it’s very hard to see that after waking to a stranger shouting about hidden guns from the foot of your bed, as this writer discovered, interrupting an already challenging sleep schedule.

Had anyone been unaware this might be a faint possibility, the experience would have been, frankly, terrifying. More concerning issues arise for women staying there alone. Autosport understands that at least two drivers had their suites checked too. Although that actually made the whole thing seem more acceptable given the egalitarian element.

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The track repairs delayed the start of FP2 to 2.30am and run without fans

Perhaps for next year, given the overall more obvious solution sadly shows no signs of occurring in the USA, special checks for F1 staff and others working at the event could be considered.

Rooms checked before any 7am bedtimes or while the occupants are out given a locked door is no barrier to entry? A list of the people in question distributed to casinos and their hotel staff wouldn’t be hard to draw up – and these businesses are key event stakeholders after all. It’d be a considerable task, but so too is searching 151,000 rooms.

But the timetable change should be the most pressing consideration for the things F1 already knows it’s going to have to tweak for the return to Vegas in 2024.

Its European audience was already getting up pretty early this time around and the 2023 start time actually surely hurt the US East Coast viewership too, given it meant the race starting at 1am.

Other messaging around the race should be different too in 2024. Over-hyping from TV commentators and team bosses – more stakeholders who clearly see the financial benefit Liberty Media’s efforts have had on their squads’ worth – could be toned down

But given Vegas will kick off a triple-header in 2024, expect massively more complaining from the drivers if the schedule goes unchanged, with a trip to the brutal Qatar track set to come up a week later…

An earlier start is something Verstappen wants, with Leclerc also calling the late session start times “on the limit”.

Verstappen gained many plaudits for his plain-speaking assessment of the event and the track over the weekend. But this perhaps wasn’t the wisest approach and reports in the Dutch media suggest he got himself into hot water with various F1 stakeholders.

This would explain why he rather toed the line post-race, saying: “Today was fun – that's the only thing I want to say about it.” Which didn’t mean he’d suddenly accepted his new lot as an Elvis impersonator, more that he didn’t feel comfortable saying anything else.

Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images

Verstappen, in an Elvis race suit, toned down his Vegas criticism by the race

On the point of the Red Bull drivers’ Saturday suits, they rather undermined Verstappen’s clown suggestion.

He’s previously embraced looking silly for Red Bull PR – for instance, recently driving a motorised cleaning cart at Singapore airport. But this felt like a disingenuous development given his Vegas honesty had won over many formerly left cold by the usually opaque facade, previously only really opening up to deride F1’s sprint events.

More: 10 things we learned from the 2023 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Other messaging around the race should be different too in 2024. Over-hyping from TV commentators and team bosses – more stakeholders who clearly see the financial benefit Liberty Media’s efforts have had on their squads’ worth – could be toned down.

And there also need to be changes when it comes to the various videos of security staff aggression to fans without tickets standing on the many still accessible areas of the Strip around the circuit.

Autosport was alerted to some fans tearing down screens erected to obscure views of the track. We received a reaction from F1 that it recognised the passion sitting beyond the track limits. This clashed with the disgraceful treatment of fans on Thursday night, with a lack of proper apology and compensation also jarring.

Better ticket and hotel prices are a must for 2024. This might also ease pressure from traditional fans in far-off lands feeling left behind by the many calendar expanses.

F1 now needs to strike a careful balance on costs given the outlay was north of $500million for the first year alone. But much of the investment won’t need repeating (such as building the 300,000-square foot paddock building the championship is thought to be transforming into an F1-focused exhibition area for the other 51 weeks its competitors aren’t in town).

F1’s humble scribes would suggest putting the media centre within the paddock building many compared to a beached cruise ship – such were its many glistening decks.

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

There was plenty to admire about F1 putting on a race in Vegas, but also many aspects to learn from

That would save on the cost of hiring the conference area of a hotel over half a mile away from the paddock, not that that extra leg work wasn’t in one way handy at a race where mental health-boosting track runs were tricky given the roads had to be rapidly re-opened each day. One journalist from another publication found his athletic efforts after qualifying ending with a police escort off the Strip just after Turn 13.

F1 is very keen to highlight what it claims are the considerable benefits the race has already brought to Vegas.

This apparently includes $1.2billion put into the local economy via rooms sold, money spent in food and drinks outlets, plus additional staffing jobs created. The Las Vegas GP Foundation has donated nearly $1million to help local food banks, with three other charitable initiatives started too.

F1 now needs to strike a careful balance on costs given the outlay was north of $500million for the first year alone

How that all truly improves local peoples’ lives in the coming years is a key question still be to answered.

The disruption to the city on the track infrastructure going in – the cause of much anger in Vegas in the months leading up to last weekend – should surely be less in 2024 given F1 has no plans to resurface the roads again.

Autosport also understands that the knowledge accrued from the three processes of track reopening in 2023 had already take the time required from 2.5 hours to around 45 minutes by the time F1 was ready to leave for Abu Dhabi.

On the sporting side, F1 still needs to be wary of freak colder temperatures here, but in repeat conditions, it now knows there isn’t to be any multi-safety car disaster.

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Much was made of the Las Vegas Strip circuit before the event, but it produced good racing

The track will naturally get rougher and so grippier as it ages. It couldn’t be water blasted as Jeddah was ahead of its second year to create the ultra-grippy, multi-line surface the drivers love only because that would have meant shutting the public roads down for even longer.

But, clad in his red Elvis suit that made him look more like Leclerc’s team-mate, Sergio Perez had an interesting idea in the post-race press conference: “Make Vegas the final race.”

With a race contest that good in a destination venue, it’s really not a bad thought. European fans have history of enduring early starts for F1 finales – with many sharing fond memories of title showdowns at Suzuka. There would be massive financial implications from the Middle East events currently paying hefty sums for such privileges, but the same logic applies for a Vegas season opener too.

Championship challenges commenced; titanic title tussles clinched. Moments to match the hype.

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

What did you make of the Las Vegas GP?