Why F1 still owns only one grand prix

Formula 1's decision to extend the Las Vegas Grand Prix through 2037 came as little surprise, given the race has become one of the championship's grandstand events. The more interesting development was what didn't accompany the announcement.

Four years after Liberty Media broke with decades of commercial practice by promoting the race itself, F1 still directly promotes only one grand prix across its 24-race season. That wasn't how executives framed the project when it launched. Then Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said F1 had "ideas about what great promoters should do," while Stefano Domenicali suggested Las Vegas would become a blueprint for future grands prix.

Instead, Las Vegas has remained an exception; the race was only part of the investment.

Grand Prix Plaza changed the economics of F1's presence in Las Vegas. Unlike temporary street circuits, where most commercial activity is concentrated around race week before the infrastructure disappears, the 39-acre complex gives F1 a permanent, year-round business. Corporate events, karting, exhibitions, hospitality experiences and fan attractions continue generating revenue long after the championship has left town.

Permanent circuits operate very differently. Venues such as Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps and Suzuka host other racing series, track days, conferences, museums and hospitality businesses throughout the year. The difference is that F1 does not own those commercial operations, it simply arrives for the grand prix before moving on to the next venue.

Under F1's traditional commercial model, race promoters pay the championship organisers for the right to host a grand prix. From there, they are responsible for marketing the event, selling tickets, securing local sponsorship and delivering a race weekend that attracts enough fans to make the numbers work. F1 receives its hosting fee, while the promoter carries much of the financial risk. If ticket sales disappoint or corporate hospitality falls short, it is the promoter, not F1, that absorbs most of the impact.

The numbers also explain why F1 has little incentive to replace the traditional promoter model. Race promotion accounted for 27% of its revenue in 2025, behind media rights at 31% and sponsorship at 22%. F1 never needed to replace the promoter model because the promoter model was never the problem.

While Silverstone is open about needing F1 to sustain its business, the circuit has multiple other revenue streams all year round

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What makes Las Vegas different is not simply that F1 promotes the race. It also owns the commercial infrastructure that continues generating revenue all year round, with the grand prix the centrepiece of the year.

Liberty Media's financial reporting reflects that shift. Grand Prix Plaza generated $33million in rental income during 2025 alone, while F1 also attributed growth in "other revenue" to activities including karting, corporate events and fan experiences at the site. The facility has become an operating business rather than simply the home of one annual race.

Silverstone, by contrast, monetises its facility as a circuit operator. Las Vegas allows F1 to monetise the destination itself.

Las Vegas no longer looks like an experiment in self-promotion for F1, as it represents a different kind of investment, combining race promotion with ownership of a year-round commercial asset. That may also explain why F1 has shown little appetite to repeat the model elsewhere.

The challenge is not promoting another race given F1 already has promoters around the world willing to pay substantial hosting fees. The challenge is finding another location where owning the surrounding commercial infrastructure delivers a better long-term return

Replicating Las Vegas would require more than simply taking over race promotion at an existing grand prix or creating an all-new race somewhere in the world. Liberty Media invested approximately $500m acquiring land and constructing Grand Prix Plaza before the first race was held. Few host cities can offer the combination of available real estate, year-round visitor demand and commercial opportunities needed to justify that level of investment.

Las Vegas attracts more than 40m visitors annually and hosts one of the world's largest convention industries, providing a constant flow of potential customers for the hospitality, exhibitions and event spaces that sit behind the race. At temporary street venues, many of those commercial opportunities disappear once the grandstands come down.

The investment also changes how F1 measures returns, given Grand Prix Plaza generates income throughout the year, extending the return on a half-billion-dollar investment well beyond race weekend, and few existing grands prix offer comparable conditions.

The Grand Prix Plaza is used for different purposes throughout the year

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Out of the existing calendar, Monaco and Singapore occupy prime locations where acquiring large parcels of land would be prohibitively expensive. Permanent venues such as Silverstone have developed diversified businesses of their own, generating income from hotels, museums, driving experiences, conferences, track days and other racing series throughout the year. What they generally lack is Las Vegas' unique combination of international convention business and destination entertainment economy.

The challenge, therefore, is not promoting another race given F1 already has promoters around the world willing to pay substantial hosting fees. The challenge is finding another location where owning the surrounding commercial infrastructure delivers a better long-term return than the existing promoter model.

In that sense, Las Vegas may not be the blueprint many expected in 2023. It may instead be the only market where F1 could justify becoming both race promoter and long-term owner of the commercial infrastructure surrounding the event.

The commercial success of the race itself reinforces that conclusion. Since its debut in 2023, the Las Vegas GP has generated an estimated $3.2billion in cumulative economic impact for Southern Nevada, while the 2024 event alone contributed approximately $934m to the local economy.

Four years ago, Las Vegas appeared to signal a fundamental shift in how F1 would approach race promotion. Today it looks more like a shift in how F1 thinks about ownership.

Rather than demonstrating that F1 should promote more races itself, Grand Prix Plaza illustrates the value of owning commercial assets that continue generating revenue long after the chequered flag has fallen. The future may not lie in F1 owning more grands prix, but in finding more opportunities where the race is only part of the investment.

F1 hasn't shut the door on hosting another grand prix, but finding a location and space to fulfil its criteria will be a tall order

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images