The Las Vegas Grand Prix Shuts Down Critics...Including Max Verstappen

The narrative in the month leading into the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix was mostly negative. If it wasn’t locals complaining about disruptions caused by the Herculean construction effort, it was “ordinary fans” bemoaning the highest ticket prices (by far) on the F1 calendar. And when these high-priced tickets and hotel packages didn’t sell out—many being discounted in the weeks leading up to the race—critics were all-too-eager to call it a bust before even seeing cars on track.

Perhaps the most prominent critic was Red Bull driver and three-time World Drivers’ Champion Max Verstappen, who complained about all the glitz and glamour, saying the Las Vegas Grand Prix was “99% show, 1% sporting event.” Again, this was before the Dutchman had driven a single lap around the circuit. You know, the “sporting event” part of the show.

Prior to the race, I wrote a piece about the incredible DJ lineup that would accompany the Grand Prix. I chose to write this, in part, because these DJs and club venues are known quantities. Even if the Grand Prix turned out to be a huge fail, these shows would deliver amazing experiences. The rest of the event remained to be seen. As such, I chose to suspend judgment to see how it all played out before writing anything about the race or speculating about the broader Las Vegas F1 experience. This proved to be a prudent decision, as the Las Vegas Grand Prix delivered in every possible way: the fan experience, the entertainment value, the competition and the F1 spectacle all exceeded expectations. No one could have predicted just how successful it would be. In the process, this made all the critics (including Verstappen) look quite foolish.

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Let’s be clear about how we ended up racing Formula One cars on a street circuit that includes the Las Vegas Strip. It boils down to three words: Drive To Survive. This race simply wouldn’t exist if not for the exponential growth delivered by the Netflix series. Growth for the sport of F1 in terms of its US fanbase and revenue growth for its US-based owner, Liberty Media. This occurred to me more than once during the race weekend, marveling at what an incredible accomplishment it was to bring F1 and Las Vegas together in this way. What’s important to note, though, is that Max Verstappen is not a star of Drive To Survive. He doesn’t much care for the show, actually, and skipped a season due to creative differences. But neither is Lewis Hamilton, for that matter, as Mercedes (and Ferrari) sat out the first season. Rather, Daniel Ricciardo and Gunther Steiner are the true stars of Drive To Survive. So if there’s anyone in the Paddock who deserves credit for growing the sport’s fan base and bringing F1 to Vegas, it’s these two individuals. Along with the unique dynamics of the sport itself. There are only 10 teams and 20 drivers, and they all compete at the same time in Super Bowl-sized events about 20 times per year. What’s not to like?

As a side note, Hamilton did a lot for the sport’s popularity in the pre-Drive To Survive era because he has a compelling story. He’s a great champion, and he cares about the sport. A huge part of the F1 fan base accessed the sport and became fans through Hamilton. For reasons unknown, though, Verstappen doesn’t seem to care about the sport in which he participates. He appears to miss the bigger picture that fans and sponsors (and glitz and glamour) make it possible for him to do his thing and to make a lucrative career of it. Fortunately, F1 doesn’t need Verstappen because it has Ricciardo and Steiner.

It didn’t take long to give Vegas haters a reason to celebrate. All of about eight minutes, in fact. I was in the McLaren garage for FP1 (flex, sorry) when the screens on Lando’s side of the garage showed the red flag and Sainz’s Ferrari pulled over to the side of the track. It took a minute to learn this was caused by a loose drain cover, that the session would be cancelled and that it did $1.5 million in damage to the car. If the pre-race narrative had been on a downward trajectory, this sent it off a cliff. Critics rejoiced at this failure. Surely, this meant the rest of the weekend would be a complete and total disaster (they hoped).

By the time we knew what was happening, I’d already made my way back to The Strip for a dinner reservation at Stanton Social Prime, located at Caesar’s Palace. This is one of the key qualities of Las Vegas compared to other US races. The track and the city are one and the same. There’s no traffic-choked commute to and from the race venue. I was initially concerned that a street circuit would cause grid lock and make it impossible to get ride shares from place to place, especially when the track was hot, but this was not the case. It was easy to get around at all times of day. And even though FP1 was a disaster, we just headed to dinner a little early. It had zero impact on our experience.

As one does in Vegas, we flowed from dinner straight to Omnia Nightclub (also at Caesar’s Palace) to see Steve Aoki. At this point, we didn’t know when FP2 would happen, but it didn’t matter. First of all, we were seeing an amazing DJ show. Secondly, Omnia features a rooftop terrace overlooking The Strip. So whenever FP2 commenced, we’d be able to see some of the action. And that’s precisely what we did at 2:30am when Aoki had already been playing for an hour. We went back and forth from dancing with Aoki to seeing F1 cars doing 200mph on The Strip. Was this really happening? It was surreal to say the least.

Indeed, FP2 was extended by 30 minutes, which meant it ran until 4:00am. This took an already extreme race schedule to the absurd. Everyone had to catch up on sleep during the day in order to be ready for qualifying at midnight the next day and the parties that followed. This is certainly an area that can be improved. I’d like to see everything shifted back by a few hours.

A big theme for the 2023 season was Saturdays ending up being more exciting than Sundays. We had some epic qualifying sessions with Ferrari and McLaren challenging Red Bull for poles and front rows...whereas come Sunday, Verstappen would drop the field by the better part of a minute. Las Vegas delivered a thrilling quali with Leclerc on pole and Ferrari locking out the front row. Except that Sainz received a penalty following the drain-cover incident, which put Verstappen at P2 for the race. There was also plenty of negative speculation about the track ahead of the race. Would the new surface be too slick? Would temperatures be too cool at 12:00am? Would it even be an interesting course to drive? Qualifying addressed all of these concerns and set us up for a great race.

We’ve all seen the race, so I’ll cut to the chase. According to a fan poll by WTF1, the Las Vegas Grand Prix was voted second-best race of the 2023 season. Naturally, there was overwhelming support for Singapore in the top spot because (a) it was a thrilling race to watch with Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes fighting for the win and the podium, and (b) it’s the only race Red Bull didn’t win. In that sense, it’s a bit of an apples vs. oranges comparison. Vegas was voted the best race of all those that Red Bull won, which is an incredible feat for a first-time race on a street course in the heart of Las Vegas, all of which was constructed in 18 months.

What makes for a great race? Overtakes. Vegas racked up 99 of them, which is the most for a dry race since China in 2016. “Lewis Hamilton, in particular, executed an impressive 15 overtakes during this race, securing the highest count for a single race in the current Formula 1 campaign, according to racingpass.net.” Of course, the best overtake of the entire 2023 season happened on the last lap when Charles Leclerc lunged up the inside of Sergio Perez at the end of the long straight on Las Vegas Blvd. aka The Strip to take second place. It’s reported he experienced a whopping 7Gs of braking deceleration from a peak speed just shy of 220 mph. This was our “through goes Hamilton” moment of the 2023 season. I was watching in the Club SI suite, which was situated on The Strip, with a group of Aussie F1 fans. The place went nuts.

To say the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix exceeded expectations would be quite the understatement. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it was better than Silverstone, Spa, Monza, Brazil and Austin—as voted by the fans! I can only speculate about the tremendous cognitive dissonance taking place in the minds of critics and haters as Verstappen sang “Viva Las Vegas” over the team radio on his cool-down lap.

As with Miami, the Las Vegas Grand Prix experience is like a tremendous party where an F1 race happens to be taking place at the center of it. Look for insights about the parties, restaurants, activations, hotels, viewing options and clubs in future coverage as we look forward to 2024.