The race REDEEMED the Las Vegas Grand Prix

It wasn’t the best of starts for the Las Vegas Grand Prix but the race was one of the weekend’s redeeming factors after a rocky start, on Thursday night.

The dust has settled on what was an eventful first outing throughout Las Vegas. In its return, the event bridged a 40-year gap from the last time Formula 1 raced at the iconic and infamous Caesars Palace car park.

Costing in the region of $500 million to build the facilities of the paddock and create the track itself, the Las Vegas race was a gamble for the sport. That, itself, is an ironic statement to make considering the race was held in one of the most famous gambling capitals of the world. 

It event certainly did not go as planned for F1. Understandably, the sport will hope that this will just stand as a false start into their 10-year contract at the venue. Spurred on from kicking out the fans before Free Practice 2, a not-so-apologetic statement from the venue and the sport, the race was one of the very few redeeming factors of the weekend.

Loose circuit and kicking fans out

In one of the most highly anticipated events of the entire 2023 season, fans, the media and the sport were excited to get the weekend rolling. However, after nine minutes of action, the opening practice was red-flagged as a result of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz going over a loose manhole cover.

Understandably, the sport had to check the other manhole covers. The sport still has a duty of care to its competitors, who risk their lives out on track. This meant FP1 was cancelled and free practice two was put into the speculation mill. 

After a lengthy delay, it was revealed that fans who had eagerly waited at the circuit for news of FP2 would have to vacate the grandstands and fan zone. While the reasoning may be logically sound, it still does not put the event in a good light on its first day. 

This factor was made even worse when the most anticipated F1 sporting event of the year got its full practice session underway behind closed doors, providing a lock-down event reminiscent of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Despite the claims from Mercedes-AMG’s Team Principal and CEO, Toto Wolff, after his outburst in the press conference, the whole ordeal and the way it was managed was an embarrassment.  

‘It Happens’

Following the mishap of the first practice and kicking the fans out of the circuit before FP2, F1 and the Las Vegas GP released a statement. 

The statement, in itself, put the sport into a slightly deeper hole as the wordy document did not apologise to the fans for the inconvenience caused to the paying spectator. This was likely down to the possible misinterpretation of admitting some degree of guilt from both the venue and the sport. 

However, that is not to say that being emphatic to the paying customer can’t go a long way in the eyes of the consumer. The document came across as a polite, indirect statement to inform fans they would not be receiving any form of compensation as a result of the ordeal.  

In part of the statement from F1 CEO and President, Stefano Domenicali and Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO, Renee Wilm, stated things like this can happen at other events. they said:

“We have all been to events, like concerts, games and even other Formula 1 races, that have been cancelled because of factors like weather or technical issues. It happens, and we hope people will understand.”

Despite the statement, it has been reported the sport has offered the spectators, with Thursday-only tickets, $200 vouchers to spend at the merchandise shop. 

This may give the fans who paid to see nine minutes of action little to no consolidation compared to the monetary value they lost.

Friday and Saturday go off without a hitch… delivering an entertaining race

Compared to the opening day of the weekend, F1 would’ve hoped the rollercoaster of their misfortunes would start to climb into a more memorable weekend. It did. 

Friday night, going into Saturday morning, went off without a hitch and the venue – and fans – got to see a full hour of running for the final practice session before the teams and drivers dove into the gritty-nitty, competitive qualifying session. 

Aided by a 10-place grid penalty for Sainz, unfortunately, and Q2 shock-exits for both Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, qualifying shook up an interesting order for the inaugural grand prix. 

Initiated by a chaotic start where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen forced Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc off the circuit, at the opening corner; a number of changes for the lead including a tight battle for second between Perez and Leclerc (won by the latter): the Las Vegas race was an entertaining one. 

In a poll we conducted during the latter stages of the race, 58.8% of the 17 votes taken, believed the race was a good one, followed by fans stating it to be ‘dull’ at 23.5% and 17.6% believing it could’ve been better. 

Understandably, this was a small sample of votes but if this correlates – in a similar fashion – to the wider audience, it should give F1 and the Las Vegas Grand Prix something to be pleased about.

That’s all for the article; The race REDEEMED the Las Vegas Grand Prix!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• Las Vegas GP: Verstappen secures win as Perez cements second place in championship
• Leclerc on pole of Las Vegas GP ahead of Sainz and Verstappen
• Russell leads Piastri and Sargeant in FP3 of Las Vegas GP
• Leclerc tops Las Vegas GP FP2 as fans are kicked out
• Carlos Sainz suffers 10-place grid penalty for Las Vegas GP
• Las Vegas GP: Leclerc on top of bitesize FP1 as a drain cover fails

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.