As fans trudged away from their expensive acquired seats on night one of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, having seen just eight minutes of cars on track before “manhole gate”, one question sprung to mind: how could the sport come back for this?
Yet beyond all the fanfare which inevitably accompanied Formula One’s lavish return to Sin City last year, what actually saved the inaugural event was the Saturday night race itself. We had overtakes – 82 in fact, the most of any circuit during its debut grand prix – we had safety cars and we had last-lap drama. For a sport which veers too blatantly in the direction of spectacle at times, it was a refreshing nod to the drama the action on track can deliver.
So as F1 returns to Vegas this weekend for episode two in this 10-part drama – with a decade-long contract and F1 investing $500m (£397m) into a race they promote themselves – the foundations are built. The 17-turn, 6.2km track with an epic straight along the Vegas strip is conducive to nip-and-tuck racing. The setting speaks for itself: Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, hosting the glitziest and noisiest sport on the planet.
But now, they even have a sporting unpredictability which was badly lacking last year – the key ingredient. Even if Max Verstappen, for the fourth time on the spin, can seal the title this weekend by finishing higher than title rival Lando Norris.
“Vegas looked good on TV, cars going down the strip, with all the lights – I think it ticked a lot of the boxes that F1 wanted to tick by going there,” Sky Sports F1 expert Karun Chandhok tells The Independent, as the 2024 season inches towards its finale in the weeks ahead.
“As a spectacle, it looked great. It’s always a compromise, it’s difficult to build a good street circuit because you’ve got all the existing infrastructure of buildings, bus stops, water hydrants and the rest. I think they did a good job of the circuit, under those circumstances.
“Ultimately, as a track for racing, it was great. We had good racing.”
F1 was on the receiving end of a barrage of criticism last year after their opening night salvo descended into chaos. After a loose drain cover carved a gapingly expensive hole into Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, the first practice session was cancelled. The second practice session was delayed for hours until fans were cruelly sent home – and denied a full refund. On the ground, the air of despondency from all corners was palpable.
“I was actually quite sympathetic,” says Chandhok, when asked about manhole gate. “It’s not something we haven’t seen before – we’ve seen it in Monaco, Dallas, Singapore, Malaysia. That’s what happens on a street track sometimes.
“A lot of people came out to slam it. I refuse to buy into that.”
F1 and its governing body, the FIA, have seemingly learned their lesson, with many manhole covers paved over this year and others reinforced with a heavier anchoring block to keep them in place. They’ve also made changes to qualifying, which is brought forward by two hours to avoid a repeat of last year’s midnight start time. Fingers crossed, then, that the action progresses smoothly this time round.
F1, the commercial rights holder, was keen to emphasise the eye-catching figures post-race. With 145,000 unique visitors and an economic impact of nearly $1.5bn, last year’s race was the single largest sporting event, with the largest global audience, in Vegas history. Bigger than the humongous boxing fights. Bigger than UFC showdowns. Bigger than last year’s Super Bowl.
For Sky Sports, who have held the live rights to F1 in the UK since 2012, Vegas is an opportunity to go bigger and brasher than anywhere else.
“A new race always throws up fresh challenges for everybody,” says Sky’s director of F1 Billy McGinty.
“They learn on the job and by experience. We do a lot of planning, preparation and reconnaissance. We’re very confident we can make Vegas come alive. It was a great spectacle last year.”
Among the features within the wider Sky programming, this year’s adventures in Vegas include Gladiator II star Paul Mescal in conversation with Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton reflecting on his first world title with Mercedes a decade on and presenters Simon Lazenby and Danica Patrick parachuting out of a plane and landing on the roof of the Wynn Las Vegas hotel.
But, ultimately, if any hardcore fans are up prior to the 6am race start in the UK on Sunday morning, they will be tuning in for Martin Brundle’s grid walk. A segment the presenter himself, rather comically, describes as “car crash television”.
McGinty has a different view. “I don’t think there’s anything that comes close,” he says. “There’s a lot of planning that goes into it but no matter how much planning, it is 10 minutes of unscripted TV. And Martin hosts it superbly.
“I think the greatest TV in live sport takes you to the heart of a grid, 15 minutes away from 20 drivers racing and risking their lives, and we are on the grid talking to them and their team principals.”
On the track, Vegas could see the drivers’ title reach a conclusion some have always seen as inevitable. Verstappen is 62 points clear of Norris with 86 points left on the table. If the Dutchman finishes above the Brit, he will join Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost on four F1 drivers’ world titles.
In reality, only a Verstappen retirement and Norris win will keep the title run-in alive beyond the next race in Qatar. Norris has not yet given up hope but it will take some turnaround from here.
Still, the three-way battle between McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull for the constructors’ title means the action at the front should be competitive. This year has seen seven different race winners, compared to three last year. It means that beyond the Vegas-induced razzmatazz, the sporting concoction itself should be the main event in Sin City once again.
Fans can tune in live and exclusively to Sky Sports F1 and NOW for the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend (November 22-24).
