Question of the Day - 17 November 2023

The race itself takes place over a roughly two-hour period tomorrow night. Practice runs took place last night and another round happens tonight. These are considered "better" times for locals to see what all the hubbub is about; tickets are much much less expensive to sit in the grandstands and the race cars zoom around the circuit as many times as they like, though most practices last around an hour (up to 90 minutes). They're not competing, but they are putting the cars through plenty of paces.

The race starts Saturday at 10 p.m. Why so late? Here's the hype: "The late start time allows the race to feature the renowned lights of the Strip. The circuit will be brightly lit via lighting trusses installed on the Strip and other areas of the track."

The real reason, though, as far as we can tell, is that F1's main market is Europe. Ten p.m. in Las Vegas is early morning on the continent, so race fans can "get up with a cup of coffee and watch the race at six or seven in the morning, very similar to how we in the U.S. watch the European races," according to an F1 spokesperson. Asian fans are numerous as well, and 10 p.m. in Las Vegas is 1 p.m. Friday in Jakarta, 2 p.m. in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Beijing, and  3 p.m. in Seoul, all good times to catch the race.

The circuit, or racetrack, is just under 3.9 miles, third-longest on Formula One’s 2023 schedule. The race goes for 50 laps, each taking about a minute and a half at average speeds of around 150 miles per hour and up to 230 on the long straightaways. 

Typical Formula 1 races last between 80 and 100 minutes, though they can be longer, depending on the number of "safety-car" and "red-flag" periods. (When a safety car is on the track, the racers are forced to slow down and can't pass; the safety car paces the field and remains on the circuit until whatever hazardous situation that prompted the period is resolved; "red-flag" periods actually stop the race and the cars pull over at designated spots.) Races can last as long as two hours with slow-downs and pauses.

Formula 1 is a sports league with an overall winner for the season. The championship is contested over 22 Grands Prix held around the world, with racing beginning in March and ending this month. Belgian/Dutch race driver Max Verstappen of the Red Bull team won his third F1 championship in a row this season on October 8 at the race in Qatar, so the Vegas competition is essentially meaningless and Verstappen has been somewhat vocal about his disdain for the event, saying it's “99% show and 1% sporting event.” That's from the sport's reigning champion, who says he'll come, do his thing, and leave without a second thought.  

As for what makes it worth covering up major attractions (and causing seemingly endless disruptions in local life), we can sum this up in a word: money. Surprised? We didn't think so.

This is a popular sport globally, though not quite yet in the U.S. Liberty Media, the Colorado-based mass-media company that owns SiriusXM satellite radio and the MLB Atlanta Braves team and bought Formula in 2017 for $4.4 billion, is anxious to grow the sport in this country. Las Vegas is the third of the U.S. races, along with Miami and Austin, Texas, and by most accounts the top American race in terms of brand awareness and opportunities for cross-marketing -- the jewel in the F1 crown.

Or is it? According to some sources, commenting on the "multimillion-dollar hospitality packages, exorbitant hotel rates, and an initial average get-in price of about $2,000," the Las Vegas Grand Prix isn't and never was about attracting a new cohort of Americans to this international motorsports experience.

Rather, it's about creating an annual pilgrimage for the whales, action-sports deep pockets and high-rolling gamblers from around the world, and if the two are combined into a single individual, that's the best of both worlds. Indeed, in the third-quarter earnings call, the CEO of MGM Resorts said that the company anticipates more than $60 million in revenue for the weekend, 50 percent higher than any other event, ever, in terms of theoretical win. And who knows what kind of backroom deals Liberty has going with MGM, Caesars, and Wynn? 

Whichever it is and possibly some of both growing the sport and getting very cozy with the casinos and their best customers, we don't have to wonder why Liberty has invested an estimated half-billion dollars to establish its presence in Las Vegas. They -- F1, MGM etc., and the whales -- are in it for the long run and the rest of us, the little people, can sit in traffic and shove the other inconveniences where the sun don't shine, then stay as far away as possible till the damn thing is over.

And when will that be? Well, certainly not on Sunday morning, when the fans, drivers, teams, and whales head off to their next spectacle. Nope. The little people will find out how long it takes to dismantle the damn thing and maybe there'll be a day or two before it all starts going up again for next year's tumult.