FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2023....Race.... ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▄▀▄▀▄▀

Yes I figured.

It just felt stilted and like unnecessary parading around.

I'm ok if they have the celebration at a different place from the s/f line (eg. Mexico) but then have the whole celebration there. Move the podium to the Bellagio, but just doing a "pitstop" there is kinda silly.

 

You are right I did not. Races better on TV for all the action. Lot is missed trapped live in one zone with sketch audio. Team radio cannot hear well. We had varsha announcing and that was clear. He was an announcer from the past with all these years since Matchet and Co. Then sky....

 

The whole week is a Vegas party where, after the track, the city is alive with full noisy casinos and night clubs hopping. Bruce Buffer of boxing and ufc fame even announced the drivers in total buffer style. Some call it cringe worthy but it was a total unexpected crack up and so vegas! It was awesome. Vegas F1 is about having fun with what most will agree better racing than expected. Only thing to make it better and justify some of this ticket price are some support races.

 

Would have preferred a win by Charles but it was cool to see him snatch 2nd on the last lap.

 

American sports fans will not be denied, breaking view-blocking barriers….

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.kind of reminds me of Monza…..

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So the rumor is they are lobbying for a month earlier. Given how well the race went, I think its possible.
MGM and others are storing all their stands and stuff so it can come out quicker next year and have less of an impact. The Strip will not need to be resurface, Koval and Harmon won't need to be remade, the granstands along Koval should be able to be kept intact.

The Mirage won't have stands next year (or have the same impact) because they are building a new hotel tower in that location.

I'm sure the original date suggestion was from the Vegas side. That week is one of the slowest of the year and they wanted as much time as possible to get ready. I think earlier would also improve interest since its all too common lately for the championships to have been decided.

Lastly, I think Pirelli and all the teams learned a lot. Next year they can adapt better.

 

I think the only thing they really lack is a support race. I'm sure it would complicated things in year one. But in year 2 if they had a support race it would add additional value to the ticket $$$.

In general, the ticket prices were too high. The young couple I talked to from North Carolina waited it out and got tickets for $1000 each. It seems to me a normal ticket price should be in that range.

 

Well, they could have bought a ticket like the rest of us...

 

I went though Harrahs, The Linq, and The Venetian / Palazzo all 3 nights about 6 PM. The place was full of people and gamblers. We need to wait for the final numbers but from what I saw, a lot of visitors were in town trying to win back what they paid for their seats.

I can't tell you about those farther from the race. Might have been worse for them. There's always winners and losers in every event.

 

We don’t know that they didn’t.

The article is at Autosport.com I didn’t read it because, ironically, I’ve already used my three free looks this month.

 

We watched everything live from the 90 minute pre-show to the trophy presentations. My wife's biggest disappointment is she thought she would see A list celebrities and all she got was F list.

 

We watched the whole thing too….A couple of disappointments: Shaquille O’Neill, who projects an affable persona, giving Martin Brundle the brushoff; and Brundle apparently missing the fact that Jackie Stewart was standing right in front of him and he missed him.

 

Nice.. and yes people don’t understand that next year they are not starting from zero…. the pit lane building is already finished… the streets are already repaved…. Next year is just taking things out of storage and putting them back up again….. that’s a completely different scope of work from what they had to do this year

 

And the sphere is already in place.

 

Ok. I watched Russel's onboard. He did move late on Max.

I stand corrected.

 

Things I would change if they asked me

1) get the stuff up and down for the event quicker next year.
2) lower the cost of the tickets and allow more walk ins.
3) have an additional support race or vintage event
4) have the event maybe 2 hours earlier
5) move the date forward a month. But they would have to also move COTA which could be an issue.
6) put in a Starbucks. Coffee was hard to find. They would have made a killing!

Would I buy the same seats next year? Hard to say. There are limited seats where the real action is at the end of the Strip. The T mobile area had a couple of big advantages. It had plenty of room to walk around, its closer for me to walk home, the concerts and activities were great to help fill in the time.

I'd look around but my thinking is T mobile is a pretty good way to spend 3 evenings.

Am I going next year? Are you kidding????

 

Is "the sphere" really necessary ? It looks kind of guffy; this isn't a amusement park for kids.

 

Yes, I thought Shaq really dissed Martin, and it's not like he's that popular any more.

I also noticed Jackie Stewart in the background and clearly Martin didn't see him. When I saw Stewart, I was looking forward to what he had to say.

 

I adored that thing. As the commentators said: I would only book a room in Las Vegas with a view of the Sphere. I was mesmerized by its graphics which changed all the time. Pure magic. And clever use when it showed the drivers who just did a pass or something else big, went yellow for the yellow phase etc

 

Good list. I would add:

Illuminate all the casinos before and right after the race. I get it that they don't want to blind the drivers, but while there is no track action, bring back the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas.

 

Shaq is now best known for flogging lineaments and other home remedies in commercials on cable channels.

I would have thought that Brundle’s director would have called his attention to Stewart being nearby. It was kind of sad. Probably 90% of the “unofficial” people on that grid have no idea who Jackie Stewart is…..

 

Yes, it is amazing in person.

Overall a great experience. Brilliant by management to include food and non-alcoholic drinks in the ticket package. That made the lines almost non-existent for food and quick in-and-out for the fans.

The one thing that was annoying was that the exit from PG1 grandstands was different each of the three days. They need to sort that out.

The price-to-value was way out of whack. I'm happy we were there for the first race but we aren't planning on going back. On the positive side, the cost was so high that my wife now thinks going to Italy for a race is reasonable.

 

I was at the end of the strip during the race. Bubba gumps, Rainforest Cafe, Sugar Factory all had great views. Top of Cosmo. Ocean Prime. Sugar Factory had walk-ins for $1000/person.