The Teething Troubles of the Las Vegas Grand Prix

after one of the most interesting most enthralling most tragic years and Fula 1 Motor Racing the chicken flag had finally fallen and a winner had been crowned when KK rosberg lifted his championship trophy oh crap spoiler alert it was a moment of Pur relation despite the Rena and the Ferraris around him clearly being faster he had conquered all and beaten the aarts and that was fitting considering it was done here in Las Vegas Nevada at least in theory it was but in reality no one turned up that day the grand stand somehow more empty than races in the pandemic and it kind of typified Formula 1 in Las Vegas it should have been something but instead after 2 years of running the event was over and the Grand Prix circus would not return but you clicked on this video and you know what [Music] happened [Music] since that time they've become even more money hungry and even more keen to fleece every single soul that bears eyes upon it I'm talking about Las Vegas and Formula 1 obviously after the cus Palace Grand Prix crashed and burned into the ground back in 1982 2022 saw the announcement of the allnew Las Vegas Grand Prix after years of speculation and nion Desperation to make it happen Bernie eon's wet dream of a race on the Las Vegas Strip would finally come to fruition I don't ever want to repeat those words again and so here we are most of you are probably watching this video on the eve of the inaugural race the 2023 Last Vegas Grand Prix and a big question to kick it all off is how do we get here well back in the 1980s F1 Supremo Bernie Eon was hell bent on getting the sport to return to this town despite the humongous failure of the previous event that had average facilities very few fans and attendance and a track layout that somehow managed to be both physically demanding and boring at the same time right up until the early to Mid 2010s Formula 1 was looking to add more American races to the calendar all those proposals kept on falling apart but a race in Las Vegas was still on the agenda with Bernie saying that they were ready to go and it would be on the Strip for sure this was all talk of course but when Formula 1 was brought by Liberty Media and eckleson was told to retreat to his Brazilian Farm before the tax officers could come knocking integral changes were made to the way the sport was promoted the popularity of F1 exploded and obviously we know where a big bulk of that came from not that there was anything wrong with it but what it did mean was that after 11 million years of trying Formula 1 was finally popular in the United States of cheese a new race was broughten in the form of the Miami Grand Prix to run alongside the United States one in Austin Texas but a third race in the country well yeah they tried that I mean they tried it back in 1982 it didn't work but they tried it things were different now it must be said and seeing as how they knew that there' be people willing to Fork out money for it promoters and Formula 1 themselves knew exactly where to put that third race so by early 2022 the race was announced and in that time Formula 1 have almost gone out of their way to hype this event up as being the biggest thing on the face of the planet bigger even than the Super Bowl and the track certainly catches the eye everything about this event looks awesome but getting this event up and running wasn't exactly smooth sailing firstly there was the issue of selling tickets it was immediately apparent that the promoters decided me to hell with the peasants GA tickets were going for $500 grandstand tickets for just the Sunday went forth between 1,155 to $1,760 bucks and those that wanted to be there for the whole weekend were close to forking out $33,000 they were even selling tickets to days where there was no on track action and general admission tickets to places where viewing the cars was not a possibility but hey the majority of those tickets sold so good for them even the casinos that surround the track have decided to cash in on all of this the bagio sold a 3-day luxury package which included VIP tickets gourmet food made by personal chefs exclusive access to private viewing decks and a 25% controlling stake in the heart Formula 1 team probably this was being sold for $122,000 but hey them are rocky numbers Resorts will be selling their own Hospitality package that included all of this that you see here what did it cost ohuh I'm glad you asked $888,000 so this or a 10% deposit for a house of course while this is all very well and good one week out from the Grand Prix there was still a lot of tickets that were not sold and in the days leading up to the race a bit of desperation started to seep in as the prices for those tickets started to drop like an anvil some of those prices being almost 60% below what they first were when they were initially sold but what do you expect when you could fly to Europe to attend a race for cheaper than one that's on your doorstep in the land of a th000 titty bars the local hotel owners too have had to drop their rates however the special $15 European search charge implemented in cap services will still be in effect sure America could eradicate their tip in culture like the rest of the world does and perhaps have its citizens you know paid fearly but we don't have time for rational Solutions godamn it Vegas has a reputation of milking every last scent of everyone that goes into the city as the saying goes The House Always Wins I guess that's true here too the freaking irony but hey at least it'll be sunny over there right oh yeah the race is being held at night more specifically very late at night with the race starting at 10: p.m. local time and qualifying starting at midnight so for All You Niles out there growing tired of late night infomercials and blowup dolls you'll now have something else to watch but but at least it'll be warm right with it being out in the middle of the damn desert and all quite a few people in the F1 Paddock were guessing that we're going to be on for guitar levels of heat it appeared that Neville Chamberland had risen from the grave because all that talk was s levels of wrong it's expected to be Bally cold for the race which will be nice for all those that turn up with a tank top and $300 board Shores so how would these temperatures affect the on track action well it may actually be a good thing with Max for stepp and running away with the championship and making everyone look like a fool it's making even the most Storch fans of the Flying Dutchmen bored I mean let's face it we'd all like there to be close racing on track and here in Las Vegas we might get that the cold temperatures could throw the race into chaos with longer warm-up periods for the tires with the track surface that will not provide the grip that they want and that's not even half of the grip problems over in Australia for instance running alongside Formula 1 there is Formula 2 Formula 3 super cars and Porsche Carrera Cup on the cards all of these support categories lay rubber down on the track and helps grip it up over the course of the weekend in Las Vegas however do you know how many support categories there are on the card that's right Dory the Explorer zero so with nothing else running around there this weekend F1 CS will be the only ones laying rubber down to try and grip up what is already a very green track with new tarmac all over the place and that's provided no red flags happen which I mean come on and that's not to mention the fact that the rain could very well wash away everything and leave the drivers to start from scratch so yeah the teams will also have their work cut out for them to make sure their cars and drivers survive the race sure Formula 1 cars have run in some pretty Frosty conditions but in a competitive environment well that's a whole another story with park for my conditions and to want to not compromise the car's performance teams may find themselves in no man's land or the D brought on by these conditions could increase dragon all CS but the Red Bulls and we end up with the most dominant win in the history of wins the possibilities are endless but hey let's talk about the track itself when it came to designing this thing the task was given to exactly who you would expect tilk the same design team F1 had been using for the last 8,000 years but the man leading the project Herman TK's son Kasten knew that designing this thing was going to be anything but simple certain design criteria had to be fulfilled which included a section that ran along the Las Vegas Strip permits for other Road usage had to be acquired the surrounding casinos had to be happy with their Gardens being blocked off hours at a time and there were aspirations for a brand new permanent pit building to be built to Drew up 31 different layout variations that could have been used but ultimately this was the one that they settled on a 17 turn layout that weave through the heart of Vegas it included the strip and had a fully dedicated section of racetrack that would serve as the fit straight it completely dwarfed the layout used back in the 80s in the parking lot of Caesar's Palace the reaction by most one fans upon seeing this track layout however was what the hell is this crap and it wasn't even the final design a chicane was added in next to the sphere to give the illusion of complexity I mean at face value this is as simple a layout as you'd ever see for a Formula 1 track it largely goes against the characteristics we're normally used to seeing as some have alluded to it kind of looks like Spider Pig Spider Pig does whatever a spider pig does well hopefully it doesn't produce as much crap as it did of course the sight of if1 One cars screaming down the STP would be a spectacle to behold you must admit especially when they hit the brakes at the end of that straight brakes which along with the tires would have cooled down considerably given the straight is longer than a fast and furious air strip so on lap one especially they would have no brakes and no tires heading into what is one of the heaviest braking zones on the calendar still the chaos and wanted destruction would be exciting for those on the foot bridges that Traverse over the racetrack right oh no they thought of that along all of these Bridges you'll find plastic screening covering the glass to ward off any potential freeloaders seeing the race for free with your own eyes not happened bro when people began trying to peel off that stuff fencing was then put up thus turning the bridges into a hallway from a Panamanian prison needless to say none of this cosmetic surgery placed upon the strip has made many residents overly happy a few even saying that it had been ruined by the Malak depending upon who you talk to this event is either loved or despised or in a lot of cases the at itude is more one of me for most locals this event will just come and go but the disruptions for weeks on end is making time pass like a kidney stone for them then again that's kind of the case with every street circuit ever made ever Liberty media's CEO came out to apologize to the locals for the interruption although whether he actually meant it or not I'll leave that up to you to decide but it's not even just the locals drivers such as Max for stappen have come out to say that they are there more for the show than the race itself judging by the layout of the circus that's true but he shouldn't say it so not exactly smooth sailing and yeah sure they've sold virtually all the tickets for the inaugural event but so did the Caesar's Palace Grand Prix supposedly and then that fell apart just 12 months later there's no guarantee in any of this the people running this event need to trade carefully cuz if they raise their prices for next year's race like they did for Miami there's a good chance that they're going to struggle to sell a lot of those tickets now that the Allure of the first year has come and gone and especially if Max Superman's the field again next next year but I wouldn't worry about it too much because greed has never been a problem with the sport right right oh yeah there are a couple of other things the track was inspected and approved by the Fia at the 11th Hour the live opening ceremony was actually 30 minutes behind and the pit exit is shall we say close to the racing line but initially we never got a chance to find out how close because free practice one came to an end after only 9 minutes thanks to a loose manhole cover that destroyed the chassis of both Kos sci's Ferrari and estan okon's Alpine the second practic s was delayed by 2 hours from Midnight to 2:00 a.m. whilst they reped the track it was then delayed again with fans being told that come 1:30 a.m. they'd have to vacate the grounds due to logistical concerns it was then delayed again to 2:30 a.m. this was an absolute shambles and yes Toto wolf I will dare call it that because unlike you I would prefer not to Bull about the safety of the drivers the marshals that allow the racing to happen at all and the fans track side who paid $10 million to be there or is this that new standard that you talk about all right calm down Josh calm down but hey credit where credit is duw they did end up repairing the track and did allow for the on track action to resume that night so someone buy them an ice cream throughout the course of the weekend there'll be no support racing on the card Formula 1 will be the sole source of entertainment on track and will therefore be the only ones laying rubber down on the brand new track but imagine if it were to rain before the race and were to wash all that grip away you'd be left with a track greener than go with slipstreaming is op you are going to have some mighty interesting racing going on either that or the biggest clown show you'd ever seen in your life where chaos ensues big names drop out and Sir Lelo picks up his Maiden Grand PRI win they say that here in Sin City The House Always Wins but if that extreme case scenario happens I would say that we all kind of win yeah this Grand Prix is a pure money milking exercise and Formula 1 desperately needs a race on the African continent but if the Demons of the 1980s could be buried and if it can help promote the sport in any way then that's not too much of a bad thing right and hey another Silver Lining bony Eon will finally have his dream realized of having a race on the Las Vegas Strip or so you think I swear he may have done a lot for the sport but Old Man River has no idea what he wants [Music] sometimes [Music]

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 235,198

Keywords: f1, formula 1, las vegas, las vegas grand prix, las vegas gp, 2023 las vegas grand prix, f1 las vegas

Id: VbQUWFluI30

Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 17 2023