Vegas Formula One

[MisterV]

Haven't read or heard much about Formula One on the Vegas strip tonight.

Glad I'll be able to watch it on TV as opposed to having to go to sin city and get gouged.

I did read F-1 is making it a bit less expensive for the common folk to actually watch the race live, presumably from "cheap seats."

Hoping any posters who are in LV and on the strip can weigh in on how it's going / how it went.

Vrooom vrooom...

[MDawg]

We'll be at the finish line with paddock tickets. Paddock tickets at the finish line can go for over $20,000. each. The Strip is busy, no more or less than last year, but certainly less than the first year of F1.

Fun to see all the girls in tight outfits. Lot of Euro girls, but Americans too.

Aston Martin seems to be making a big marketing push, I have seen their cars at both Fontainebleau and Resorts World, on the floor.



Last year AM lost though, Mercedes won.

This year the race starts at 8pm tonight, which is better than the 10pm start of previous.

[MDawg]

[jdaewoo]

This closeted homosexual's dad must have gambled a lot to get those.

[MisterV]

Enjoy the race, hound...were those paddock tickets a comp, and if so from which casino?

_____

Ya know, when you aren't trolling you can be a pretty valuable forum member.

[MDawg]

Yes comped. From one of the Majors on the Strip.

Just trying to get anywhere around the Strip right now is tough.

[Rob.Singer]

Yes comped. From one of the Majors on the Strip.

Just trying to get anywhere around the Strip right now is tough.

This is funny. You're pissing off all the losers here because you talk like somebody who's a hi roller and you walk the walk. And as soon as you show pics of those tickets the jealous clowns will say "they're not yours!" or "those are fake!".

It's as good as it gets....AGAIN!

[MisterV]

Just wonderin' ... will those paddock tickets allow you access to not only view the cars and the pits but also get close enough to drivers to chat or get an autograph?

[jdaewoo]

This is funny. You're pissing off all the losers here because you talk like somebody who's a hi roller and you walk the walk. And as soon as you show pics of those tickets the jealous clowns will say "they're not yours!" or "those are fake!".

I bet more in reality than the retard bets in his fiction. Ponder that, you retard.

[MDawg]

Okay so the paddock experience is mostly about gourmet food stations and an uncrowded lounge where the race is on multiple screens showing different angles and a no host bar with top shelf alcohol including fairly high end champagne. As far as viewing the actual race, the luxury suites are on the third level and above the track. Outdoor viewing is split level (two rows) with standing only no seats.

You may also go on the roof which is fourth level of the paddock and look down on the track looking either straight down below or the other direction towards the strip.

I’m not sure how the gain access to the first level but that’s not an option for us not on the suite level.

I think it’s really more about the experience than having the best view because to get that best view you have to stand outside and stay there by the edge if you leave to get food or a drink you’re going to lose your spot.

If you want to be seated and see the races there are grandstands all along the track including t mobile at the Sphere and other grandstands right here at the paddock. Those do not include access to the gourmet food stations or luxury suite seating.

The food stations are high end think lobster, truffles on ravioli pasta, short ribs with goat liver, sea bass and much more including salads and desserts.

This is the finish line though which means something because at any other spot you’re not going to see that grand finale.

[Rob.Singer]

Okay so the paddock experience is mostly about gourmet food stations and an uncrowded lounge where the race is on multiple screens showing different angles and a no host bar with top shelf alcohol including fairly high end champagne. As far as viewing the actual race, the luxury suites are on the third level and above the track. Outdoor viewing is split level (two rows) with standing only no seats.

You may also go on the roof which is fourth level of the paddock and look down on the track looking either straight down below or the other direction towards the strip.

I’m not sure how the gain access to the first level but that’s not an option for us not on the suite level.

I think it’s really more about the experience than having the best view because to get that best view you have to stand outside and stay there by the edge if you leave to get food or a drink you’re going to lose your spot.

If you want to be seated and see the races there are grandstands all along the track including t mobile at the Sphere and other grandstands right here at the paddock. Those do not include access to the gourmet food stations or luxury suite seating.

The food stations are high end think lobster, truffles on ravioli pasta, short ribs with goat liver, sea bass and much more including salads and desserts.

This is the finish line though which means something because at any other spot you’re not going to see that grand finale.

I wonder how the envious slant is processing this.....

[MDawg]

Outdoor viewing is split level (two rows) with standing only no seats.

This is the view you got from directly outside the suite.




Some of the suites were more filled than others. Since I am connected with so many casinos in Vegas, we could walk around and enter a number of suites, but they were all basically the same - high end liquor, wine, champagne, and non alcoholic drinks, with luxury seating in the suite, and the standing only right outside on the balconies to watch the track.

The food was all right outside the suites.








This is similar to how it's been when we have gone to Allegiant for Raiders games - although there, the individual suite does have some food in it, but the best food is outside and available to all suites.

To access the suites besides your paddock ticket you needed a pink wristband. After the race, to go down to the track and walk it, you needed a blue wrist band. The wrist bands were how they controlled who got to go where.

Verstappen (Red Bull racing) was in the lead for most all of the race, and won. Red Bull racing uses their own cars, powered by a Honda engine.



Last year Russell (Mercedes) won. He came in second this year. I took the above picture well before the end of the race, but Verstappen was already in the lead.

Norris and Piastri (both McLaren) were disqualified for illegal plank wear. F1's rulebook states the thickness of the planks underneath both cars must be no less than 9mm, but McLaren's two cars were found to be below that after Saturday night's race. Now Verstappen is tied with Piastri with 366 points for F1 races so far.

F1 did sell out completely in Vegas.

[MisterV]

I appreciate the report and pics, hound.

While I am no longer a regular F1 fan as I was when Prost and Senna ruled, I try to catch the LV race due to its location.

Glad it sold out: I assume it will stay so I guess the locals will just have to grin and bear the upheaval / inconvenience / change associated with the event.

KJ, did you gamble heavily on the strip this weekend, using the rich attendees for cover?

[MDawg]

One thing I was remarking while watching, is how comparatively safe the sport has become. There was a hard bump between a couple cars near the beginning of the race, but nothing like a crash.

Have you seen the 1966 movie Grand Prix? Apparently of the 32 professional racing drivers who participated or were seen in the film, five died in racing accidents within two years and another five in the following ten years. That is the way the sport used to be, due to the flimsiness of the cars I guess, they were described as "death traps." But now there have been no fatalities since 2015, and the last one before that was in 1994. I don't think Vegas would have allowed Grand Prix if the race were still as dangerous as it used to be. The idea of a car careening off the course and landing on people doesn't sound too palatable.

A 1957 Ferrari crashed into a crowd during the Mille Miglia race on May 12, 1957, near the town of Guidizzolo, Italy. The crash, caused by a tire failure at high speed, killed the driver Alfonso de Portago, his navigator, and nine spectators, and led to the permanent end of the Mille Miglia as an open-road race. The crash was memorialized in the 2023 Ferrari movie.

[MisterV]

Tough to beat the 1955 Le Mans incident for fiery mayhem and death.

[MDawg]

At least 81 spectators plus driver Pierre Levegh killed. Wow.

[kewlJ]

KJ, did you gamble heavily on the strip this weekend, using the rich attendees for cover?

Not exactly MisterV. I explained in the other thread that the very wealthy players are not the crowded condition that I seek and thrive in. Events that bring out the ultra big players do not help me. I much prefer just a regular Vegas weekend conditions, or maybe a holiday weekend. One of the reasons I am not a fan of F1 Las Vegas. Plus I am not an F1 fan to begin with and the entire event is very disruptive to those of us that live and play here.

Friday night I played on the strip but stayed towards the middle tier properties with crowds that better suite what I am doing. Saturday night, when the race took place I played off strip. For me in total the weekend turned into a very average weekend in EV generated and that is all I can ask for.

[MDawg]

How about this one UNKewlJ? What well known AP said this:

I thought that was common knowledge about Kewlj being a male prostitute.

[kewlJ]

What is common knowledge Dawg is that you are a very insecure little sand nigger, who's jealousy of real advantage and winning players who beat casinos on a constant basis, results in your trolling, stalking and lying about them, while you, a degenerate type losing gambler, simply exchange some of your family wealth for overpriced and overvalued casino comps.

When casinos came up with this model of degenerate players exchanging real cash money for comps worth a tenth of their value, you were the poster child for them. You are the casino executives wet dream.

[kewlJ]

Living and playing Vegas, I am all for Las Vegas doing well. Even some events that might inconvenience locals.

But I don't think we are getting an honest representation of what F1 brings or is worth to Las Vegas. There will be reports in the media that F1 was worth xxxxx dollars. But is it really? I mean the money from the race and those high priced tickets (usually comped out) go to F1, not Las Vegas.

I don't want just a number of visitors in town and hotel room/restaurant and gambling revenue for the weekend. I want to see what above a normal November weekend just before thanksgiving is. I suspect it probably is above because they can charge more for rooms with such an event. But it is NOT the numbers we will see comparing to zero. You have to compare to what a normal weekend would be.

And then secondly you have to subtract additional costs. And unlike things like a big fight or big show, there are way more costs. F1 results in a lot of costs and construction. Last year there were many small businesses, restaurants, stores, not on the strip, but places like Koval (back end of the track) that had the entrances to their businesses blocked for several days. So for those small local businesses it is a loss that isn't included in the totals that will be published. It is worse than just a loss. It is a transfer of revenue from those small local businesses, to F1.

If you really added everything honestly and subtract all the additional costs that other events don't have, I don't think F1 really is what it is cracked up to be for Las Vegas.