Forty years ago, Formula One cars were ripping around a jerry-built track on a Caesar’s Palace parking lot in front of a sparse audience that reflected the apathy of U.S. race fans who viewed the sport mostly as an effete, European novelty.
But those days are long gone.
Thanks in large part to the wildly successful Netflix documentary series “Formula 1: Drive to Survive,” F1 racing is riding a torrent of new-found popularity that’s pushed race organizers to expand its presence in the U.S. The American lineup in 2023 will now include three scheduled events.
The latest addition to Formula One, or F1, racing events in the U.S. will take place in Las Vegas next year. In hopes of hyping interest in the race, which will be run on a course laid out on streets in the heart of Sin City, including a 2-kilometer straightaway down the Strip, the race series owners hosted a kickoff event in Las Vegas last weekend that featured a handful of drivers showing off their low-slung, high-tech, super-fast cars.
Fans lined the streets for the running of a few demonstration laps over the weekend, but it’ll be the last time anyone will get that close to the action for free, with tickets for the three-day event starting at $500. And that’s for standing-room only admission.
If you want tickets that come with a seat for the roughly 90-minute event, those are going for $2,500. At the bottom end. Interested in taking in the spectacle while enjoying a VIP experience? That’s absolutely available, with opportunities starting at $10,000.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told The Associated Press the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the most expensive fan experience on next year’s 24-race calendar, particularly from a VIP experience.
But why the exorbitant rates? Domenicali signaled it’s about simple economics and what the market will bear. And the Las Vegas market is one organizers believe will bear quite a lot.
“Formula One has a certain positioning with regard to the kind of sport it is,” Domenicali told the AP. “We are going to deliver the greatest spectacle in the world as a statement of F1. That needs to be recognized and in terms of price positioning we are going to be on the top side because this is Las Vegas and that is the nature of the customer coming to Las Vegas.
“There will be possibilities for people who want to pay less, to spend less. As always in life, it is the market pulling the price and then on our side is the responsibility to bring a great event.”
Why is F1 a new hit among U.S. fans?
Earlier this year, The New York Times took a deep dive into the mechanics behind Formula One’s rising cachet in the U.S. and zeroed in on a single, albeit, extremely powerful driving factor.
Netflix.
Colorado-based Liberty Media bought the sport for $4.6 billion in 2017 and, shortly after, struck a deal with Netflix, granting the streaming platform wide access to its drivers and teams to produce a real-life series that followed the racecourse drama and behind-the-scenes intrigue. And it’s a formula that’s proven a hit with the series having completed its fourth season and viewers who can’t seem to get enough of the show. And now, those same fans are hungry to take in the action in real life.
While F1’s TV audiences in the U.S. were tiny when “Drive to Survive” first debuted, three years later, ESPN reports their ratings have nearly doubled, according to the Times.
And, attendance for the October 2021 Formula One race weekend in Austin, Texas, was announced as the largest at any Grand Prix in the history of the sport: 400,000 fans over three days, including 140,000 for the race itself, per the Times.
Season 4 of “Drive to Survive” became the most-watched Netflix series in 33 countries, including the United States, and more than a third of the spectators in Austin for the 2021 event mentioned “Drive to Survive” in an on-site survey about why they decided to attend.
Why is F1 racing coming to Las Vegas?
Last weekend, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and fellow drivers Sergio Perez and Alex Albon showed up for a demonstration run of their F1 cars on the Strip, and Albon said he’s the one strangers have been approaching saying, ‘You’re that Netflix guy.’ They don’t even know my name,” per AP.
Perez told The Associated Press he expected the Las Vegas race to be the “biggest sporting event in the world next year” and Haas team boss Guenther Steiner couldn’t believe the event was even happening.
He said when he heard about Las Vegas he thought “Really? On the Strip? How are we going to race cars here?′ But Vegas can make it happen.”
The “Launch Party” actually started earlier this week when an F1 car drove down the casino floor of The Wynn, and Saturday included a full day of events that included a pit stop challenge, driver appearances, a drone show above Caesars Palace and a VIP afterparty with Swedish DJ Alesso at a three-level nightclub inside Caesars.