The Las Vegas Grand Prix…real race or publicity circus?

There has been much said and written about the Las Vegas Grand Prix that was run last weekend. Many drivers, perhaps most obvously and vociferously Max Verstappen has blasted the event as “99% show and 1% racing”.

F1’s much-anticipated return to Vegas got off to a bad start on Thursday when water valve covers were ripped up by Carlos Sainz’ Ferrari and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, which halted FP1 after nine minutes and led to a long delay for FP2, by which time spectators were sent home.

FP1’s track issues were met with a barrage of criticism from fans and media, which Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff called “completely ridiculous”.

Mercedes was one of the teams that had bought significantly into F1’s Vegas return with a bespoke hospitality unit, as the event was billed as a huge commercial coup for the series and its stakeholders.

After Saturday night’s entertaining race he felt the event had “ticked all the boxes”.

“Lots of things that were said look a little bit out of proportion or too negative because we are leaving Las Vegas after a great weekend,” he said.

“I think it will have increased the popularity of Formula 1 in the United States, for sure. There is nothing negative that I can find.

The incident on Thursday has led to a shortened first free practice session, with the second scheduled for 1 am…

When asked by Motorsport.com/Autosport if something can be done to improve the event’s punishing timetable, Wolff agreed with fellow team bosses that bringing sessions forward would be a good idea. However, as Wolff pointed out “I think that it’s logistics. How do you manage the traffic situation in Las Vegas [if you have to close the roads earlier]?,”.

So was it a success? Certainly – the racing was great and it was a huge celeb-heavy event. and let’s face it – the money for any sport is in the USA. That much is obvious, and most sports codes have recognized it – Major League Soccer, a criket league and now a major push by F1 to enlarge it’s footprint is proof of that. And in that sense it was a major coupe. The Las Vegas Grad Prix is, on the evidence of last weekend, here to stay.