The grandstands at the major hotels who have partnered with F1 are tiny in terms of their capacity compared to the seating F1 are providing themselves and another hotel manager told me the prices for rooms over the F1 weekend has almost quartered since the tickets first went on sale. Hamilton coded message to his “stubborn” Mercedes engineers Despite the local authorities building temporary roads which bridge the back straight, congestion is worse than New York City at present. Some business owners tell me the strip will be closed for a week before and after the Grand Prix and they are bemused how this is possible.

One bar owner told me his ride home was usually 15 minutes, but with the road closures and traffic congestion this has now increased to as long as 90 minutes and we are just under three weeks before the race. The chaos currently caused by the setup and traffic restrictions has upset the Las Vegas locals more than just a touch. Yet all this pales into insignificance when talking to the locals and their opinion of their world class up coming sporting event. The circuit around the pit lane and start/finish straight has been contrived to maximise the number of temporary grandstand seating FOM can fit into such a relatively small area. Threats to Planet Hollywood as yet unfulfilledĪs of yet FOM have failed to deliver on their promise to screen off the view from the huge Vegas resort, though this writer can state watching the race from inside Planet Hollywood would be a hollow experience. TJ13 reported months ago of a dispute between Planet Hollywood and F1 over whether they should be paying $1500 per seat capacity in the resort for the privilege of fans being able to watch the race behind bullet proof glass screens. The famous Bellagio hotel with its fountains is located towards the end of the back straight, yet their corporate offering is tiny compared to that of the FOM direct capacity.

Having walked the circuit today I am shocked at the sheer volume of seating provided direct from Liberty Media and the corporate offering exceeds by far anything offered elsewhere on the calendar. So how is it going? Liberty Media have acquired more than just one block of real estate in Las Vegas and have built a permanent pit lane with a huge grandstand with at least three times the capacity of the one in COTA.įurther, they have acquired land adjacent to the start/finish straight and erected a huge number of temporary grandstands there too at an estimated cost of around $560m.

Never has the commercial rights holder of the sport invested in building the infrastructure and promoting a race in the history of the sport. The Vegas Grand Prix is the much anticipated jewel in the crown for Formula One.

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