F1 coming to Vegas !

[Southwest Dave]

It looks as though there are a few more "affordable" tickets available this year (If you can call them that!!) and generally the prices appear to be slightly cheaper than last year,(?) it's still pretty extortionate with Grandstand tickets starting at $1500 to $2750 (depending on which stand) for the full event.

Hopefully it will be a good and entertaining race with other teams catching up to the Red Bull/ Max Verstappen combo, thanks to development upgrades. Verstappen had carried on from where he left off last year, winning 7 of the opening 10 races this season. Although the last of those wins came back in June, with Mercedes winning 3, McLaren 2 and Ferrari 1, since then. McLaren are only 8 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors championship and appear to have the upper hand right now with both the McLaren drivers performing well. The Drivers championship seems to be wrapped up by Verstappen, because of his early season dominance, but if Lando Norris (currently in second place) can gain an average of 8 points per race for the remaining 8 races, we would have another British world champion. Unlikely, but we live in hope!

Dave

[UKCraig]

If McLaren had played the game it would be close but the way things are going currently the team is going to implode. Living in Woking I know a few of the guys on the race team and the word is that the whole team is in uproar behind closed doors and that the merry go round at the end of next season is likely to see Lando courted by Red Bull to replace Verstappen who will go Mercedes to replace George who will then become number 2 to Piastri at McLaren. Could be interesting!

The prices for LV tickets are madness. Hopefully it'll be half empty this year and this will send a message to the greed organisers. Sadly, I doubt it.

[Mark Sedenquist]

The prices for LV tickets are madness.

I suspect that just about every seat will be sold well in advance of the race. I'd sort of like to go this year, but those ticket prices would stretch my sustainable budget beyond rationality, I am afraid.

Thanks for the insight on the racing teams.

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

I just had a quick look and a one day ticket for qualifying on the Saturday start at almost $500 and end up with Paddock club tickets that go north of $12,500!! Just to experience the sounds and smells of F1, a Thursday practice session starts at $100-$150, and Friday over $200. They call them the "Cheap seats". Yeah, right!

Dave

Here are the links to the full packages:

Bellagio Fountain Club is only $13,015 per person

Paddock Club is a mere $16,865 per person

[UKCraig]

If McLaren had played the game it would be close but the way things are going currently the team is going to implode. Living in Woking I know a few of the guys on the race team and the word is that the whole team is in uproar behind closed doors

This could be what the uproar within the raceteam is about if true.

Oscar has undoubtedly a solid talent - and may well turn out to be a champion in a few years - but it makes no sense for a team to root one of their own who has stuck with them as they trolled round in the midfield for years.

Thursday practice session starts at $100-$150, and Friday over $200. They call them the "Cheap seats"

And then you get kicked out at midnight as they're running late having not screwed the drain covers down properly. They couldn't understand why people were angry!

Whilst F1 is certainly more interesting on track currently it sure does like to shoot itself in the foot. Why can't we just go back to CART/Champcar racing in the 90s or Nascar in the early 2000s? That was much more fun!

[Southwest Dave]

I think that most of the controversy around McLaren was after the Hungarian GP. To give themselves the best chance of getting a 1-2 result they pitted Norris first to keep Hamilton at bay. That gave him the undercut on Piastri who, under normal circumstances would of taken the first pit stop as the lead car. The real noise after came from the fact Norris went radio silent while the team sent message after message to let him past while the world listened on. Up to that point the team had let them race. It appeared to be sorted, and it was a case of the press looking for headlines as far as I was concerned, but maybe not, given the info you have shared

[Southwest Dave]

F1 returns to America after it's Autumn break and it looks as though Austin TX has all the ingredients to make it a great race, the drivers love the layout! Max Verstappen and Red Bull have lost their dominance since their last victory in Spain, but they have brought upgrades to the car and racing couldn't be closer. Max was pipped to pole position by his main rival, Lando Norris who has been chipping away at his lead since Spain. (It looked as though Max would have taken Pole had it not been for a yellow flag on the last lap of qualifying) Norris was 0.031 seconds quicker than Verstappen over 3.4 miles of circuit, that's how close! Ferrari look very racey with their new upgrades and are not far behind on pace. Lining up 3rd and 4th on the grid with Carlos Sainz Jnr looking 'Feisty', things could get spicy! (Let's hope so!)

Dave

[Southwest Dave]

Out of interest I looked at the (reported) average price of F1 tickets, and in a lot of cases 'like for like' tickets for COTA (Circuit of the Americas) in Austin, are four times cheaper than those in Vegas. It hasn't got the glitz and glamour that Vegas offers for visitors who might want to experience the bright lights, but for dedicated F1 fans, COTA offers a Grade 1 certified FIA spec circuit built purely for racing. The cheapest circuits are the Chinese and Hungarian GP's, averaging around $200, while in the middle of the pack are the Dutch and Abu Dhabi GP's, at an average of $500. Then there is the 2nd most expensive, Miami at $880. Most expensive is Las Vegas, at an average cost of a whopping $1620!

(Hey Mark. If you want to watch a GP, it might be cheaper to fly out of LV and go watch the Hungarian GP!) ;-0

Dave

[Mark Sedenquist]

(Hey Mark. If you want to watch a GP, it might be cheaper to fly out of LV and go watch the Hungarian GP!) ;-0

Dave, Yep, last year, UK Craig suggested that if I were to fly to Monaco, stay in a fancy hotel, see the race, that there would still be a net savings over the cost seeing the Las Vegas Grand Prix in my home town!

I'd still like to see the race in town--sometime--but I could have a pretty darn amazing road trip if I took those same pennies and spent them just on fuel!

Thanks for the research!

Mark

[UKCraig]

I am contemplating a possible trip to Austin next autumn... everything is so dark and depressing here at this time of the year and I have been pondering a trip to eastern Arizona, New Mexico and south western Texas this time next year. It then dawned on me about Austin. It's just whether it is worth adding a solid day to day and a half or whatever of driving to cross the state and whether I can get that much time away from home...