Thanks to our friends at eBay Motors, I’m in Las Vegas for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and I have to admit: I’m a little overwhelmed. I haven’t watched Formula 1 since I was a kid growing up in Germany, watching Hometown Hero Michael Schumacher (pronounced “Michhh-ah-ail Shoe-machhh-er”) absolutely dominate. I was always a fan of his brother Ralf, mostly because I worried he was in the shadows of his brother (I’m one of five boys, you see). Anyway, now I’m here in Las Vegas, and my god, first impressions are: This town has gone all-in on F1.
Even the airport is F1-topia.
Check out this humongous LEGO!:
And this… metal sculpture, of sorts:
Lots of brands are trying to get in on the fun:
And how about this huge helmet on the baggage carousel?:
I haven’t seen much beyond the airport. I’m heading now to a Paddock Tour now, which should be exciting. Again, I have no idea what to expect, but I’m excited and a bit anxious.
If you have any F1 wisdom to share, hit me in the comments; more from Las Vegas coming soon!
P.S. That’s McLaren champ Oscar Piastri on the stage behind me in the top photo. Here’s another shot:
Used to live in Long Beach and attended 2 F1 races.
Don’t mind the billions of people who couldn’t care less whether there’s a race going on; run around like a car geek looking for good vantage points.
Get into the pits; F1 mechanics are automotive surgeons.
Years ago I attended the Spa Grand Prix in Belgium. Senna and Mansell had crashed out, I believe into each other, leaving the already dour Europeans in a catatonic state. As I trudged through the Ardennes forest, past the zombies, the dull roar of Formula One cars bouncing off the trees, I half expected to see American and German infantry and tanks lining up for battle. This being the site of the savage Battle of the Bulge in WWII. Instead I found someone selling hamburgers behind a small card table. Worst hamburger I’ve ever had…..
I expect David’s first Formula One experience to be somewhat different.
Concours d’Elegance. Paddock Tour in Las Vegas. The Hollywoodification is complete.
And when you play roulette, always bet on rust.
Sorry to break it to you Dave; that Rivian roundtable is square.
My father took 15 year old me to Watkins Glen in 1970. Emerson Fittipaldi won the championship posthumously for Jochen Rindt by beating Jacky Ickx in his charging Ferrari. I was an Ickx and Ferrari fan, but couldn’t help but be excited at the race’s outcome.
Oh how beautiful that Ferrari 312B was:
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Frbe2fhzr8kg31.jpg
My first (and only) F1 race was the Long Beach Grand Prix back in the late ’70s when a nearly broke 20-something me could afford front straight/pit road bleacher seats and was free to roam to various vantage points around the course. Got pit road photos of drivers out of their cars. Andretti, Fittipaldi, Piquet, Stewart, Lauda… After that experience I ended up spending a lot money on Tamiya F1 kits.
Advice used to be make sure you have ear plugs, especially if you got close to the track.
Still a good idea, but less important than it used to be.
Those old Ford Cosworths and the V12s could be heard 30 km away…
Welcome to my city, David. Please don’t judge it by F1 weekend. Those of us who live here will be avoiding the area entirely, if we can. I took off working just to avoid it. I’d rather be broke than deal with F1.
Enjoy yourself, if you like it try out other street races like NASCAR in Chicago and Indycar in Detroit or Long Beach. Ebay Motors do a series
Technology that WON’T filter down to mass production cars…
It’s not like it was 50 years ago when things would filter down fairly quickly, but F1 is one of the world’s greatest technology testbeds. A great example of a more recent application of F1 derived tech is the ‘Infinity Train’ in Australia.
Look at it this way, it’s guaranteed not to be the worst US F1 race in history.
Because I was at the worst one. Stupid Michelins.
Don’t tempt it, man. That drain-hole definitely tried last time, and gosh, that’s not even getting into the Caesars Palace Autocross.
Indy probably has the title of the worst on lock, but that’s not for a lack of Vegas trying for the upset.
I still hate the idea of running the race at night, in Las Vegas, in the fall/winter. The ostensible reason was to avoid the heat, but I think it’s more to give Europe more reasonable viewing hours. The net result is, the weather is cold, thentrack is cold, it’s hard to get the tires up to temperature and the audience looks like it’s staying away in droves. Booo!
The reason is because the whole point of racing in Las Vegas is to do so under the lights. It’s a nice little bonus that it happens to be Sunday morning in Europe. If they want to avoid the cold all they have to do is move it to September.
I could get behind that. The climate would be much nicer to the cars, drivers and audience.
The lights are one thing, but it’s late fall — those lights come on earlier now. Scheduling it so late for European audiences when you’re racing in the U.S. is a slap in the face to local fans.
I think the scheduling has something to do with the fact that unlike another street tracks on the calendar, Las Vegas streets are open to traffic between sessions and the late running time is less disrupting for the locals.
I heard (or read?) that the date was chosen because it’s historically a very slow weekend in Vegas.
I went to a couple Indianapolis F1s, in 2000 and in 2002. And it was ridiculously fun. You could wander around the inner part of the course during practice and there were no crowds. All of the Europeans couldn’t stop talking about how cheap everything was with great enthusiasm. One year we were sitting in seats right between a couple hundred Brazilians and a couple hundred Argentinians, which combined with cheap drinks made for a memorable afternoon. The second year we stayed at the same motel as the Minardi team, which was memorable. Oh, and scotch eggs.
Las Vegas doesn’t sound like that at all. If I lived in Las Vegas and wanted an F1 weekend, I think I’d be booking tickets to Azerbaijan, that looks like fun.
I’m in Vegas too!
I’ll try to follow the trail of rust flakes.
I’m all in for these fish (DT) out of water posts! Bring it on!!
Should be a crazy good time. I got into F1 in 2020 but my 5-year-old started watching with me last year, and now watching the races Sunday mornings together is appointment viewing. Unlike his old man, he likes winners and has gone full into McLaren (I have a penchant for the hopeless so adopted Haas as my team).
Esp. when he gets into trouble trying to interact with the various celebrity hangers-on. I remember last year when he tried to get in to talk to Roger Federer I think it was, and was stopped by security…but found himself next to Jackie Stewart trying to do the same thing.
David needs to try to get on that grid walk, man. Say you invented rust and elaborate from there. That alone would be a zillion times more interesting of an interview than the celebrities the Brundle stans whine about when they just want to be left alone. Tell Martin in depth about your time-based method of adding lightness and the additional efficacy of your method when saline is introduced into the formula. Your vehicle weight reduction techniques have been embraced around the world, being used in Ferraris and Alfas alike. (Technically not wrong: ever fist an old Italian car and instantly get reminded that you need a tetanus booster?) Play it straight-faced. You got this. I believe.
It’ll be so cool to see the cars up close and personal like that. For me at least, I don’t think about race cars this way, esp. graceful open-wheel ones that don’t mimic anything we normally see, but they’re absolutely gigantic in scale compared to what you’d expect.
I got into F1 about when I took the OG insanity test…
https://youtu.be/yFHqh7Rv2TI?si=ydMiLxHbT56RFR3s
I believe the key to access at a race is to declare yourself a Marusha superfan.
I just started watching F1 about halfway through this season. My 6mo daughter loves it. Car Go Fast TV is our thing now on Sundays. My son convinced me to be a Kick Sauber/Bottas fan, which has been rough. I also really like Tsunoda and Piastri. Max seems to be a unstoppable force.
I hope you have a great time. The only races I’ve been to are NHRA nitro events, although I’d love to go to a gran prix.
What size shirt does your son wear? (You have to answer, because otherwise I’m gonna guess)
He wears a 12yo size, so like a youth 12 or an adult small 🙂
BOTTAS! Kid’s got taste.
I like lots of different racing, but nitro is its own unique crazy. Anyone who calls themselves a gearhead of any stripe, owes it to themselves to attend at least one nitro event in person. I don’t want to hear any excuses. It will forever change your perceptions of sound, power and speed.
My 15yo daughter is *really* into it and we watch every race together. Instagram is involved somehow. She can identify every wife/girlfriend/pet of everyone on the grid. Apparently Hamilton’s dog is very popular and Max is a cat person.
A few weeks ago “who was last year’s F1 champion” came up in a trivia contest at school. She was wearing a Red Bull/Vestappan hoodie.
She’s already wondering out loud which race we will go to next summer…
Your mission this weekend is to steal Max Verstappen’s hat. I won’t tell you what to do with it. That part if the story is up to you. Your job is simply to steal the hat.
Godspeed, and don’t pay any attention if you see sharks in the Bellagio fountain. Snitches don’t get stitches, they become bait.
Thank you for giving me the purest, silliest laugh I’ve had in a while.
*of
(goshdarnit, typo)
Expect cars without fenders, loud noises, and expensive concessions.
Were they all taller than you? Did they have a bad habit of standing between you and sunlight?
Isn’t this considered heresy for a BAJA SAE alum?
It is. I have been to a Rally race, though. SnoDr*ft!