In the round-up: The Las Vegas Grand Prix will look to expand general admission tickets in years to come, the event’s CEO says.
In brief
Vegas GP looking to add more general admission tickets for future races
Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm says that the event will look to add more general admission tickets to the race in the years to come.
The inaugural race in November features the highest ticket prices of any of the 23 rounds on this year’s calendar, with general admission prices having started at £440. Wilm says the race is already looking at its ticketing options for the future.
“We want to create just the most incredible fan experience we can and also create a great track for the drivers,” said Wilm. “We want our team principals happy, really trying to create the best event throughout the ecosystem – but I’m sure we won’t get everything right in year one and we’re going to take those learnings and we’re going to improve upon the event in year two and beyond.
“Early feedback is we need more general admission – our fans are not happy we don’t have more general admission. That is something that we’re going to address in follow-on years. But I think at this point all we can do is head down, work hard and look forward to what’s to come.”
Ericsson credits mental coach with improved form
Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson says working with a mental coach has contributed to him becoming a front runner in IndyCar.Ericsson won IndyCar’s marquee event last season and took victory in the opening race of this year in St Petersburg.
“I cannot point at this or that reason is why I’m doing better,” Ericsson said. “The progress is about working hard and working on all aspects as a driver.
“I worked with a mental coach, I worked with my physical coach, I worked with my engineer and the rest of the Ganassi crew to get my car more to the liking, to understand the tyres better. It’s a combination of all those things that makes a difference, I think.”
Buemi admits he was “not aggressive enough” after losing lead
Toyota WEC hypercar driver Sebastien Buemi admitted he was “not aggressive enough” at the start of yesterday’s Six Hours of Portimao after he dropped from pole to third.
Buemi started the number eight Toyota from pole position but dropped to third behind its sister car and the number 51 Ferrari in the opening corners. Buemi eventually took back the lead before team mates Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley lapped the field on their way to victory.
“The start – I guess it was my mistake,” Buemi admitted. “I was not aggressive enough.
“It’s always difficult when you race your sister car into turn one – you don’t want to have any contact. So yeah, maybe I need to change a little bit my approach for the next race if it happens again. But in the end, I think we were a little bit faster than them.”
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Steiner expects Red Bull to be caught (Speedcafe)
"Obviously in the moment Red Bull has an advantage, but I wouldn’t say they keep that advantage now for the next 20 races. I’m not sure about that because everybody will catch up and hopefully we find out how Red Bull came to this advantage and we can copy it, or do something similar."
F2 drivers unbothered by restricted practice time compared to F1 (Formula Scout)
Pourchaire: "I’m sure there’s a big, big step between F1 and F2. They have three free practices, we have only one of 45 minutes. But it’s like this, we need to adapt ourselves. So it’s tough, but as I said we can see where are the good drivers. You need to adapt quickly to every condition, so it’s not easy. But it’s good."
WEC: The performance monitoring tech that will enhance TV viewers experience (FIA)
"Starting from round two of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship season, the 6 Hours of Portimão, TV viewers around the world will be given the chance to better understand the unfolding developments in the races in real time owing to the addition of graphics displaying the live status of Virtual Energy Tank for cars competing in the Hypercar class."
‘The Pato and Josef Show:’ An IndyCar rivalry with on-track respect and onstage ribbing (Yahoo)
O'Ward: "I like messing with Josef. Because it’s kind of like messing with a big brother sort of thing, because the guy’s like 10 years older than I am. I just like to poke him and mess with him, because I know he enjoys it. But the guy’s like the Penske Perfect always. I like to rattle him a bit. I know he enjoys it."
"Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling good physically and I even threw up under braking at turn 12 and crashed. I ‘freed myself’ after the race and now I feel quite well, and ready to make amends tomorrow."
Steve McQueen’s Ferrari 275 GTB/4 is heading to auction (Drive)
"Listed by RM Sotheby’s, the 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 is one of 330 examples made between 1966 and 1968 with bodywork by iconic coachbuilding firm Scaglietti – though this particular car boasts the rare accolade of being first owned by Hollywood film star Steve McQueen."
A Week In The Life Of A Formula 1 Team Principal (Red Bull via YouTube)
" In this episode of Behind The Charge we follow Christian Horner, the Team Principal and CEO of our team, for all the action before, during, and after the race."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
A man whose legacy will live on in the sport forever.
Sir Frank Williams. 💙#WeAreWilliams pic.twitter.com/sMsseKMhkE
— Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) April 16, 2023
PIERRRREEEEE GASLLLLYYYYY 🇫🇷
and Monaco’s own @Charles_Leclerc! 🇲🇨#RolexMonteCarloMasters @F1 @PierreGASLY pic.twitter.com/2CePucP6yu
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 16, 2023
Is it obvious I’m itching to go racing again? 😂 Just 2 more weeks to go. #OP81 pic.twitter.com/8pQ3597EjM
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) April 16, 2023
Putting in the work. 💪
Day 2 of the Sauber Academy camp saw @TPourchaire, Léna Bühler, Marcus Amand and Taym Saleh hit the human performance centre to put their fitness to the test.
Here's what happened… #GetCloser pic.twitter.com/pcQWWlbNGF
— Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake (@alfaromeostake) April 16, 2023
Victory and a double podium for @unitedautosport in the @FIAWEC #6HPortimao! An unbelievable effort by the whole team … the winning #23 car even raced the final hour without radio comms. Mega job, what a result. 👊 pic.twitter.com/OSIMUYmoEc
— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) April 16, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
This weekend’s Caption Competition winner is PickleMuffin!:
“Yuki, when I told you to ‘push it to 11’ this season I wasn’t talking about your finishing position…”
PickleMuffin
Thanks to everyone who came up with caption idea this week and a special mention to Cyberaxiom, Electroball76 and Qeki who all came up with particularly good captions.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Walton174!
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
17th April 2023, 0:08
What exactly does a general admission ticket even constitute at a temporary street circuit?
Kribana (@krichelle)
17th April 2023, 0:28
In normal circuits, which I have been to 2 times in general admission, you have more places to walk around the track, but there is a chance you may not have seats, like in Austria, or no tv screens like at Monza.
stefano (@alfa145)
17th April 2023, 9:48
Monza has a couple of general admission spots with tv screens. Of course you need to arrive at the track as soon as doors open to take a seat there, and stay there for as long as you wish preserving that place. standing is also an option close to tv screens, but on saturday and sunday it becomes quite crowded early on as well.
Franton
17th April 2023, 5:28
In the case of Las Vegas, it meant two small grandstands that were standing room only for worse prices than Monaco.
It was absolutely shocking my experience of trying to get tickets. Even with pre-buying perks from American Express ALL the cheaper seats were gone before general purchase opened up. Only tickets left were $2000+ for the day. (that doesn’t include the “fun” of trying to organise flights and hotels in Vegas either which would have doubled it at least.)
In short, Las Vegas race is only for corporations and the ultra rich.
SteveR (@stever)
18th April 2023, 3:44
Not only that, but there are no, not one, support races. What a great experience, standing for hours to hear F1 cars go by. It’ll be better on TV, although I suspect it isn’t going to be very good at all. I’ve been to Vegas, once, and will never again go to that fake, disgusting city of lowest denominator kitsch and greed. Save your money and fly to Europe for a real race at less expense. F1 should be ashamed.
Hucumber
18th April 2023, 11:45
I was in Vegas last year just before Halloween.
It was absolutely freezing with a dusting of snow at Grand Canyon and Bryce. There wasn’t snow in Vegas but a very strong, very cold wind and evening temperatures of about 3 Celsius. The wind actually hurt your skin because it bought so much sand with it. I was actually uncomfortable to be outside.
As for the city, that evening I watched a old man holding a yard of cocktail vomit in the street while paying a girl who was shivering in a bikini to pose for a photo with him. Very classy.
F1 in Vegas is going to be an absolute mess. The weather in late autumn is very unpredictable and the city itself is really poorly set up to handle adverse conditions.
Gary
17th April 2023, 7:41
A general admission ticket gives you the right to say you were there.
Derek Edwards
17th April 2023, 1:55
I was really interested in reading about how Ericsson’s mental coach has improved his form, but apparently “I cannot point at this or that reason is why I’m doing better” and “I worked with a mental coach, I worked with my physical coach, I worked with my engineer and the rest of the Ganassi crew to get my car more to the liking, to understand the tyres better. It’s a combination of all those things that makes a difference, I think.” So basically it’s a bit of everything and the mental coach was possibly a factor together with (checks notes) understanding the tyres and setting up the car.
lynn-m
17th April 2023, 12:03
Fixed it.
Jonathan Parkin
17th April 2023, 12:54
Don’t you mean Paradise Car Park GP as this race like the two rounds at Caesars Palace are not actually IN Las Vegas
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
17th April 2023, 12:11
I’m sorry – but that picture from the Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake looks like something from a kinky website.
I mean …. I assume it does …. I wouldn’t know from personal experience or anything!
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
17th April 2023, 13:08
The Virtual Energy Tank graph was a great addition to the WEC races. It really helps understanding the different teams’ strategies, when they will stop, how much energy they are consuming…Very cool staff btw. There was a similar graph in F1 that showed live fuel consumption in 2014 which gave insightful details about the different driving style but I don’t why it was removed.
CarWars (@maxv)
17th April 2023, 14:56
Let’s not forget the existing 500 dollar general admission tickets without track view… just a festival zone. What a useless round, even worse than the races for the fans in the middle east sandbox..
BasCB (@bascb)
18th April 2023, 7:28
Indeed. Their solution will probably be to hire a conference room in one of the hotels /casinos and give fans screens to watch with official merchandise for some 300 USD (there will be screens and “exclusive content” offered as well, I guess)
Mayrton
18th April 2023, 11:42
Yes, I feel it would be fair to exclude Vegas from the world championship competition. In fact, all street circuits should be excluded from the championship, as well as the Sprint races. Liberty can still organise them and monetise them, since they are the only ones in the World that seem to want them, but they should leave the integrity of the competition unharmed. Maybe they can create a separate award for the driver that wins the Mickey Mouse street circuit mini competition (Disney will be eager to sponsor I am sure) within a season. Like a kids section or so.
Simon
17th April 2023, 17:35
Wondering if these fans that aren’t happy about lack of Las Vegas general admission, are the same as those saying more sprint qualifying/race/whatever-theyre-calling-it-this-month is the greatest thing since sliced bread 🤔
Jay
17th April 2023, 22:26
Why sell tickets for $100 when $2000 tickets sell out immediately in a pre-pre-sale? I suspect they’ll increase the price massively next year because of it. It might not be a win for the average fan but for the promoter, his job is only to make as much money as possible, huge success already. And they might even be kicking themselves that they didn’t start with way higher ticket prices.
Huge win for Vegas and Formula1!