In the round-up: Over half of Las Vegas residents polled say they support the city’s new grand prix.
In brief
Las Vegas residents support Grand Prix – poll
Over half of Las Vegas residents surveyed say they support Formula 1’s grand prix remaining there for the next nine years.
F1’s newest race along the city’s famous Strip was held for the first time towards the end of last season. The event has proven controversial locally, with businesses and commuters critical of the disruption to business and traffic caused by setting up the event.
However, a survey of 6,000 local residents by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority revealed 52.8% were in favour of the Las Vegas Grand Prix running until 2032, Fox5 reported
Lower back the “most injured area” for drivers
Max Verstappen’s former trainer, Bradley Scanes, says that drivers are most susceptible to suffering problems with their lower back than other areas of their bodies.Speaking on the Red Flag podcast, Scanes – who has been Verstappen’s trainer for all of his world championship victories – explained the most troublesome areas for drivers on a physical level.
“The lower back – it’s the most injured area in drivers,” Scanes explained.
“So a lot of people think they injure their neck, but they don’t – unless they’re having a crash. They’re well trained athletes. The neck strength builds up as you drive, so after testing and pre-season, you’re pretty much ready to go. But the lower back is dependent on the track, the track surface, whether it’s a street circuit or a normal circuit, how they run in the car – are they running a bit stiffer or not. And that’s the most injured or kind of sore, niggly area for a driver.”
Rowland tops first Diriyah practice
Nissan driver Oliver Rowland set the quickest time in the opening practice session for the Diriyah Eprix in Saudi Arabia ahead of two Formula E races this weekend.
Rowland was a tenth faster than the Penske pair Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne, with world champion Jake Dennis fourth for Porsche. The session was halted when Sebastien Buemi’s Envision stopped on track with a suspected battery fault.
The first of two races in Diriyah takes place today, with the second race in the double-header on Saturday.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Aston Martin achieves ISO 50001 certification (Aston Martin)
'Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team has become the first F1 team to comply with ISO standard 50001 – a globally recognised certification that outlines the requirements for implementing an energy management system. It offers organisations a framework to enhance energy performance. In order to satisfy the standard, Aston Martin Aramco completed three audits over the course of 2023 with the final audit taking place in December 2023. The certificate was issued to the team in January 2024.'
Flying start to Season 10 for Formula E on TV and social media (Formula E)
'The biggest growth in TV audiences came in the US and UK. An all-time high for the US market of 3.4m viewers watched the as-live full race broadcast by long-standing partner CBS on its main network channel, beating the previous high on the same channel for the New York City E-Prix in 2021. In the UK, TV audiences saw a 29% increase on the Mexico race last season as viewers tuned in to the first race broadcast by new TV partner, TNT Sports, with coverage led by new Formula E presenter, Jermaine Jenas.'
Formula 1 and the Rolex 24 At Daytona (IMSA)
'In all, nearly 200 drivers who have started a Formula 1 Grand Prix have also competed in the Rolex 24. As of this coming weekend, the list will include 36 F1 race winners and six world champions – Alonso, Jenson Button, Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, Denis Hulme and Mario Andretti. Button, the 2009 F1 top gun, will compete for the overall win in this year’s Rolex 24 as part of the line-up in Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s No. 40 Acura ARX-06 in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class. Ten other drivers who have raced in F1 are also entered in this year’s Rolex 24: Jack Aitken, Sebastien Bourdais, Gianmaria Bruni, Paul di Resta, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Brendon Hartley, Felipe Massa, Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi.'
Pro cycling needs to learn from Formula 1: Let's see bikes designed just for pros (Cycling News)
'While I doubt that this is a proposal that the UCI will countenance for a second, I think there’s a lot we could gain, both as a sport and as consumers, if the world tour peloton raced on a class of bikes that don’t have to be commercially available. A Formula 1 style, top tier of machines, with rules governing their form changing every few years.'
Update Details (1.42) (Gran Turismo)
A new update for Gran Turismo 7 brings three new cars and fixes a long-running bug to split screen mode.
''It’s definitely taking everything I learned on ‘Top Gun’ and now applying it to the world of Formula 1, which has been an enormous, enormous challenge, but again, I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve been able to capture shooting at the grand prix, developing a whole new camera system, the next generation of what we did here (on ‘Maverick’) and having actors driving real cars on the track.''
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Social media
Notable posts from X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and more:
Great to bring the FIA Geneva office staff together for a pre-season session today along with the Single-Seater Team 2024 planning meeting. A large group of dedicated men and women who contribute greatly across a diverse range of disciplines in making the FIA a global voice for… pic.twitter.com/trCFLW7e1J
— Mohammed Ben Sulayem (@Ben_Sulayem) January 25, 2024
Staying sharp. ⚡️
It's not just the drivers who take on reaction exercises, but also the pit crew. 👊#WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/j4qiHjE5hU
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) January 25, 2024
So cool getting back out on track again with the new @Formula2 car!! Good feeling and work done with @ARTGP. Full send before Bahrain 😈#VictoryLane #EveryDetailCounts #Formula2 pic.twitter.com/P7R3EArsiA
— Victor Martins (@VictorMartinsFR) January 25, 2024
First laps of the 2024 season 🏎️✅ @Formula2 Shakedown in @Circuitcat_es pic.twitter.com/qt9d7ArZbT
— Campos Racing (@CamposRacing) January 24, 2024
The rumors are true #BradPitt here @DAYTONA filming for his new movie #Apex #Apexmovie #Rolex24 pic.twitter.com/S8Zkt8j2MW
— Lanky Turtle (@LankyTurtle) January 25, 2024
Cold but don’t care 🙃 so good being back in an F1 car
今年初のF1,めっちゃ寒かったけどやっぱり速くて楽しい！ pic.twitter.com/FYQikMdWEi— 角田裕毅/Yuki Tsunoda (@yukitsunoda07) January 25, 2024
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
How can IndyCar grow its appeal, like Pato O’Ward believes it can? By leaning into the off-track drama, argues Don…
To the casual fan F1, IndyCars look very similar to each other (almost spec). I don’t think most people really care that an F1 bolt costs $1,000, or most of the engineering aspects.
A big difference between the series is how the politics, backstabbing and drama is promoted. F1 is like a soap opera and gets people interested. IndyCar doesn’t promote its politics.
I’d like to see the series spread its wings to some global locations. Many sponsors don’t want to because of the domestic aspect of their products, but they’d grow also with global sponsors if they did.
Don
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Stealthman and Weasel Chops!
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
26th January 2024, 0:11
So the other half don’t want it?
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
26th January 2024, 1:05
@come-on-kubica
True (or very nearly true anyway). But I find it quite surprising that only a little under half are against. And that figure would include those that don’t really care one way or another, or are against, but not necessarily strongly against. I wonder how many are truly opposed.
Of course stats are what stats are. A quick search reveals a poll (from 2018) that 44% of the French public do not support the Tour de France.
Andre
26th January 2024, 13:24
6000 could easily be a biased sample of people who were interested enough in motor sports to answer the poll. And if so, 52% is not win whatsoever.
anon
26th January 2024, 16:35
Andre, is there not an argument that the sample could have easily been biased in both directions though?
After all, the rather aggressively hostile attitude of some posters on this site suggests that, if they were given the chance to comment, they would do so and use it as an opportunity to show just how hostile they are towards the organisers.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th January 2024, 2:50
You both have a point, I think it will be biased in both directions as well.
Ferdinand
26th January 2024, 6:59
Seems indeed like a too small group to justify its continuation. For things like these a 2/3rd majority seems the proper minimum needed.
notagrumpyfan
26th January 2024, 7:54
So in your democratic beliefs you go with what the minority wants?
Maybe the proud boys can help and storm the LVCA head office to make that happen.
And we don’t even know what the other 47% voted. Maybe they all voted for F1 to increase to twice a year, or they were indifferent.
Maybe people could only vote extend by ten years or increase taxes by $64M annually.
Ferdinand
26th January 2024, 9:17
I love democracy and I understand what you are saying but my argument is that decisions based on 51% kind of leaves out a rather big group of 49%. So if we were to chose between what restaurant we would go, I guess it would work fine. But if you decide on say for instance Brexit or similar matters that have some more importance over shall we colour the car red or blue, I’d rather see some rules stating that 2/3rd is required.
MacLeod (@macleod)
26th January 2024, 13:42
Indeed that is why in the Netherlands to chance foundation Laws you need 2/3 instead of the normal 51-49 rule.
Something like Brexit with far consequences for the people should be 2/3 OR after the 51-49% vote an real mandatory vote with a needed 2/3 so the minority isn’t disavantage by opinions.
SteveP
26th January 2024, 9:18
Maybe they already are doing?
The survey was of “£6,000 residents” and there is no identification of how those residents were selected. It’s quite possible that the people most affected by the race restrictions for the construction, event and takedown didn’t actually get included in the survey.
If they polled all people within a few miles of the circuit, with non-loaded questions and declared a 60-70% in favour, then you’d have a result worth talking about.
It is interesting to note that “Next year, the construction time in preparation for the races will be cut down from nine months to three months”
So, less preparation time.
Perhaps Ferrari should be pushing for a rule change to try to ensure neither of their drivers has a car wrecked by a drain again.
Unless they think the lottery will ‘gift’ that eventuality to another team.
Addme (@dontme)
26th January 2024, 10:33
You do realise that democracy is very much about protecting the constitutional rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority, right? And this poll is completely different, it’s a check for support. No idea why you went all hyperbole with your proud boys example.
notagrumpyfan
26th January 2024, 16:16
Comparing an annual racing event to constitutional rights is an even better example of ‘hyperbole’ :p
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
26th January 2024, 8:00
Really!!! On that basis I would be surprised if many events (not limited to F1) would proceed.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
26th January 2024, 14:17
One question on this. Was the poll carried out by a reputable polling organisation. Or did the people who did it just ask people they know? There is not enough info. to know. I would suggest that 6,000 is not a bad sample size.
52.8% in favour is not a bad result. It means any differing views only got 47.2%. This would be quite a clear result in an election/referendum. It’s a result with a margin of more than 5% which I think is a reasonable measure.
I think 2/3rds is quite a difficult threshold to meet for any decision like this. 60/40 does have more merit I think.
Alan Dove
26th January 2024, 15:04
The poll comes from from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority who are part of the organisation of the event – https://press.lvcva.com/news-releases/formula-1-will-race-in-las-vegas-from-2023/s/766a27f9-57f8-48a2-a369-74ffeaf98e0f
SteveP
26th January 2024, 16:20
…and, when you skip backward to find the press releases page of which your quoted link is a somewhat elderly example, the reader will discover no press releases since the 5th of January. Nothing about a survey.
I think people questioning the figures would like to see the source material and then make a decision about how biased (or not) the questions were and the surveyed population demohraphic
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
26th January 2024, 0:13
How legitimate are the formula e figures noted in the article? I can’t believe it.
S
26th January 2024, 2:38
They’re no less reliable than F1 figures…
KaIIe (@kaiie)
26th January 2024, 7:20
There’s an asterisk in the actual article; the television figures count everyone who tuned into the CBS broadcast for a minimum of 1 minute.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
26th January 2024, 4:48
I have no idea where Formula E has got those figures from but i cannot see them been accurate.
The US figure for example is around 1m more than the highest number of viewers F1 got for a race last year and puts it above every other category apart from NASCAR.
Even the UK number seems odd as given how few people were watching it on FTA channels i can’t see them getting a 29% bump going to a subscription channel.
Ferdinand
26th January 2024, 7:00
I sure hope the FIA staff discussed boundaries as to which extent a sport can become monetised / entertainment. Otherwise their purpose of governing it seems obsolete.
notagrumpyfan
26th January 2024, 7:59
A bit moot to discuss that knowing they sold the commercial rights for about a century.
anon
26th January 2024, 8:38
Ferdinand, what you are asking the FIA to do there would also constitute a breach of anti-monopoly regulations – the FIA is legally bound to only act as a regulatory authority and is not permitted to manipulate the commercial value of the series that it organises.
Craig
26th January 2024, 12:58
Considering the general propaganda around the Las Vegas race to make it out as the single greatest sporting spectacle of all time ever I’ll take any poll with a year’s worth of salt.
tielemst
26th January 2024, 14:22
They probably had a red square and a black square to vote, and something like “play for free!!” in the header of this poll?
Coventry Climax
26th January 2024, 17:39
Oh and by the way, the vast majority of the residents surveyed also voted for reverse grid, a 100% street circuits and sprint races only.
Nick T.
27th January 2024, 5:59
Considering one minute of viewing is all it took for Formula E to count a person as a viewer, I’m highly skeptical of their newfound ratings “success.”
Craig
27th January 2024, 12:58
Welcome to the world of statistics, something used by all sport not just Formula E (if such stats were available (they probably exist but I can hardly confirm it) I’d be curious to see what the starting viewership and ending viewership was of any random F1 race)