In the round-up: The Las Vegas Grand Prix promoters will release additional general admission tickets for November’s inaugural event but they will not offer a view of the race.
Show which drivers and teams you are supporting
Which F1 drivers and teams are you supporting this season? Here's how you can show your support for your favourite on the grid on RaceFans:
- Log in with your RaceFans account (sign up here if you don't have one)
- Select Edit My Profile from the top-right menu
- Select F1 Teams and Drivers
- Make your selections then click Save Changes
In brief
Las Vegas GP to offer tickets without view of track
The limited number of general admission tickets for the Las Vegas Grand Prix have sold out. While the promoter intends to offer more, these additional tickets will not give buyers a view of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit during the race, instead giving access to a “watch party” nearby.
“We were unfortunately only able to accommodate a limited number of on-track general admission (GA) tickets for the inaugural race,” the promoter said in a statement supplied to RaceFans. “All 1,800 of these GA tickets were made available for purchase during both of our on-sale periods, which included all pre-sales and the public on-sale and have sold out due to extremely high demand.
“Although not on-track, we do expect tickets to be made available later this year for a one-of-a kind watch party on the iconic Las Vegas Strip. This event will allow fans to enjoy the excitement of race weekend, together with live music and entertainment acts from celebrated artists, at a cost-effective price point.
“Details of this experience will be made available in the coming months, and, with respect to future race years, we remain committed to exploring opportunities to create additional on-track GA tickets.”
Wolff “couldn’t wish for better support” from shareholders
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says the team have “so much support” from team shareholders Ola Kallenius from Mercedes Benz and Sir Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos.Mercedes have endured a second successfully disappointing start to an F1 season, well behind rivals Red Bull who have dominated the first two rounds. But Wolff says the pair continue to offer unwavering support.
“The people in charge in Mercedes and in Ineos, they are high performance individuals – be it in the core business or in sports,” Wolff said.
“We have all been through downs and ups and there is so much support from them in order to get us back on track. Neither Jim nor Ola or all the others that are associated with this – you couldn’t wish for better support.”
Rules tweaks for 2023 made cars “tricker” – Magnussen
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen says that 2023 cars are “trickier” to driver after aerodynamic rules were modified in a bid to curb porpoising.
The FIA tweaked rules governing ride heights and car floors for 2023 to try and reduce the level of porpoising drivers experienced in the new ground effect cars last year. Magnussen says they may have also affected handling and the ability of cars to follow closely.
“I think that the cars have become a little trickier this year with the tweaks that that there was to the rules and the floor,” said Magnussen. “They’re a little more sensitive in a few areas like wind – when you get a gust of wind, you can feel that a little more, in traffic with dirty air and stuff like that. So, there are definitely weaknesses that we’re working on.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Toto Wolff admits Mercedes are struggling without input of late F1 legend Niki Lauda (Mirror)
"Niki's missed all those years because Niki always simplified things to really what mattered. I'm having to think what would he have said, and how would he have positioned (things), and the two of us worked well together in that sense that sometimes oversimplification can lead you straight to the results."
Read every word of ex-Minardi owner Paul Stoddart's fascinating Beyond The Grid interview (F1)
"Fernando Alonso finished in 12th place and I came off the pit wall thinking, 'wow, you know, we got here' and I walked in and I saw all these people crying in the garage. And I'm sort of looking at them and I'm saying, 'what are you crying for? You know, we finished'. And they are crying from pride. Nobody, nobody thought we could ever do that, but we did."
F1 boss urged to correct ‘false’ Bahrain Grand Prix protest claims (Independent)
Lord Scriven: "As Formula One shared the Bahraini Government’s false claim with the media, Formula One has a responsibility to correct that, and to speak out against the arrests given Formula One’s position is that ‘individuals should be allowed to protest against and criticise our events without intimidation or reprisals and we seek and obtain assurances where necessary’."
Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner Ready NASCAR TV Challenge (Autoweek)
"I don’t know what I was thinking, I should be doing nothing but instead I’m going to another raceI looked at the calendar and said, ‘How do I explain this to my wife?’"
'My F1 career ended when I was 23 years old - but I accept fate was out of my control' (Daily Star)
"In my second year with Sauber I scored all the points but still did not get the seat the following year. That is just what life is sometimes. I accepted it. I was not too disappointed in the end. I think the performance was there but I never had a car that was super competitive and I was never able to consistently score points."
David Brabham set for 'lump-in-throat drive' of dad Jack's BT19 (Motor Sport)
"The car will be the crown jewel of the antipodean answer to Goodwood, the Adelaide Motor Sport Festival. Though this automotive jamboree will see over 200 classic F1 machines, competition cars and exotic road-going examples roar through Victoria Park over two days, the feted BT19 will be upheld as the ultimate in Aussie motor sport: an Australian champion driver, an Australian team’s car and an Australian engine, created by the powerfully practical design duo of Ron Tauranac and Brabham."
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.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Encouraged by the hard work from everyone at the team to push us forwards. We are giving it everything 👊🧡 https://t.co/W4ILD6c5qH
— Oscar Piastri (@OscarPiastri) March 23, 2023
Alex Palou had a lot to fit in whilst in the UK. 🇬🇧
Find out what our 2023 F1 Reserve Driver got up to during a busy 24-hour visit to the MTC. 👇
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 24, 2023
Always representing 🤝🏳️🌈
🇧🇷 Brazil is ranked as one of the most equal countries in regard to LGBTQ+ rights, and is home to the world's largest Pride celebration.#SaoPauloEPrix | @MaseratiCorse pic.twitter.com/xjvxQoP7xg
— Maserati MSG Racing (@maseratimsg) March 24, 2023
Thank you @SChecoPerez and @redbullracing for recording a very special get well message a few days ago. Wholesome content 🙏 pic.twitter.com/gWOZ7C3K6m
— Sean Kelly (@virtualstatman) March 23, 2023
.@F1LasVegas says it sold out of $500 GA tickets for this year, and it only put 1,800 on sale due to potential space constraints @MSGSphere, per source.
🔲 There'll be a second GA area, a festival zone with 30K tickets for less than $500 but without track views, in a few months. pic.twitter.com/nggRgx6tza
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) March 24, 2023
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
With Carlos Sainz Jnr having no time for complaints over Red Bull’s apparent domination of F1, @drycrust shares the Ferrari driver’s views
I like Carlos’s perspective. F1 is also a technology race, so the onus is upon all the other teams to catch up. We don’t want rules that will slow Red Bull down. It is sort of ironic that the teams which were closest to Red Bull last year, Ferrari and Mercedes, also have the least amount of aerodynamic testing time (after Red Bull) with which to try and catch Red Bull.
When we look at the way Mercedes dominated F1 from 2014 through to 2021, I have to suspect Red Bull will continue to dominate the podium places for the next few years. It is the responsibility of all the other teams to improve their cars so they can catch Red Bull.
Stephen Crowsen
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Guilherme Teixeira, Marc and Thomas Lindgren!
SteveR (@stever)
25th March 2023, 0:30
I’m a Yank and am disgusted by this Las Vegas race. What a farce, with ticket prices, room rates, and even tickets to a race you don’t get to see. Stay home and, if you have to watch it, do so on TV. This whole thing is an embarrassing money grub. At 1:00 am on the east coast of the U.S.
Michael
25th March 2023, 14:15
Formula E at Battersea Park in London was similar. GA got you into the fan park with Big Screens and was the site of the podium presentation.
danarcha (@danarcha)
25th March 2023, 1:33
It’s so crazy this race is happening in the United States and for those of us on Eastern US time, it will take place at a more inconvenient time than if the race were being held in Europe or even the Middle East! How did they mess this up so badly?
Jere (@jerejj)
25th March 2023, 5:56
@danarcha The timing is solely about European viewers & besides, 01:00 on a Sunday is less inconvenient than the same time (or hour range) on Monday as is the case with, for example, East & Southeast Asia for the daylight North American, Sao Paulo, & Saudi Arabian GP, with the Bahrain GP also thereabouts.
MaddMe (@)
25th March 2023, 8:29
@jerejj @danarcha The race time is so that they can race down the strip and show the lights of the strip, making it more about the show.
This race just appears to be all about the glitz of Vegas rather than the racing.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th March 2023, 9:07
Racing under artificial lightning is generally about that, but 22:00, specifically, is about the Europe audience.
@maddme
petebaldwin (@)
25th March 2023, 11:04
Definitely. The race starts as 6am in the UK so people can watch it – any earlier and they’d start to quickly lose viewing figures.
They’ll change whatever they can to accommodate this race but they won’t be willing to upset Sky.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
26th March 2023, 7:32
Aot of F1 fans are fortunate.
We about the 153 degree east meridian are pretty much condemned to 1-2 AM winter Monday morning races. We’re very adaptable.
AntonLivous
25th March 2023, 2:11
Good for you Brazil. You’re also home to one of the highest wealth gaps, zero economic mobility, and packs of homeless children sleeping in the streets, hoping to steal some food the next day. But good job on the LGBTQ+ thing. Accepting someone’s lifestyle is much more important than people dying of poverty while your elite class can’t even spend all their money.
Sumedh
25th March 2023, 2:16
Wait, they had only 1800 tickets? The race has only 1800 spectators?
SteveR (@stever)
25th March 2023, 2:19
1800 tickets without a view of the track…… Definitely worth the price!
Hosford90
25th March 2023, 3:24
No. 1800 GA tickets.
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
25th March 2023, 2:55
Is GA an endangered species?
Montreal is wonderful – if you’re in a grandstand – but unless you’re one of a couple hundred people there when the gates open its a bust. It once was great for GA. Even walking the course is becoming impossible.
At least the stands are priced rationally. See you at the hairpin!
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
25th March 2023, 4:43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr66HApuhXI
New Villeneuve Pironi documentary.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th March 2023, 6:02
I wonder what happened to Sean Kelly?
Regarding COTD, I agree in principle. The onus is indeed upon other teams to catch up & any rule changing to hinder a team that does well would be wrong, as success should never get punished.
Ferrari & Mercedes have the next least aero testing time makes catching up harder for them than AM with the 4th-most presently. Mercedes wasn’t dominating even slightly in 2021 anymore.
Still, their consecutive success streak shows RB will likely enjoy successive success through at least the remaining PU & aero rule cycle.
BasCB (@bascb)
26th March 2023, 20:30
I think he had some kind of issue with his back @jerejj – he got in hospitald due to it.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
25th March 2023, 6:17
I guess this is just evidence that F1 is appealing to people beyond fans of the sport. What genuine fan of F1 or any motorsport for that matter would pay for entry not to see cars trackside? Especially in the current economic climate… it seems utterly bizarre. But I guess there are some rich people out there who can afford pointless things just to get on the hype train…
Jordan (@hunkulese)
26th March 2023, 20:16
It depends on the setup and the price. Organized outdoor watch parties for big events usually have an even better atmosphere than the actual event.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
25th March 2023, 6:20
We’re increasingly going to see races where tickets purchased model is not going to be a main revenue source or the event. Domenicali is building a house of cards here.
raddie (@raddie)
25th March 2023, 7:06
“Without view of race.” – What greater stupidity can Americans come up with?
Anonymous
25th March 2023, 7:15
The FIA should target Red Bull. Early 00s Ferrari and early 10s Red Bull’s reigns were both shorter than they could’ve been and interrupted by competitive seasons (2003 and 2012) because the FIA went after the leading team. They should’ve been more aggressive in weakening Mercedes during the turbo hybrid era. F1 is both a constructor’s and driver’s championship, and this should be respected, but part of respecting this is not letting the constructor’s championship ruin the driver’s championship for long periods of time. This wasn’t much of a problem in the 80s and 90s when the driver market was far more fluid, but now it means potential WDC drivers like Ricciardo, Leclerc, and Norris waste huge portions of their career in subpar machinery while Lewis and Max rack up massive win totals. Hopefully the CFD restrictions and cost cap will resolve this on their own, but if Red Bull can win thirteen races more than everyone else spending 400k (even 1.8 mil depending on how you view it) more than they’re allotted this probably isn’t the case. Alonso’s WDCs are the only without the influence of Brawn or Newey since Senna in 1991; it’s silly to let eighteen drivers waste their careers for their sake.
All that being said I think this is something the FIA needs to do between seasons and not during them for the sake of perception. Off season rules changes are much easier to defend and look much less desperate than in-season rule changes, arbitrary or not.
MacLeod (@macleod)
27th March 2023, 8:08
Increasing was in RB favour which i already thought last year as Newey is good with high rack cars combining with groundeffect what were they thinking by listening to Mercedes.
Ferrari lost it’s racing speed by eating his tyre and Mercedes need a low floor height …..
some racing fan
25th March 2023, 7:20
Man. I am disgusted by this Las Vegas race. As an American I want to put a bag with eyeholes over my head. If anyone needed further convincing to not go to this scam of a race, look no further.
SteveP
25th March 2023, 7:48
Will I think you might want to edit this bit:
Mercedes have endured a second successive disappointing start to an F1 season,
Unless you were suggesting they deliberately aimed to have a disappointing start
petebaldwin (@)
25th March 2023, 10:58
This should be called the Liberty GP as it seems to be everything they want the show to be… I hope it fails miserably and it gets the pushback it deserves from those silly enough to be conned into paying to attend.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
25th March 2023, 11:22
+ 1. They are raising the prospect of Atlantic City as well now. F1 doesn’t need 4 races in the US. It fact it doesn’t need 3.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
25th March 2023, 14:06
Saudis seem pretty confident of Jeddah staying and Qiddiya being added as a second additional GP.
petebaldwin (@)
25th March 2023, 18:13
I’d be surprised if that didn’t happen to be honest. 1st race of the season at Jeddah and the final race at Qiddiya.
Broccoliface
25th March 2023, 11:34
Did they specify a price for said “fanzone” tickets? If it was like £20 it’d not be too bad an idea, aping the international football tournament model.
But it’s going to be like £400 isn’t it?
Dex
25th March 2023, 13:49
This is the future of F1. Sadly, this is the future generally. I could live without F1, but everything is getting crazy these days. Crazy, overpriced and under-delivered. What’s next, radio broadcast only for 1000 bucks a year, 50k for video stream, 500 for a photo from a race (low-res, random scene)? Forget about it. Some strange kids will be paying to be seen there, but for how long can F1 keep their interest in these events? There’s always the next thing. Current strategy seems to be max income short term over bigger income long term, with steady growth. Then sell the rights before the balloon explodes.
playstation361
26th March 2023, 18:16
So much in Las Vegas.
Okay. Its party time.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
27th March 2023, 6:25
Should just stick to medicine. Seems highly unethical.