Word on the street is the Formula One race in Las Vegas - happening this weekend - is struggling to attract a full paying crowd. Tickets to the race weekend are discounted on the secondary market, while hotels rooms are cheap and widely available. We have exactly one person to blame for this: three times Formula One World Champion, Maxwell Verstappen.
Is there even interest in the 2023 F1 season at the point? Verstappen - and his Red Bull team - wrapped up the championship many races ago. I’ve certainly stopped following the series closely since then. When there’s literally no stakes in a race, of course people are wont to tune out. And because Red Bull is the most dominant car, the suspense of who can win a Grand Prix is gone as well. Max is a generational talent in a generationally great car, that is for certain. However, that combination does not make for interesting races to spectate.
It seems the promotor of the Las Vegas race (Formula One Management itself, oddly enough. Race promotors are typically third-party) underestimated the overall interest level. The scheduling gods did the race no favors: by scheduling it at the tail-end of the calendar, it risks having a race with nothing to fight for. Fans all want championships to go right until the final race of the season, but that’s not all that common. In the recent decade, I can only remember it happening twice: Rosberg vs. Hamilton 2013, and the controversial Hamilton vs. Verstappen in 2021.
A brand new race - third race in the United States this year - with nothing on the line is not a good recipe for commercial success. Never mind the superbly high prices FOM is charging. Sure, the ultra rich can buy premium packages with white-glove service. Plebs like me on the other hand aren’t willing to suffer through horrendous travel logistics and the high costs (tickets and hotel) just to watch a procession. I bet the current situation would be completely different if the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend is a potential championship decider.
Four more days until yet another Verstappen victory.
Lofty dreams.