LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Las Vegas will yet again become the capital of the racing world for a weekend when Formula 1 takes over the Strip from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23.
While the circuit remains the same, this year's F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix isn't identical to 2023's inaugural race. Differences include F1 storylines like the Constructors Cup and circumstances affecting locals like construction.
Channel 13's Nick Walters sat down with Silvia Bellot, VP of sporting and race operations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. They discuss what's new in the race's second rendition, how locals have embraced F1 this year, ticket prices, and what to look out for on race night.
Watch full interview here
NW: Rev your engines! I don't know about you, but I'm ready to see some race cars fly down the Las Vegas Strip at over 200 miles per hour for the second straight year. I'm joined by Silvia Bellot, the Vice President of Racing and Sporting for the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Thank you so much for being here, Silvia.
SB: Thank you.
NW: We’re all wondering. So what's different between year one and year two for your team at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix?
SB: We've got very, very amazing news for this year. Obviously, we took all the learnings from 2023, our inaugural race, and we're bringing more track activity this year. We're going to have support series in addition to Formula 1. We're going to have more action on track, not just on Saturday, the race day, but also Thursday and Friday, which gives much more content to our viewers here in Las Vegas. We should expect the first race to happen on Friday. So, earlier than the last year, and this is a great content also because they are shorter races, spring races, which means that everything happens much faster and is much more active than maybe a longer race from F1 that is much more based on the strategy. In addition to that, we've got new ticketing options for everyone who wants to join our race, starting with $150 if they decide to come just for one day. And then it goes up to $600. It's the lowest price if they want to do the three days. We also have a fun experience for those who want to join during the day on Friday and Saturday. I've got a bit of bad news. We've been sold out. So, that's amazing. We've been sold out. But we're going to have a fan fest opposite side of Wynn on Friday, on Saturday during the day from 10 to 6 p.m. We will have activities where families and kids will be able to get closer to Formula 1 and learn more about our sport.
NW: Awesome. A lot of stuff to look forward to. But unless you're the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, there's always going to be some bumps and bruises in the first year. Some surprises at least. What do you think F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix learned from that inaugural race?
SB: The first thing that we learned is how to set up such an amazing race like we had. People think that it's easy to set up a race like this. Most of the races in the F1 calendar are based on already-established circuits. So we've got a very limited number of street circuits. Also, the ones that they are around, they are not based downtown like it is Las Vegas Street Circuit. Closing Las Vegas Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in the world, it was a challenge in itself. It was amazing. And I say to everyone when I talk about our racetrack that this could not happen anywhere else other than Las Vegas. We’ve got some of the best companies that can make this build process happen. We also have the best entertainment in the world, in terms of shows, music, but also in sports. And all of these just can happen in Las Vegas. So we took a lot of the learnings from year one. We apply them in year two at different levels on the trackside as well to our fans. As I said, new ticketed options and also on the build process that we're making it much smoother this year. And I hope that the people here in Las Vegas already can see that.
NW: Absolutely. Well, construction is going to start really ramping up with the racetrack. What do Vegas locals need to know about maybe what's different about the lead-up to the race this year compared to last?
SB: You're correct. We already started with the track build. We started on the Harmon area. And then we're going to keep moving through Caesars Palace, Sands, and obviously Las Vegas Boulevard at the end. The most important thing that we have to communicate to the people is that we've got a really, really good website that we've been working on. It's transportation.f1lasvegasgp.com. They can have all the information regarding the closings. We've got the brochures where we're working every day. And it's great. It's updated on a weekly basis. And all the information is there. We've got a messaging system where people can just basically sign on and they receive all the updates in English and Spanish. And one of the bigger learnings we had from last year as well is that we're going to do most of the work at night. We already started, as I said, in Harmon. And as most of the people can appreciate, obviously, it's working much smoother than last year, which is something that we learned from last year. And hopefully people can appreciate that.
NW: I’m sure that the transportation app is going to be a big help to many people, especially those people who happen to work on the Strip. But just like any race, between year to year, there's always different storylines. And a storyline for this year may end up being at the Constructors Championship. You have Red Bull in the lead, then McLaren and Ferrari. How does that add a different wrinkle to this year's race?
SB: I think it's amazing for our race. As you all said, last year Red Bull and Max Verstappen, they were leading the championship. It was decided already by the time they arrived here. That's right. But now it's so, so tight on the Constructors' Championship that it's just eight points between Red Bull and McLaren. Red Bull made a few mistakes during the season, and McLaren has been in the podium during most of the races. So that's bringing another level of excitement for our race. Probably we're going to have one or both championships decided around Las Vegas time. So hopefully we can celebrate these in our Grand Prix. Also, the championship for the drivers is not decided. We've seen Charles Leclerc winning in Monaco in his home race. We saw him winning in Monza a few days before with all the Tifosi being able to celebrate at home. We saw the ninth victory of Lewis Hamilton in Silverstone. So I think the season has been amazing, and I'm sure there's much more surprises that are still to come.
And I can't wait what we're going to be seeing in Vegas this year. It was amazing last year, but I can't wait and see how good a race we're going to have.
NW: When you look at races, events, and even sports teams across the globe, when a team or an event is put into a new city, it takes some time for the community, for the town to really embrace that event. We saw that last year where it's not like all locals just embraced the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix right when it was announced. But by the time race night came and they got to see what it was like, a lot more people started getting behind it. So in year two, what have you seen, just how locals have treated the race differently? Because I know there's been some ticket giveaways. And again, 25,000 tickets for that race day event being sold out. What has the difference been like?
SB: We know that we've got great fans here within the community. As you said, Formula 1 is reasonably new here in the States. Liberty Media acquired F1 in 2017. Then we've got what we call the “Drive to Survive boom” here in the United States where we reach many more homes. We also see that the demographic change. We’ve got younger people involved. We've got 40% of our fans are women. So we've seen all these changes. And here, specifically in Las Vegas, we can see that the locals want to get more and more involved. This year, we had the marshals local program. So basically, we opened applications for those people who wanted to be part of the race, wanted to join the marshals that take care of the safety of the race. And we had 3,600 applications, much more than what we expected. So we’re going to be continuing with the training in the next few months. And the locals now are going to be part of the marshal team and will be able to see the cars and the drivers from just behind the barriers. So we could see that we're getting much more attention from the locals, as you said, on the fan experience, also buying some of the tickets, and now also on the marshaling program. So I can wait to see what we've got in the near future. But I can see a very bright future for the locals also being involved in this race.
NW: I know for a lot of the F1 fans, a storyline out there that they're going to be watching very closely are those two big-name racers. They’re going to be changing teams in the upcoming year with Carlos Sainz and, of course, Lewis Hamilton. As someone who works for the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, how does that storyline alter the race on game day?
SB: Yeah, so for us, what we call in motorsport the silly season, when everybody starts changing teams and we've got so many rumors about who is going to go where, I think the change from Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari was completely unexpected. An equivalent for NFL will be like when Tom Brady just decided to leave the Patriots. So it was a humongous change. It was a huge change that no one was expecting. Everybody thought that he will retire in Mercedes. So I can wait and see how that' s going to change next year, how it's going to change the dynamic of the team and also see what Lewis can achieve with Ferrari. As you all said, also Carlos is moving from Ferrari to Williams, which I think is going to be a very interesting change as well. Williams have been progressing during the season and I'm sure they're going to have really, really good results in 2025. And we also have three rookies coming next year. I'm sure they're going to be very successful in Mercedes. We're going to have Kimi Räikkönen replacing Lewis Hamilton. We re going to have also Oli Bergman in Haas. And then we're going to have Jack Doohan in Alpine. So we've got quite a few movements. We've got right now just two more openings in Stake and Visage Cup. And that's what we're waiting for. The rest of the seats are already taken. And I can’t wait to see how 2025 is going to look as well.
NW: Any Las Vegas locals got to see the inaugural race. I was fortunate enough to be there. And I think what stands out about this race so much, outside of the talented drivers, what happens on the track is the atmosphere. The skyline, the sphere, the nighttime ambiance of everything. It's one of a kind, really. So is there any changes coming up? I mean, just with the neon lights out there?
SB: So the track is going to look pretty similar than last year. We've still got 17 corners, two DRS zones. As you know, we're going through iconic areas of the city, including our new building, Grand Prix Plaza, the Sphere Zone, and then obviously Las Vegas Boulevard, as we already announced. The track itself is going to look pretty much the same as last year. I'll expect changes also in the teams reacting now that they know the track. We've got some knowledge from last year, including the teams, and that it will be very interesting in terms of the strategy. We also have a new lineup in terms of entertainment for the concerts that we' re going to have at Sphere. We've got OneRepublic, Ludacris, and Alesso. And basically, the race itself is amazing. But also what's happening behind the grandstands, all the activations and the concerts we’re going to have, I think they're amazing for the fans here in Las Vegas.
NW: I know so many of our viewers are excited to see the second go of this thing. It should be a spectacle for the eyes. Is there anything you wanted to announce? Maybe what locals should know if there is not already something announced that they might not know about transportation, about ticketing, about free events for fans? On race days? Anything like that?
SB: Like I said, we’re going to have an amazing show. We already sold out in the fan experience that is going to take place on the airway we call Wind West on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. We've got support series, as I said. Ferrari Challenge is joining us to give more content on the track. And basically, we have a few changes on the schedule. Last year, we started quite late during the day. This year, we're starting two hours earlier. But the Formula 1 race is going to be on Friday. It’s going to be at 10 p.m. on Saturday night. So, the fans here in Las Vegas and also around the world cannot miss it because I have no doubt this is going to be again the best race in the F1 calendar.
NW: I can't wait to see it. I can't wait to be there. I know so many of our viewers can't wait to see it on TV or for themselves right there in the grandstand. So, Silvia, thanks so much for being here. We can't wait.
SB: Thank you so much.
For more information on F1, Channel 13 has created a page for all things race weekend.
