Did Formula One miss out on the memo that it will be extremely cold during the Las Vegas GP because it is too busy making profits?
Las Vegas GP might be more of a profit fountain rather than a classic Formula One Grand Prix for Liberty Media.
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As the Formula One Management is gearing up for the greatest show that the entire motorsports community has ever seen, several problems have sprung up over the last few months. With the 3.8 mile length of the Las Vegas Strip getting ready to turn into the race circuit, the people started complaining about the road blocks that were erected. This goes to show that, while the Las Vegas GP might turn out to be a big spectacle, it has already proven to be a big nuisance for the local shopowners and casino managers.
The businesses which flank the sides of the Las Vegas Strip have suffered a massive loss due to the road blocks since no customers can even reach those shops. But the troubles posed by the Las Vegas GP have gone beyond affecting the local people now. The race is expected to be a massive hurdle for all the Formula One racers too since it is slated to be the coldest F1 Grand Prix in history. The temperatures during the race might drop to as low as 5 degree celsius (41°F).
It is well known that severely low temperatures can cause the Pirelli tires to fail to warm up. And the Las Vegas circuit does not have too many high-G corners, so it will be difficult for the racers to get the tires to warm up to get more friction and better grip. This has led to several people asking questions as to why the FIA and the FOM did not consider the low temperatures in Las Vegas while scheduling the race there. And the most probable answer to this is that the big corporations have neglected the troubles of the local people and the drivers to only focus on the profits that the Las Vegas race would rake in.
What is the sky-high amount of profit that Liberty Media are expecting to get out of Las Vegas GP?
A few years ago, the Drive to Survive series on Netflix turned out to be a massive hit and did wonders to make F1 a household name in the United States. Ever since then, the FIA started recognizing the growing interest of the Americans in the pinnacle of motorsports. And they decided to cash in on this opportunity to start the Miami Grand Prix, and subsequently, the Las Vegas Grand Prix. With the race in the Sin City being touted as the most expensive F1 GP in history, the profit numbers being associated with it are simply mind-boggling.
Liberty Media, the corporation that owns Formula 1, seem to be pooling all their efforts to make the Heineken Silver Las Vegas GP into a race that scripts history. According to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the economical impact of the first-ever race in the Sin City will be worth an eye-watering $1.3 billion. This is twice the amount of money that is involved in hosting the Super Bowl, which is the biggest celebration of American football in the US.
With such a huge sum of money being dealt with, it can be very well said that the FIA and FOM are too focused on making profits from Las Vegas GP. And perhaps, that is why they never realized that drivers will have to go to extreme lengths just to get the tires to warm up before even starting the race. Even the current F1 Champion Max Verstappen has claimed that the Las Vegas race might turn out to be more of an entertainment extravaganza than an actual Grand Prix. It remains to be seen if his prediction turns out to be true.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)