F1 vows better preparation for 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Added: May 31, 2024

In response to the local outrage that followed the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix last year, Formula 1 has pledged quicker and more effective event preparations this time around.

Brian Yost, COO of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, which co-sponsors the Las Vegas Grand Prix, stated:

“We will not be going through the same level of disruption we went through last year in terms of the track build.”

The off-Strip casino Ellis Island filed a $50K lawsuit in April in response to the F1’s conversion of the busiest tourist corridor in the US into a private racecourse. Six businesses also uploaded a Change.org petition earlier this month, alleging they lost $30 million in income as a result of the F1 action. With 2,702 signatures so far, the petition requests that Clark County refuse F1 a special use permit to restrict roadways for the race until a reasonable and unobtrusive strategy can be developed to organize this event without closing the Las Vegas Strip.

The majority of the $1.5 billion boost to the Las Vegas economy that the race last year brought was said to have gone to Formula One and multibillion-dollar gambling corporations, who were more likely to distribute the income to their senior executives than to the employees who worked on the casino floor. While this was going on, hundreds of thousands of visitors and casino workers lost time and money as numerous off-Strip casinos, over a dozen small businesses inside the circuit, and Las Vegas Boulevard was closed for over six months due to F1 preparations. Yost additionally pledged that greater information would be distributed before to this year’s event regarding measures to reduce the disturbance caused by the race, such as alternate routes.

Yost elaborated:

“This year, that communication will be even further enhanced. Whether it’s to the general public, whether it’s to the hotel visitors, whether it’s to the employees, the over 120,000 men and women that work up and down Las Vegas Boulevard, we will make sure that word is out.”

The engagement of numerous casinos, such as Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts, and Wynn Resorts, means that the race has the financial resources to increase its efficiency in year two, according to Emily Prazer, chief commercial officer of Formula 1.

Prazer added:

“My take on it is we’ve kind of proven the logistics side of it. Now we need to shorten the time of which it takes us to build things, which we’re working on — again with the support of everyone here. My take on it is we’ve kind of proven the logistics side of it.”

The 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix will take place November 21-23 and feature a Saturday night race, as it did in 2023.

Formula 1