Why F1 is spending $240m on a Las Vegas construction plot

It might not have been a perfectly smooth weekend, but the Miami Grand Prix was a huge success for Formula 1.

The crowds came, the place was thronged with more A-listers than we’ve ever seen at one event, and in the end we had a decent race, helped by a late safety car that livened things up.

It was another important step in the sport’s bid to have a stronger presence in the USA in the wake of the huge success of Drive to Survive.

“The verdict is a thumbs-up,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told Motorsport.com after the flag. “I think generally speaking it’s amazing, what we are living, and the success.

“You see all the people that were here? Honestly, I’ve never seen so many requests. Everyone wanted to be here. From the big perspective it has been amazing. Nine months ago there was nothing here.

“We will have as always a good debrief to see the details of the things, but that’s part of the normal process. But they did an incredible job. Everyone was talking already, when will we have Las Vegas? One more year!”

The success of the Miami race was especially sweet for F1 because it came just a few weeks after the announcement of the Las Vegas event, to be held for the first time in November 2023. Indeed many key players from Nevada who are supporting the project were present as guests in Miami, seeing F1 up close for themselves.

The race around the Hard Rock Stadium was a new departure for F1, as its promotion was a joint venture with Stephen Ross and the Miami Dolphins, or more specifically South Florida Motorsports, the organisation set up to actually run it.

Las Vegas will be another step. The city and the casinos that line the track are on board as partners, but its promotion is the responsibility of F1 itself, in conjunction with Liberty subsidiary Live Nation. F1 has in turn set up a standalone company to actually run the Vegas event, and some staff have already been transferred across.

The Vegas plans…