F1 and Las Vegas Were Made For Each Other

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Formula One and Las Vegas are a perfect match. Both are fast, flashy, dangerous, and rich, filled with adrenaline junkies risking life-altering defeat in hopes of winning more. The thrill of F1 is based in part on the spectacle of these sleek cars going impossible miles an hour for hundreds of laps, and nobody does spectacle better than the Las Vegas Strip. Put an F1 race directly on that strip—like the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is held every November—and you’ve got an unforgettable experience unlike anything else. And all it takes to really experience it is an incredible amount of money.

If you’re unfamiliar with how F1 races work, know that the Vegas Grand Prix isn’t a one-day affair. If you want to experience everything happening in town during race weekend, plan to be in town by Thursday afternoon, and don’t expect to leave until Sunday. Practices start on Thursday, with qualifying races on Friday, and the main event—the Grand Prix itself—happens late on Saturday night. It’s a solid three nights of automotive action for the discerning F1 aficionado—whether they’re veteran race fans or novices swept up in the heat of the moment.

If you’re a diehard F1 follower—or just want to get as close to the action as possible—the Paddock Club is the place to be. With grandstand seats right above Pit Lane, where cars swoop in for lightning-fast tire changes and other tune-ups during the race, the Paddock Club offers gourmet food, exquisite cocktails, a variety of interactive experiences, and a perfect view of one of the most dramatic stretches of the track. You can even arrange to tour a garage of one of the race teams, seeing their cars up close and watching their pit crew in action.

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In the days before the race at the most recent Grand Prix, pit crews ran their practice drills in the paddock, seeing how fast they could swap out a car’s tires. Eight seconds weren’t good enough; seven was passable. Blisteringly fast, exorbitantly expensive, these cars are also impossibly light; as they’d pull into the pit a crew member would smoothly scoop the car up by its nose in one quick motion with a tool shaped like a shovel.

F1 Las Vegas

The fastest cars (and mechanics) on the planet aren’t the only reason to visit Vegas during F1 weekend. During the whole week the entire city is filled with unique opportunities and exciting experiences, from one-night-only shows and DJ performances, to one of the single greatest concentrations of celebrity chefs the world has ever seen. At Hell’s Kitchen outside Caesars Palace guests could pay $250 a plate to eat Beef Wellington in the company of Gordon Ramsey. Surprisingly polite and gracious, he circulated throughout the room and greeted every table during last year’s event, and spent a half-hour posing for individual photos with a long line of guests.

Down the street from Caesars, in front of the Bellagio’s iconic fountain, sat two long, temporary buildings—two identical mirror images right on top of the Strip. The Bellagio Fountain Club hosted three days of celebrity chefs with a front row view of the race. From its seats and its rooftop bars guests had one of the best vantage points for race night, all while dining on signature fare from chefs like David Chang, Mario Carbone, Christina Tosi, and over a dozen others, sometimes being served by the chefs themselves. And all it took to gain entry was a ticket that cost $12,500.

The Sphere, already a landmark on the Vegas skyline, loomed over everything, its bright yellow face wearing a racing helmet and seeming to watch the cars zoom by below during the trials and race, alternating with ads for Paramount+ shows like Lioness and Landman and Tulsa King. Inside the Sphere Darren Aranofsky’s film Postcard from Earth played; custom-built for this unique venue, it’s a curiously bleak and depressing short about how we’re deep into the process of destroying the Earth. It is easily one of the least Vegas things you’ll find in Vegas, which somehow makes it extremely Vegas. Outside the Sphere, at night, T-Mobile hosted a concert series, with a stage set up in the Sphere’s parking lot alongside a variety of booths serving high-end fast food. One night, before his headline set, superstar DJ Alesso awkwardly met with a group of journalists, the two sides clearly having no idea what to say to each other, as the rubbery visage of Sylvester Stallone peered down from the massive TV screen above, looking like a Godzilla-sized Sharper Image puppet of himself.

It’s Vegas, so obviously Elvis was everywhere. One particular Elvis explained his craft and business to a group of journalists during an event at the Paddock Club on race night. The best Elvises don’t necessarily look or sound the most like the man himself, he said; that’s important, of course, but just as important is nailing The King’s mindset, his swagger, his idiosyncratic combination of big star bravado and small town Southern humility. The Elvises are a brotherhood and a friendly rivalry, he revealed, often recommending each other for jobs one can’t fulfill. Word travels fast, though, and a bad Elvis can’t count on the help of his peers for long. This Elvis was a talent agent, too, representing not his fellow Elvises but other singers who performed as other legends, including some who occasionally performed as themselves, too. And the rates? They were reasonable—or about as reasonable as Las Vegas gets.

The race ended with a victory for the 26-year-old Brit George Russell, racing for the Mercedes team alongside living legend Lewis Hamilton. Russell’s win was overshadowed by Max Verstappen, the reigning king of F1, who guaranteed his fourth F1 world championship with his fifth place finish in Vegas. Right behind Russell was his teammate Hamilton, in what would be his third-to-last race for Mercedes, who he left after 11 years to join Ferrari’s team for 2025.

If any one thing most closely unites F1 and Las Vegas, it’s money. A trip to the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix underlines that connection; if you want to do the Vegas Grand Prix in luxury—if you want to visit the Paddock Club, if you want to get inside the Bellagio Fountain Club—it’ll cost several thousands of dollars. These packages include rooms at some of the nicest resorts in Vegas, places like the Wynn, the Encore, and the Bellagio, and given the nature of the race—the main street you’ll need to drive almost anywhere in town is unavailable—you’ll want to stay at hotels like that, which are within walking distance of the track. Other hotels have more economical packages, but you’re still looking at several hundreds of dollars. It’s an incredible experience, and an opportunity to do Vegas in a way that feels materially different from every other weekend of the year. If you’re an F1 fan, you no doubt want to go, if you haven’t already; even if you aren’t, it’s a fascinating, always entertaining way to do Vegas—if you can afford it.

The 2025 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix will be held November 22 to 25.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, TV, travel, theme parks, wrestling, music, and more. You can also find him on Blue Sky.