F1 Hates You. (Yes, you.)

 'Las Vegas Biggest Event in Years was a Disaster'

And while I think "Disaster" is a bit of a reach it certainly was not the grand slam that organizers were hoping for.

Yes, the actual race was, by F1 standards, pretty good.  There were actual lead-changes and some overtaking for a change. Typically F1 races are decided by qualifying and the cars, too big for the older tracks they run on, pretty much just go around with the leader (previously Lewis Hamilton but now Max Verstappen) pulling away and winning by several seconds. While it might be among the most glamorous, and most expensive, of the racing circuits, in terms of actual racing it is the absolute worst. F1 is terrible.

But the television broadcast was a pretty thing. (Full disclosure, I wanted none to do with actually being in Las Vegas for this event). The dynamic of the cars going full-chat down the Strip and the really cool Sphere in the background was awesome. Martin Brundle's grid-walk had plenty of rich, famous and other cool stuff, just like they wanted.

I even hear that the high-rollers showed up on race night, and casino employees in the tip pool did quite well. So the very rich Euro-trash showed up on their private jets as well.  Good deal for all.

In the end, that's all that F1 really cares about. That they had stars and the wealthy at the race and on TV providing the whole shoddy mess with an air of faux-sophistication. In some ways, that's VERY modern Las Vegas Strip.

Because, and this is important, just like the employees and owners of the Las Vegas Strip casinos, F1 hates you (and me) the common folk. 

Oh sure, they NEED us, but they hate us. They want our attention and our money and (important for F1) our eyes on televisions but, if they had their druthers, they would really prefer if you'd just take the table scraps that they give you, fork over your money for little return and then politely STFU.

Already there are social media chatter from Las Vegas Strip employees that they would really prefer if just Strip employees were allowed to comment on things and the visitors just be silent. The idea that the Strip employee is the center of Las Vegas, and not the paying customer, is an issue that some cruise ships are dealing with and it's not something good to get a toehold in an area that relies on customer service.

Mrs. TPM and I have been to Las Vegas hundreds of times. We've been on the Strip for many of those. we abandoned the Strip a few years back because we noticed these conditions creeping in but we went back on our last trip to check out a VGK game.

The service that we received at NYNY Center bar was amongst the rudest we've ever experienced. It was very cleat that were were imposing on the bartender's time rather than being the reason for it.

And that's exactly how F1 views the general public. A problem that has to be tolerated, not an opportunity to make new fans. You're a nuisance to them, something they have to put up with in order to take your money from you. They kicked the public out of the viewing areas ahead of Free Practice 2 (after FP1 was cancelled after 8 minutes and everything thrown into a mess by Carlos Sainz' car getting chopped up like scallions in a Gordon Ramsey restaurant by a loose drain cover.) simply because the race organizers did not want to pay overtime to the employees they hired to cater the event.

They did their level best to block the view of any location where people might be able to glimpse a second of race action without paying for a ticket, and (by many accounts) their private security service was screaming at people walking around the Strip during the race. If you weren't walking fast enough, you got screamed at.

Here's the thing though.  The race seemed to do OK. Probably nowhere near the (*snickers*) $1.3B economic impact that was predicted, but well enough to ensure that, next year, all of this happens again, and again and again for the next nine years. On race night, the grand stands were full, Shaq and Brad Pitt were on Pit Lane telling everyone how marvelous things were, Max Verstappen (the race winner and the most unlikable champion of this generation) even put on an Elvis inspired racing suit after weeks of saying the whole thing was a sham, that he hated Las Vegas, and would just skip the whole mess were it up to him.

Now, the checkered flag has been waved, the teams have moved on to their next, meaningless, race (the driver's and all-important constructor's title having long been decided) and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitor's Bureau is warning people that it will take "at least" 8 weeks to tear everything down.

Looking at my calendar that means somewhere around mid-January. Which means that F1 could cock-up the New Year's Strip fireworks as well.

From that sense F1 Las Vegas is peak Corporate Vegas.  Enjoy.