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The organizers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix say they will be “making a splash again” in 2025 after a more understated second edition of the race last year.
The inaugural race on the iconic Strip had a huge opening show on the grid ahead of the weekend, while Vegas invested heavily in other activations but the early part of the event was overshadowed by a track issue in FP1. After improving track opening and closing times in year two and adapting its ticketing model to offer more general admission, Las Vegas Grand Prix president and CEO Emily Prazer says another eye-catching week is planned this year.
“We’re making a splash again,” Prazer said. “I think what we felt really good about after the second year was the operational delivery of the event. I think everyone knows – it’s quite well documented – that this year we had repositioned ourselves around our ticketing proposition, and we’re pacing really, really well for a sell-out.
“Obviously, Vegas typically is a much more of a last-minute market just around every ticket. People land and they go, ‘Oh, what’s on this weekend?’ But we have kind of proofed out what we needed to do there with the cheaper tickets for the locals and making sure that we make it really accessible. And then it was about rebuilding some of the programming and making sure that we continue on the production value.
“We talk about it a lot, but Miami, you really know where you are. [Austin], you definitely know you’re in Texas. Vegas, we’re kind of known for the entertainment and the production side, so I think you’ll find that the Saturday night is going to be quite epic and a few different surprises around what we’re doing for the post-race show.”
Prazer says a big focus this year has been on creating added value in the city around the race itself, with other sports leagues like the NFL and NHL dovetailing their schedules either side of the weekend.
“We’ve got the Business Summit happening, which we felt was almost part of how do we make Vegas feel like a Super Bowl week? There was a lot of conversation about what can we bring, and it’s not just about the evening entertainment, but we’re all there. And so we’ve built this Business Summit that we hope that everybody can come to and enjoy, and then we can continue to build that out.
“We’re going to be doing some stuff during the day. We’ve partnered again with The Sphere so that you can all go and see The Wizard of Oz. We’ve got the Raiders games… It’s like the most unbelievable week. There’s a Raiders game on the Monday and on the Sunday, and there’s a VGK [Vegas Golden Knights] game on the Tuesday.
“So we have Raiders either side, and then Wednesday has become our golf tournament again, which we’ve done the last few years – a golf tournament at the Wynn, which is called The Grid. Thursday is Liberty Investor Day, actually, followed by the Business Summit, and then free practise.
“Friday we’ve partnered with the amfAR Gala to make sure that all of their celebrities can come over to the paddock. So it feels like there’s just stuff happening 24/7, and obviously with the earlier start time and with F1 Academy, I think what we’ll find is that it feels a lot more compressed, but there’s just entertainment going on from the minute everyone wakes up all the way through to post-race parties and official parties and stuff like that.
“So it feels like we’ve gained some confidence in the programming around the event and making sure that you get real value for money.”
