F1 Las Vegas Attendance Figures Are Up For Debate

It's a numbers game. The 2024 F1 Las Vegas attendance figures are in from F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, and they are also in from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The difference in the numbers is so large, you could drive a truck carrying multi-million dollar racecars through it.

Firstly, lets talk about the supposed financial impact of this year's race. Last year, F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix lauded a massive $1.5 billion financial impact for the race, exceeding the financial impact for the Super Bowl that year. This year? They expect the financial impact to be one-sixth the size to a total of $250 million. Interesting, and a steep drop off.

If you ask the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix officials how well the event was attended, they will throw out this number: 306,000 over the three day event. A slight dip from last year's 315,000 stated attendance, but still a respectable number. Averaging just over 100,000 per day. Not shabby!

Although, how does the financial impact drop by $1.25 billion year to year with nearly the same attendance? Hmm.

Enter the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. They are in charge of overseeing the incredible undertaking of securing the event. They get a headcount of the events they secure. They stated on Monday that the F1 Las Vegas attendance was around 139,000: 57,000 people attended for the main event on Saturday night, 50,000 for the qualifying round on Friday night, and 32,000 people during the practice laps on Thursday night.

If you ask race officials, they say they've got the real numbers. Stating that LVMPD only counts scanned tickets at venues F1 operates and they aren't counting the F1 Paddock Building attendance at Harmon and Koval, or any zones not operated by F1. We wonder if they are counting the people stealing free glimpses on escalators?

One thing is certain, the main grandstands were down in attendance with several views of empty seats. Less expensive options were notably packed, and there were hefty price cuts on tickets.

Whatever the case may be, we want the race to work, and we want it to work for everyone. Locals that want to go without plunking down their mortgage payment. Businesses that aren't only owned by Wynn, MGM and Caesars. Visitors who just wanted to see the fountains and don't care about the race.

On the bright side, there were no manhole incidents this year.

F1 Las Vegas has officially started. At 10 p.m. tonight, the qualifying races will take over the streets of the Vegas Strip.

Practice 1 and Practice 2 have created a sense of excitement, especially for Team Mercedes.

Lewis Hamilton of Team Mercedes has secured the #1 spot during Practice 1 and Practice 2. His time was 1:33.825.

Lando Norris of McLaren Racing Limited had the second-best time, and George Russell for Team Mercedes had the third-best time.

Max Verstappen, who won F1 Las Vegas last year, came in 17th place in Practice 2.

In an interview, Verstappen said that Red Bull's one-lap pace was "quite far off" where it needs to be. He further said that it was slippery, and they struggled with making the tires work over one lap. He also said they had no "grip" and it's like "driving on ice at the moment."

If Verstappen can quell the issues with tires, grip, balance and more then he would become a four-time world racing champion.

After a rough patch during the Grand Prix in Brazil, Hamilton started off the Vegas practice races with a bloodthirsty vengeance. So far, Hamilton has made a clean sweep in FP2. He's edged out rival Lando Norris and even his teammate George Russell.

"Following on from his and the Silver Arrows’ encouraging first session, Hamilton produced a benchmark 1m 33.825s on soft tyres during the late-night outing, putting him a few thousandths clear of Norris and a couple of tenths up on Russell," an article from F1 states.

The final practice will be tonight at 6:30 p.m. as well as the qualifying race, which starts at 10 p.m. The final race will be tomorrow at 10 p.m.