F1 LIVE: Las Vegas Grand Prix organisers reveal ‘insane’ ticket costs

Nico Rosberg insists Mercedes’ automobile idea is “in a river” because the workforce reveal they’re set to alter course only one race into the brand new System 1 season.

Mercedes determined to stay with their distinctive ‘no-sidepod’ design this yr regardless of a troubled 2022 during which they solely gained a single race and completed third within the Constructors’ Championship.

Nevertheless, after a tough testing interval, the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix noticed Mercedes lose round a second-a-lap in comparison with the victorious Pink Bulls out in entrance, whereas a rejuvenated Aston Martin additionally had extra tempo than Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

As such, workforce boss Toto Wolff says the workforce should change their philosophy in the event that they wish to be aggressive and Rosberg – who gained his World Championship in 2016 with Mercedes earlier than retiring – has considerations about how rapidly Mercedes can reverse their fortunes in an period of cost-cap.

The 2023 finances cap is ready at £111m.

McLaren’s Lando Norris could already be desirous about a transfer to Ferrari or Pink Bull, Karun Chandhok believes. Norris got here residence final of the seventeenth finishers in Bahrain after pitting six occasions through the course of an issue-plagued race.

It represented a disappointing begin to the season for the 23-year-old, tipped as a possible future world champion however but to attain a victory within the sport.

Sky Sports activities’ analyst Chandhok thinks that Norris might be potential locations which will give him a greater probability of fulfilling his ambitions.

“Taking a look at the place they’re [McLaren] at, and we have been speaking earlier than the season of McLaren locking him in and Zak [Brown] doing an incredible job of contracting him [Norris] in for that four-year interval.

“I do marvel, and in the event that they’re sensible they’d have created some form of exit clauses. For instance, McLaren don’t end within the high 4 of the Constructors’ Championship two years in a row, is there an possibility for Lando to look elsewhere?

“As a result of outdoors of the standard high three groups, you’ve received Fernando [Alonso] and Lando who’re your high two drivers on the grid aren’t they? And the actual fact he [Norris] is preventing to even get a automobile into Q3, there’s received to be a little bit of frustration there I’d think about.”

Unique interview by Kieran Jackson

When Netflix first premiered Drive to Survive in 2019, an try by System 1’s new house owners Liberty to broaden the game’s murky horizon, the onus was in your Hamiltons, your Vettels and your Verstappens to haul in that untapped viewers. Like all serial drama, you want a protagonist. However there can solely be one star of the present.

Little did individuals assume it’d be Guenther Steiner.

“It’s all in regards to the underdog story,” the 57-year-old tells The Impartial, when requested why the Haas-centred episodes have the viewers at peak pleasure upon the discharge of every present. A present, he’s keen so as to add, he doesn’t watch.

Lance Stroll has detailed his outstanding restoration from harm that noticed the Aston Martin driver defy medical doctors’ predictions and begin the System 1 season in Bahrain.

The extent of his points had not been publicly disclosed, however the 24-year-old has now revealed that medical doctors feared he would miss a big a part of the season.

Organisers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix have revealed new renderings of the race scene forward of public ticket sale later this month.

The penultimate race of the 2023 System 1 season takes place in Vegas from 16-18 November in what’s being billed as one of many sporting occasions of the yr. The race will probably be held at 10pm on Saturday 18 November whereas the soon-to-be-built MSG Sphere, on account of open in September, will probably be centre stage in view of the circuit.

Whereas Paddock Membership tickets for the occasion have astonishingly already offered out, a ticket sale to the general public offers followers an additional alternative to attend – although it gained’t come low-cost.

The most affordable three-day ticket bundle – overlaying entry on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – comes at $500, however that’s standing-room solely with limitless meals and non-alcoholic drinks. In order for you a seat in the primary grandstand reverse the pit lane, it’ll price $2,500-per-person, whereas the most affordable seat general is within the West Harmon zone at $1,500.

One fan on Twitter described the costs as “insane”, saying: “$1500 for a 3 day Grandstand and a $500 GA to not be capable of see something. That’s insane.”

One other described the prices as “method too costly, tweeting: “Was planning on it, however can’t afford to take my household. Waaay to costly. Guess I’ll keep on with attending different Motorsport occasions.”

A report printed final week by Females in Motorsport revealed ladies spoke for simply 1.54 per cent of the run time within the new season of Drive to Survive on Netflix, totalling six minutes and 7 seconds out of greater than six-and-a-half hours. Curious, too, when you think about the emphasis all through System 1 on rising alternatives and visibility for girls, regardless of a lady not competing within the sport since 1976.

But look within the paddock or in your screens and ladies are current. Not sufficient but, as Drive to Survive’s insufficient illustration infers, however they’re in attendance. Rachel Brookes, heading into her 12^th yr as a reporter and presenter for Sky Sports activities F1, is one such face, refreshingly acquainted for all UK followers of the game.

Swapping duties with Natalie Pinkham and Simon Lazenby, the 48-year-old is a well-respected and trusted voice not only for the viewers at residence, however for the drivers within the paddock too. This yr, she will probably be at 19 out of a report 23 races, beginning with Saudi Arabia subsequent week. Talking with ardour a few job she adores, Brookes is insistent that F1 is enhancing on the subject of feminine illustration.

“I’ve seen it change – there’s much more ladies now working in all sports activities in addition to System 1,” she says.

“It’s been actually optimistic. One of many first issues Sky did was ship me out to cowl cricket, they’d by no means had a ladies on the boundary edge earlier than doing stay match updates however I cherished it.”

Remark by Kieran Jackson

By no means thoughts ready for the primary race of the System 1 season. A weekend of testing, three follow periods and qualifying in Bahrain has advised Toto Wolff every part he wanted to know.

No sandbagging. No magic repair. No hiding. Mere hours into the 2023 marketing campaign the Mercedes boss – as soon as the unflappable government titan of the game – lower a despondent determine talking to the press within the late hours on Saturday. Acknowledging that his workforce’s persistence, bordering on stubbornness, had been a mistake, he revealed a change of tack is already within the pipeline.

Talking after George Russell and Lewis Hamilton certified sixth and seventh respectively, the Austrian acknowledged: “I don’t assume that this bundle goes to be aggressive finally.

“We gave it our greatest go over the winter and now all of us simply have to regroup, sit down with the engineers, be completely non-dogmatic and ask what’s the improvement route we wish to pursue so as to have the ability to win races.”

As sporting U-turns go, that is fairly seismic. Race weekend No 1 of 23: rip it up and begin over.

Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok was requested whether or not Lewis Hamilton may go away Mercedes for Aston Martin, given his contract with Mercedes expires on the finish of the season.

“I don’t assume that may occur,” he replied. “You’re going to inform Lawrence to sack his son. Good luck with that.”

His Sky colleague Simon Lazenby reckons Ferrari can be Hamilton’s No 1 selection, however added {that a} Mercedes departure is unlikely.

“To not Aston, however how will you rule out a transfer to Ferrari if [Mercedes] keep like this?” he stated. “He’s so determined, so determined for that eighth F1 LIVE: Las Vegas Grand Prix organisers reveal ‘insane’ ticket costs, that if Ferrari did handle to remain on the coattails they usually have been the closest to Pink Bull.

“He’s not put his pen to paper but on his contract. He’s undoubtedly ready to see how this yr’s automobile felt.”

“I believe the good relationship with the workforce and Toto will endure. It’s simply I don’t assume you may ever rule out a transfer to Ferrari for racing drivers as a result of it’s their dream and he’s stated it earlier than.”

Right here, we check out how Aston Martin have made such an enchancment within the low season – and what they might obtain this yr:

The Monegasque driver was pressured out of the season opening race on the Sakhir Circuit in a disappointing begin to the 2023 season for the Italian workforce.

The previous Alfa Romeo chief clarified that it isn’t an issue with the workforce’s engine, however stated that it was “a disgrace” for Leclerc’s season to start out in such a way.

“We haven’t confronted the identical difficulty in any respect through the six or seven thousand kilometres that we did with the engine final week, with the three groups [Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Haas], and… with the dyno.”