I've always been a fan of F1 but, the past few years have me scratching my head. They have always danced to a different beat then we are used to here in the States. I won't get into it all but basically it's way to many rules that the drivers have to live with. Rubbing is not racing to thoses teams. Lots of problems with the new track which is expected but the really didn't seem prepared for anything. They were even putting up big tarps to block fans from watching from any place but the paying stands (tickets were very costly). 

Now I'm only talking about the major racing series but IndyCar and NASCAR just seem to be more entertaining from the couch. 

I watched the race after recording it.  It is the only one I watched this year in its entirety.  

I have no idea what the appeal is.  The announcers are shouting at every turn and there is nothing going on.  In summation: Someone gets a run, they blast by, and it is a miraculous event. Otherwise, they bang tires at some corner and someone gets penalized for being off-line.  

It has its moments and the speed and technology is awe-inspiring but the racing is terrible.

Vegas was appealing simply because I have been there on many occasions and know all of the ins and outs of the city design and it was super cool to see how they put the track in.  I watched the race, and paused it over and over again, to see parts of the city and how they did the lighting, the barriers, the run-offs, and more.  The engineering feat was amazing - especially the track surface.  Incredible transformation.

As the races go, it was actually one of the more entertaining ones.  I usually scrub through what I record, but on this instance, I watched quite a bit of it.  It sure looked slippery and they really did have to get up on the wheel.

I think the course would have been pretty suitable for NASCAR too - but there is a lot to judge about that statement being true.  The corners, the straights, and the design are better than some of the tracks they have now. 

It is all a bit Speed Racer to me.  I wish someone in TV land would figure out that something like 600s on a dirt track running wheel to wheel is by far the most exciting form of motorsport in the world and figure out a way to make it look good on TV.  If the public at large saw an F1-style promotion of Chili Bowl style racing, they would not look back - especially if the stars were promoted in a big way.  There was a feature done in the spring that was outstanding with Larson, Justin Grant, and others.  If only it was more widely understood.

I honestly could not understand the times of practice and the race. 10 pm?   They said it was because of logistics in the city during rush hour and also so people could watch it at 6 am in Europe? 

I wonder when race promoters are going to realize that temporary race courses fail probably 95% of the time. I have no idea why they think racing in the streets is better than a natural road course like Watkins Glen, Mid Ohio or Road America. They are just not located by major cities for a reason.

Kevin, be thankful the masses don't watch the short tracks or it would turn in to what we have now with F1 and NASCAR.

You know Kevin, that is a pretty astute assessment and a pretty prescient take on it.  I take back what I said because... 600s are terrible; Go NASCAR, Go F1. LOL

I think I read that they have a contract to do it over five years or something like that.  It will be better next year, some spin machine will address the gaps and hype will win the day.

Agree with everything you guys are saying. Kevin brings up a good point about using the available road courses that are already here. Problem is, those street courses really draw a lot of excitment (I don't get it). The best part is that it really was one of the best F1 races I've seem in a while. The speeds were out of this world fast!

Kev, you're probably right about the Casinos pull in that.  They probasbly watched their numbers, before, during, and after the race and I'm sure they were'nt good, but they are usually happy anyway they can bring in customers.  On the other side, the real gamblers will shunn the place during that week.  Ten years with I'm sure a lot of ways out for both sides.  We will see !

I live in Vegas,  Vegas is a crazy twon, 100,000 extra people here for an event and 8 miles from the strip you don't even know anything is happening.

to undrstand the people who came to the F1 race,  one of the prerace problems mentioned this year was they didn't have enough private jet plane parking 

I know people who went to the event, one person went to a different viewing area every night ( average ticket price in these area around $12,000)

The area's they went to they said the race was well attended and they remarked on how many very very weathly looking european people attended the race,  lots of celebrities and well know Vegas people runningg around as well.

Mondays  news headline was  "Resort leaders concur: F1 was best Las Vegas event in history"

As every event anywhere, if you want to have a great time, you probably had a great time, if you want to find a reason to be mad, there was probably something that you could complain about.

And for you value minded people, Wynn casino had a 5 million dollar package for 12 people that included the big suite and dinner at Nobu

THANK YOU for all the "locals" insight! All we hear is the bad.  It is so easy to sit back and bash an event. Awesome it was a racing event that was so successful.

Sidenote. I went to F1 at Indy twice and it's amazing how many Europeans and South Americans go. After speaking to them, they all said it was cheaper to fly to Indy, stay, and see the race than it was to go to the race in their own country. Apparently there are very few seats and they are at a premium, where Indy is basically unlimited.