Speaking on the JA on F1 podcast on Motorsport.com, Las Vegas GP chief executive Renee Willm admitted organizers should have offered much more accessible opportunities than those available for the inaugural 2023 race.
“This year we have significantly changed our offering. We have created more general admissions with different themes,” he said. “Our general admission to the Sphere is all about talent. We have an incredible line-up of talent, a three-day party of sorts. Anyone with a ticket to the event can attend these concerts.”
“We also have a new Flamingo Zone, which matches our lower-priced general admission ticket, which will also include fan viewing in the grandstands. That’s a significantly lower price than last year. And then We will have a third general admission zone, to be announced shortly, closer to the Grand Prix Plaza, to allow fans to experience the race at a much more affordable price.”
The start of the Las Vegas GP
Photo by: Erik Junius
“We understood that we need to broaden the range of offerings to attract new fans. In the last five years, more than half of US fans interested in F1 are new, not previously following.”
Last year Willm took on the role of CEO, becoming responsible for the realization of the most ambitious F1 race, as it was realized in just 18 months from the announcement. Local officials in Las Vegas recently reported that the game’s economic impact on the city was $1.5 billion, more than double the Superbowl that took place three months later.
However, there was no shortage of problems, such as local citizens irritated by the closure of the roads, or the manhole that rose during free practice, damaging Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari. But the race turned out to be spectacular and gave Willm a notebook full of ideas on how to improve the event for a second year.
“I won’t say it wasn’t difficult, it was extremely challenging,” Willm says. “We didn’t have a playbook. We had a year and a half to make this happen, from announcement to launch. We built a 300,000-square-foot building in 11 months and transformed the iconic Las Vegas Strip into a racetrack to race on. In retrospect, I don’t know what we came up with, but it was truly incredible.”
Las Vegas boulevard atmosphere
Photo by: Erik Junius
“It was the absolute passion that we at Liberty have for F1 that led us to dedicate a team of people, including myself, adding a large investment: 650 million dollars to purchase the land and build that incredible building that will soon become active throughout the year. It was precisely the dedication we had for F1, which also led us to self-promote a race for the first time.”
Unique to F1, Willm leads a female-dominated team at the Las Vegas GP, with a commitment to creating opportunities for women across the sport.
“I was very lucky to work for two partners who always took me into consideration, asking for my opinion. I participated in all the calls and all the meetings and that meant a lot to me, so I tried to give back. Obviously I like to promote young women and seeing them rise up the hierarchy to choose the best people for the positions to be filled.
“We want to create opportunities for women to grow into whatever role they want to take on, whether that’s an engineer, mechanic, business executive, team principal or an F1 driver. We couldn’t be more excited about the F1 Academy and everything this program could potentially bring.”
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