Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei has issued an apology to the residents of Las Vegas following concerns raised about the impact of Formula 1 on the city’s infrastructure.
The upcoming race on the iconic Las Vegas Strip, featuring world champion Max Verstappen alongside Lewis Hamilton and other racing stars, has led to various issues.
Ahead of the event, there have been teething problems, with locals and tourists experiencing disruptions in popular areas due to ongoing building work, causing inconvenience in their day-to-day activities.
Maffei, who heads up the company behind F1, said: “I want to apologise to all the Las Vegas residents and we appreciate they have their forbearance and their willingness to tolerate us.
“We’re going to bring something like $1.7billion of revenue to the area, so it’s not just for the benefit of fans who want to view.
“We hope this is a great economic benefit in Las Vegas.
The race on Sunday is anticipated to draw a crowd of up to 105,000 fans. However, concerns persist among locals about the potential traffic congestion in the area, which has already slowed to a crawl in certain areas.
Despite the skepticism, Ian Rineer, a Grand Canyon tour guide, is adopting a wait-and-see approach. While he remains doubtful about the future impact, he is willing to reserve judgment until after experiencing the racing spectacle.
He said: “We are apprehensive. We love big events, we love money coming to town.
“But with F1 we don’t know what type of value we are going to see yet because it is the first year and the hurdles we have had to jump through without knowing what is going to happen has everybody on edge.
“We are growing up as a city. Before coronavirus we didn’t have a big stadium, now we have Allegiant Stadium [home of the Las Vegas Raiders], so we are big league.
“Las Vegas is growing up as a city but there are growing pains.”