In November 2025, we attended our first Formula 1 race: The Las Vegas Grand Prix. Overall, it was an excellent experience, but we definitely learned a lot about Las Vegas, the race, getting tickets, and what each grandstand is all about. Here I break down of our experience.
LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX TRACK
First off, here is the track – designed to look like a pig or maybe a bear. Despite the shape, the beauty of the track, is that a nice portion of it runs directly on Las Vegas Boulevard – AKA the Las Vegas Strip. Further, the events take place at night, when the city really shines beautifully.
Getting in and out of the city is a bit of a nightmare, but once you’re there, it is actually a nice place. Seeing the preparation and logistics of setting up and taking down the track each day is super cool. I will admit, it is a pain to get from place to place, but once you have a place in mind and you know the general direction, it is not too bad. Overall, it is a very walkable city. Even though to get from one place to another, you’re guaranteed to cross over streets via a bridge and walk up escalators.
WEST HARMON GRAND STAND
Our tickets were for the West Harmon Grandstand. The seats were comfortable as they had backs, but the view was about a 4/10. The TV monitor that showed the progress of the race when the cars were not flying past, was blocked by the lighting and support rigging. Further, the screen was a bit too far away, so the data was not visible at all. Despite this, it was incredibly cool to be there for the cars flying by – especially in the wet (it rained in Las Vegas, which made for an absolute amazing Friday series of activities (F1 Academy race 1 and F1 Qualifying). The crowd was incredible as well. Everyone was super nice and plus you essentially sat with the same people for 3 days in a row. We had Spanish speaking people to the left, we had New Zealanders behind us – the international nature of F1 was all around us.
The food was also relatively inexpensive, which was a major surprise after seeing the horror stories of Miami. A monster pretzel was about 15 bucks. A chicken sandwich was about 20. and Evian water was FREE.
What we learned
- We purchased tickets from the F1 website. We definitely will not do this in the future. We learned that each track has its own way of selling tickets – using services like Ticketmaster. F1 is a glorified reseller.
- Each grandstand has its own pocket of activities. Once you’re in a grandstand area for the racing events, you don’t leave. Unfortunately, West Harmon does not come with a lot of activities in the event area. If you are looking for a quiet area, then this is the grandstand for you. Make sure you research the activities that will go down in your grandstand location.
- Always pack a poncho. It rained in Las Vegas, which it almost never does. Better to be prepared than not.
- It also gets super duper cold this time of year (November) once the sun goes down – so layer up! It is no joke that one of the hottest places in the US results in the coldest race on the calendar.
- Make sure you bring comfy shoes. You will do a ton of walking, with lots of stairs
- Also, check out what kind of fun stuff your hotel might be doing. We stayed at the Westin off the strip and they offered some cool activities before the Grand Prix event
- Watch the live timings/radio on the F1 App. The Trackside announcers were not the greatest, so having the combination of F1 App and the announcers helped to elevate the experience.
- If they do an F1 Hub store again in the future, make sure you get there early. Each day the lines got longer and longer. We ended up waiting in line for 2 hours on Friday. On Saturday, the lines were 4 hours long.
- Check out all of the popup shops. We went to Lando Norris’, Lewis Hamilton, and Mercedes
- Check out each hotels displays. We went to Michael Schumacher, Haas, various artists around the Cosmpolitan, Encore
- Set some time aside for F1 Arcade – this was located in Cesar Palace.
Take Home
Overall, our first in person F1 GP was an amazing experience. Easily a 9/10 all things taken into account. The Grandstand seats left something to be desired and we learned how to approach a race in the future, but it was a good learning experience. Would I go back to Las Vegas in the future? Definitely.