1. The Ellis Island Beer Garden

The Turn 4 Experience at Ellis Island is truly one of the most unique and value-driven experiences in Las Vegas for the inaugural Grand Prix. Our team will be lucky enough to experience both the Beer Garden and Grandstands (see #2 on my list!) with Ellis Island and I think the Beer Garden takes the cake for my favorite race offering out of all 3 races I’ve attended. With a ticket, you will have access to the heated Beer Garden with over 20 TVs (and an 18 FOOT main screen), an outdoor viewing platform on the straight, free food, a special Turn 4 Apex Lager (brewed specifically for the Las Vegas GP), vendors including Monster Energy, DJs, and other activities and activations. For $1250 for the weekend or $250, $500, $750 for single-days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday respectively), you get an experience that rivals many other premium hospitality offerings at ⅛ th of the price. Our team will 100% be watching the race from the Turn 4 Beer Garden at Ellis, and we’ve never been more excited for it!

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2. The Ellis Island Grandstands

The second option for the Turn 4 Experience at Ellis Island are the 2 grandstand sections to the North and South of their iconic Marquee. While the grandstand experience is a staple experience at any Formula 1 race, I’m personally excited about the position that Ellis Island has on the track. The South grandstand will have a view of cars coming out of Turn 4 (and consequently the pit lane) and the North grandstand will have a quarter mile view up and down the straight. The thing that makes this grandstand unique, though, is the designated ‘village’ behind the grandstands with food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, restrooms, entertainment, and partner activations. Even though we’re very excited about the Turn 4 Beer Garden, our team will absolutely share the views from the Grandstands as well!

If you want to learn more about the Turn 4 Experience at Ellis Island, check out our Know Before You Go article or head to our YouTube channel to hear directly from the Ellis Island Team.

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3. The pop-ups and activations on the Strip

One of the best parts of any F1 race is attending the cool (and free) experiences that teams and brands put on around the track or in the main city near a track. At COTA, I went to the Williams Pop-Up shop and it was such a fun activity to kill time before our FanAmp dinner. In TRUE Las Vegas fashion… there are going to be events UP AND DOWN the Strip throughout the weekend. Nearly every hotel will host a pop-up for an F1 team or sponsor brand - most notably The Williams Pop-Up at New York New York, The AlphaTauri x Gundam Pop - Up at Elara by Hilton and Park MGM, the F1 Merch Pop-Up at the Venetian, and the Ferrari Boutique at the Bellagio. These are just a quarter of the events that you’ll be able to find on the Strip throughout the week leading up to the Las Vegas Grand Prix race weekend.

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For more information check out our detailed article of all Las Vegas Grand Prix Pop-up Stores and Experiences!

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4. The unique Las Vegas atmosphere

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Writing from my first person point of view - beyond experiences on the track - I am first and foremost a Las Vegas native. The idea of combining the sport that I love so much with my hometown already adds so much value to attending this race - especially as the inaugural race on this track. Even with the controversy surrounding logistics and the potential of a ‘boring race’, no one can deny how iconic this race will be, and we’re all excited for the camera shots of our favorite drivers speeding down the Las Vegas Strip under the stars and flashing lights.

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5. New track - new technical concerns

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One of the more exciting parts of the Las Vegas Grand Prix is the ‘unknown’ around tyre and track conditions due to the cold weather - with the night race taking the cake for the coldest race on the calendar. According to Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director, Andrew Shovlin, “If the track is down in single figures (Celsius), that's often a region where you go winter testing. You do a run, it's very difficult for the tires to either get them switched on, or there may be graining and things. And then sometimes you just wait until it warms up a bit. So actually having to sort of race and qualify in those conditions, it will be interesting."

This brings me back to the hope I have that our Turn 4 viewing position coming out of the pit lane will be a part of the track that brings some incredible action!