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00:00 Welcome in to Sports Illustrated's coverage of Formula One's Las Vegas Grand Prix.
00:04 Presented by Nickelodeon Ultra, I'm Claudette Modena joined alongside Alex Harrington.
00:08 We are here at the third race in the United States.
00:10 This one has been a long time in the making.
00:13 So many people are looking forward to this race.
00:15 I mean, just take a look at this backdrop.
00:16 It's incredible.
00:17 It's pretty beautiful.
00:18 It's pretty beautiful.
00:19 Formula One has spent over $500 million on this race, but also people have mixed feelings
00:24 about it.
00:25 Why do you think that is?
00:26 Well, I mean, let's start with the locals.
00:27 There's been a lot of local upset.
00:28 I mean, this building has been going on for about a year now.
00:32 Road blockages, road closures, buildings, even businesses have been quite heavily affected
00:38 by this.
00:39 And coming from a fan perspective, the track is simplistic.
00:42 So maybe the more traditional F1 fans weren't appreciated as much as they could be.
00:48 There's been some reports that ticket prices have actually dropped this week.
00:51 The Formula One's struggling to sell tickets.
00:53 What's contributed to that?
00:54 I mean, the price, first of all, a month ago, the cheapest ticket you could get was around
00:59 $1,600 for the race.
01:01 That's really expensive.
01:02 On top of that, I think it's partly when it's placed in the calendar.
01:07 We know the story.
01:08 We know the plots of the season now.
01:10 So I find it very strange to put a new track, the track that they really want to show off,
01:16 towards the end of a season which has already basically finished.
01:19 Max Verstappen has been a driver that's been outspoken about the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
01:22 In fact, he said it's 99% show, 1% sport.
01:26 Do you think having drivers speak out in kind of a negative way will affect things moving
01:30 forward here?
01:31 Yeah, I mean, Formula One will always listen to their drivers.
01:33 But we have to remember these drivers are people.
01:35 They like different things.
01:37 You know, Lewis Hamilton is going to love this because he is outspoken.
01:40 He's very external.
01:41 Max Verstappen, who spends his time sim racing at home, maybe not so much.
01:45 The ground floor, if this race makes money, Formula One's going to keep it.
01:50 Even though he said he doesn't like their race, there's a very high chance that we'll
01:53 see him on the podium on Saturday, right?
01:55 Oh, yeah.
01:56 Yeah, he's going to do great.
01:57 Those Red Bulls are fast.
01:58 He has a bit of competition, but I don't think it's any sort of competition to get close
02:02 to these Red Bulls.
02:03 Race weekend just getting started here in Las Vegas, Nevada.
02:05 And special thanks to our friends at the Bellagio Fountain Club for setting us up with this
02:09 amazing view.
02:10 Thank you.
02:11 Thank you.
02:12 Thank you.
02:12 Thank you.