Fans who paid thousands of dollars to catch the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix over the weekend were met with chaos amid heavy delays and a cancellation. Now, a class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 35,000 fans.
During opening day on Thursday, fans were left waiting in the cold for almost six hours to witness a heavily-delayed second practice. Then, attendees were forced to leave the circuit after seeing only nine minutes of action when a manhole cover became dislodged in FP1.
Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali and Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm issued a statement on Friday regarding the mess, noting that fans were told to leave due to “concern about our public safety and security officials, transportation employees and hospitality staff.”
“We have all been to events, like concerts, games and even other Formula 1 races, that have been cancelled because of factors like weather or technical issues,” the pair said. “It happens, and we hope people will understand.”
However, fans were not issued refunds, and instead, single-day ticket holders were offered a $200 voucher for the Las Vegas Grand Prix official shop. Those who bought full, three-day tickets were not reimbursed at all for Thursday.
As a part of the lawsuit, which was filed by Dimopoulos Law Firm and co-counsel JK Legal & Consulting in Nevada District Court, fans are alleging breach of contract, negligence, and deceptive trade practices. They are seeking at least $30,000 in damages.
“We will vindicate the rights of the fans that traveled great distances and paid small fortunes to attend, but were deprived of the experience,” Dimopoulos Law Firm owner and lead attorney Steve Dimopoulos said in a statement.
Ahead of the race, fans were already outraged over the exorbitant ticket prices, which were ranked as the highest in base ticket prices in Formula 1 history. Regular single-day tickets were found for a minimum of $500, followed by hospitality packages that reached a whopping $8,000.
Formula 1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo have even spoken out about the high prices, noting that they want the event to be more accessible to fans.
LeClerc told RaceFans that he hopes Formula 1 is working to fix the price of tickets because “there’s many events now that are just incredibly expensive.”
“Also like real fans that really love the sport cannot even afford to get to the races and actually watch the races” LeClerc told the publication. “So this is definitely an issue that has to be tackled.”
While the high prices sparked outrage, those prices fell over time, plummeting ahead of game day. Tickets for Thursday and Friday’s race were going for $100 and $200 respectively on the secondary market, while Saturday’s race tickets were up for around $700. Industry insiders guessed the drop in enthusiasm could be due to the frustration regarding expensive prices when the race was first announced.
While organizers hoped to bring-in around 100,000 attendees per day, a spokesperson noted that 70,000 guests were at the circuit on Friday, with 30,000 tickets available for the opening ceremony on Wednesday ahead of the race. Organizers confirmed that 315,000 fans attended the event across four days.
