Financial War Waged Against Daniel Ricciardo’s $1,300,000,000 Dream as Fight for Bragging Rights Erupts

In 2017, Daniel Ricciardo wished that Liberty Media gets Las Vegas on the F1 calendar. And Voila! They granted his wish. F1 will make its way to Vegas for the penultimate round of the 2023 season. And talk about the stars aligning for him. He gets a confirmed seat at AlphaTauri at least till the end of this year. So, his dream wish will come true. But on the operational side of things for F1, they are in a fix with a war waged against the Casinos on the strip.

Las Vegas is known for the millions and billions of dollars flying around the year. And F1, too, has made perfect plans as they expect to generate $1.3 billion in revenue from Sin City. But with the promoter struggling to sell super-expensive tickets, they have waged a financial war against the hotel and casinos on the Vegas strip.

A few days ago, one casino owner said that F1 is “shaking people down, saying they will obstruct views unless they pay them.” On the latest episode of the VF1 Show, VF Castro and Vincenzo Landino spoke about the same. And they both agreed on how F1 has all right to do so to protect their trademark.

Landino said, “Their communication to some of these clubs was about paying licensing fees if they’re hosting people for the Grand Prix which is standard procedure when other companies use the logo or any marketing materials for commercial gain without request.”

He further added, saying, “So, just because you are on the strip or just because you can host folks, and you are making money off of that using – Hey, come join us for the F1 race. I actually don’t know if it’s actually that big of a story. For me, they are protecting their trademark.”

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All of this is not relevant to what Ricciardo does on the racetrack in the present moment. But it will become relevant as he moves on with AlphaTauri and attempts to improve the AT04’s performance before he hits Sin City (for professional reasons, of course).

Daniel Ricciardo Looks to Build on “Strong Showing” With Bottom-Placed AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri has only scored 2 points this season in 11 races so far. On race days, they don’t look like the slowest car on the grid but still haven’t managed to score points. Now that the Honey Badger has joined them with his race-winning experience, they are looking to pluck themselves out of this rut.

Ricciardo looked pretty satisfied with the AT04’s performance at the Hungarian GP. He said, post-race, “I think we still put on a strong showing. I felt good. I felt good in the car and that was something that was certainly a question mark, not doing it for eight months, especially around here it’s a tough track. So, other than Lap 1, Turn 1, a good day.”

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By the time F1 makes its way to the Las Vegas GP, can Ricciardo solve AlphaTauri’s woes and be good enough to move them into the points?