The Formula 1 circus is hitting the Vegas Strip this weekend for the second annual Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Last year’s race was plagued by complaining residents and businesses above traffic, city obstacles and a racing track that damaged Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari when a manhole came loose, requiring a very expensive repair. Nonetheless, the race itself was quite exciting, and the screaming F1 race cars created the look and feel that Las Vegas and F1 owner Liberty Media were hoping to create.

With a more closely contested championship between drivers and teams at the top this year, anticipation is growing.

Liberty Media (FWONK) betting on the United States, and particularly Las Vegas, where Liberty has spent a whopping $600 million to expand under a 10-year racing deal, seems worth it.

While experts predict this year’s race will bring in slightly less than the approximately $500 million in revenue for Formula 1 and the $1.5 billion in economic impact in Las Vegas achieved from last year’s race, the contest and its festivities. a week will always be a boon for everyone involved.

The approximately 300,000 participants expected for the race tend to pass almost four times as many as regular visitors to Vegas, the city said.

And that’s good for F1, the city and, of course, the teams that actually compete in the races.

The “crown jewel” of American auto racing

“It will be bigger and better than last year,” Williams F1 team principal James Vowles told Yahoo Finance.

“There were some teething problems; it’s pretty normal when you try to measure the scale of Formula 1 operations, and it must be said that the three American races, but especially Las Vegas, are just this jewel in the crown of what we have through the world. the entire schedule, and we might have a championship decided this weekend. So it’s… kind of the excitement that brings it all together,” Vowles added.

BWT Alpine F1 Team Principal Oliver Oakes believes Liberty Media is the main driver behind the recent success of F1 in Vegas and the sport as a whole in the United States, which has really emerged during the pandemic and post-release from the Netflix F1 series, “Drive to Survive”.

“(Liberty Media has) done an incredible job of bringing sports to everyone. I think everyone talks about ‘Drive to Survive’ and the effect that it had, but in reality I think it goes much deeper than that,” Oakes told Yahoo Finance. “You can see now that every event in F1 takes place over a three or four day weekend, whether it’s sprint races or concerts at events, it’s fantastic. And these are them who are behind this growth.

Williams F1’s Wall Street connection

Williams and Alpine are interesting stories in F1 this year. Neither team is fighting for the championship; they are “midfield” fighters this year, with Alpine edges Willams after surprise race with double podium last week in Interlagos, Brazil.

While Alpine may be higher in the rankings, or the constructors’ rankings as F1 calls it, Williams is on the rise.

The team has signed a number of high-profile partners over the past two years, with Duracell (BRK-B), Gulf Oil, Michelob (BUD) and Broadcom (AVGO) among the big names. The team signed with Japanese industrial giant Komatsu (KMTUY) and Latin American e-commerce site MercadoLibre (MELI) this year, as well as the renewal of the energy company Gulf Oil.

The team is also majority owned by US private equity firm Dorilton Capital. Vowles believes Dorilton is an asset to the team, which is surprising given the reputation of sharp-elbowed PE operators.

“It’s not about what I would call traditional private equity; it’s not about getting a multiple and selling out. It’s about getting a team back to where it deserves to be , to win world championships,” Vowles said of the team’s ownership structure.

Vowles added that he learned a lot from Dorilton about how to transform an organization from the ground up, and that the venture capital firm provided Williams with the investments she needed both now and to fund projects which could take years to be profitable. Vowles also said, surprisingly, that he speaks to the Williams board almost every day.

What’s next for Alpine?

Alpine F1 is another interesting story. The team is majority owned by French car manufacturer Renault (RNLSY), and the name Alpine refers to Renault’s famous performance brand. But the team is also undergoing transformation. It has acquired new owners in the form of major celebrities and sports icons like actor Ryan Reynolds, Patrick Mahomes, NFL quarterbackand best golfer Rory McIlroy.

The team also decided to no longer build its own engines and instead source its engines through Mercedes, something Williams F1 also does.

The changes at Alpine have led to rumors that the team is up for sale, with contenders like GM would have knock on the door.

While he didn’t directly deny the team was for sale, like Williams’ Vowles, Oakes believes the right structure and ownership is in place.

“I think actually people can really see now that the support from Luca (De Meo, Renault CEO), from the group, the kind of direction we took to get the best engine, to put the team really moving forward and moving up the grid – I think it’s an exciting time for the team,” Oakes said.

“You know, for the first time, I think there’s real leadership and real support there too, so it’s looking good for the future,” he added.

Pras Subramanian is a journalist for Yahoo Finance. You can follow it Twitter and on Instagram.

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