For one weekend each year, a stretch of grandstands separates the Bellagio Fountains from 20 cars zipping down the Las Vegas Strip. While Lando Norris ' papaya orange McLaren and Max Verstappen ’s leading Red Bull Racing are three races within reach of the championship title , the city faces its own sprint: A race against permanent drought. The excess that accompanies the race weekend, from a Formula 1 car dangling from a club ceiling to the Caesars Palace Emperor Package carrying a $5 million price tag, is best illustrated by the towering fountains misting water — 22 million gallons of it — 460 feet in the air.
For a moment, it is hard to remember Formula 1 is racing in a desert. The start/finish straight on the Las Vegas Strip, with the illuminated Bellagio Fountains in the background. Photo by: Philip Hurst / Motorsport Images In Nevada, water isn’t just something you drink.
It ends up on local ballots and carries a steep fine for misuse. Water, or lack thereof, determines whether residents swap out their grass lawns for a $3 per square foot payout from the Cash4Grass program, established by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA). The Las Vegas Valley Water District’s Water Patrol surveils neighborhood streets, policing residents who wash their cars on non-assigned watering days; and as environmentalists warn of future wars waged over water, Las Vegas is on the brink.
Its own regional conflict has been ongoing for over a hundred years. The desert state, a dry.