Liberty Media and Las Vegas Grand Prix organizers agree to $3.05 million settlement over 2023 chaos
Liberty Media Corporation and Las Vegas Grand Prix, Inc. have agreed to establish a fund worth 3,047,986 US dollars to resolve a class-action dispute involving spectators who were denied access to the second free practice session during the first day of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The proposed settlement applies to holders of Thursday-only tickets and three-day tickets whose entry to the circuit was recorded before midnight on November 16, 2023, and who were then required to leave the spectator areas before the start of the several-hours-delayed FP2 session. According to the official settlement notice, the two companies have not admitted liability or any unlawful conduct, but accepted the agreement to avoid the additional costs and risks of prolonged litigation. Federal Judge Gloria M. Navarro granted preliminary approval to the agreement on March 9, 2026, while the final approval hearing is scheduled for November 4, 2026, at the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
It is the legal conclusion to one of the most embarrassing organizational episodes in Formula 1's recent history. The first race weekend on the street circuit alongside the Las Vegas Strip was intended to showcase a combination of elite motorsport, the large American sports market and the city's entertainment industry, but the beginning of the event was marked by an incident involving a water-valve cover on the track. After only a few minutes of the first free practice session, a damaged section of the surface was lifted by the force generated by the cars and severely damaged Carlos Sainz's Ferrari, while Esteban Ocon's Alpine was also damaged. The session was stopped, and technical crews had to inspect and further secure similar points around the entire circuit before driving could resume.
Practice stopped after several minutes, fans removed before FP2
According to reports from Formula 1 and the FIA, the first practice session lasted approximately nine minutes before the red flag was shown. The problem was not an ordinary displaced manhole cover, as the incident was often described in abbreviated reports, but the frame and concrete structure surrounding a water-valve cover, which failed to withstand the aerodynamic load generated by the cars at high speed. Sainz's Ferrari passed over the damaged area, and the impact caused serious damage to the floor, chassis and power-unit components. Ferrari had to replace parts of the car, after which Sainz received a ten-place grid penalty because the replacement components exceeded the permitted seasonal allocation, even though the team was not responsible for the damage.
Following the interruption of FP1, organizers and the FIA began inspecting all similar installations around the 6.201-kilometre street circuit. The second practice session, originally scheduled for midnight local time, was postponed until 2:30 a.m. and extended from 60 to 90 minutes. Spectators who had spent hours waiting for the program to resume were nevertheless not allowed to remain in the grandstands until the session began. Approximately one hour before the cars went onto the track, organizers closed the spectator areas and asked the public to leave the complex, meaning that FP2 took place in front of largely empty grandstands.
A joint statement issued at the time by Formula 1 Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali and Las Vegas Grand Prix Chief Executive Renee Wilm linked the decision to operational and safety limitations. Organizers said that staff responsible for security, transportation and hospitality services were approaching the end of their permitted shifts and could no longer guarantee the operation of all spectator areas. From their perspective, closing the grandstands was a safety measure taken in exceptional circumstances. For the fans, however, the outcome was simple: they had paid for admission to two practice sessions, saw only a few minutes of driving and were required to leave immediately before the program resumed.
A $200 voucher failed to stop the dissatisfaction
Organizers offered holders of Thursday-only tickets a $200 voucher for purchases at the official Las Vegas Grand Prix store. The offer was not a cash refund, and holders of three-day tickets initially received no comparable compensation for the missed session. Reactions were particularly harsh because the event had been promoted as a premium sports and entertainment spectacle, with tickets and packages priced from several hundred to several thousand dollars. The issue was not only how many minutes of practice the public had missed, but also whether the ticket-sale terms allowed organizers to withdraw access to part of the program without providing a partial refund.
The plaintiffs argued that removing spectators from the viewing areas before FP2 constituted a breach of contract. Early versions of the lawsuit also included claims relating to negligence and alleged violations of Nevada regulations concerning unfair or deceptive trade practices. Liberty Media and the race organizer disputed those allegations and maintained that purchasers had no legally guaranteed right to a refund under the circumstances that caused the interruption and postponement of the program. The court did not issue a judgment establishing the liability of either side, so the proposed settlement does not mean that the plaintiffs' allegations have been legally confirmed.
The first lawsuit was filed in a Nevada state court on November 17, 2023, only one day after the disrupted program, and the case was subsequently transferred to federal court. A second, substantively similar proceeding was initiated at the end of December that year. The court consolidated the cases in April 2024, after which a consolidated class-action complaint was filed. In February 2025, Judge Navarro dismissed the claims relating to negligence and unfair trade practices, but allowed the plaintiffs to amend and provide a more detailed explanation of their claim concerning the alleged breach of contract. The amended complaint filed in March 2025 therefore focused on whether Liberty Media and Las Vegas Grand Prix should have issued partial refunds after withdrawing spectators' access to FP2.
Negotiations lasted for months, agreement reached after mediation
Court documents show that on July 8, 2025, the parties participated in mediation before retired federal judge S. James Otero. No agreement was reached that day, but negotiations continued with the mediator's assistance and through direct discussions between the lawyers. An agreement in principle was reached on October 29, 2025, after which the parties conducted an additional exchange of information to define the list of potential class members, the calculation model and the method for distributing the money. The final text of the agreement was submitted to the court in early March 2026.
The $3,047,986 settlement fund is structured as a total common fund from which more than compensation for spectators will be paid. The same amount must also cover the costs of sending notices and administering claims, court-approved litigation expenses, attorneys' fees and possible special awards to the named class representatives. The plaintiffs' attorneys may request no more than 30 percent of the fund, or up to $914,396, while each of the five named representatives may request up to $2,500. The final amounts must be approved by the court, and only the remaining net fund will be distributed to eligible ticket holders.
According to the proposal submitted to the court, the settlement covers purchasers of more than 32,000 tickets, but the number of people who will actually receive money will depend on automatic payments, the validity of submitted claims and any exclusions from the class. The documents distinguish between two basic categories: Thursday-only tickets and three-day tickets for the entire weekend. The court materials set an initial calculation amount of $59.18 for each eligible single-day ticket and $104.81 for each eligible three-day ticket, before a proportional adjustment based on the net fund actually available.
In their motion for preliminary approval, the plaintiffs estimated that the final payment could range from approximately $37.05 to $69.30 for a Thursday-only ticket and from $65.61 to $122.73 for a three-day ticket. Those ranges are not guaranteed amounts, but projections that depend on the number of valid claims, administrative costs, attorneys' fees and other expenses approved by the court. If more people request money, each individual payment will be smaller; if fewer people submit claims, the available amount per eligible ticket may increase. The settlement therefore does not function as a full refund of the purchase price, but as partial compensation for the value of the missed FP2 session, reduced to reflect the estimated risk of continuing the litigation.
Who is eligible for payment and who must submit a claim
The class includes individuals or legal entities that purchased a single-day or three-day ticket directly from Las Vegas Grand Prix, as well as individuals who received a transferred ticket originally purchased from the organizer, provided that the ticket was scanned for entry before 11:59:59 p.m. on November 16, 2023. Among those excluded from the class are the defendants themselves and their affiliated entities, court officials, employees and affiliated individuals who received tickets through internal distribution channels, certain partners and resellers, and recipients of transferred Paddock Club tickets.
Purchasers who obtained their tickets directly from the organizer or through Ticketmaster's primary or secondary marketplace do not need to submit a claim. According to the official settlement website, after final approval and the agreement becoming effective, payments should be sent to them automatically using the last known email address associated with the purchase. Individuals who received a ticket from someone else outside those sales channels must submit a form and provide documentation proving that they held an eligible ticket and entered the event.
The deadline for such claims is August 27, 2026. If the administrator determines that information or documentation is missing from an application, the applicant should, according to the official notice, be given an opportunity to correct the deficiency within 20 days. An approved payment for a transferred ticket will go to the person who used it and submitted a valid claim, rather than necessarily to the original purchaser. Court documents also warn that class members who remain covered by the settlement waive the opportunity to initiate separate proceedings against the defendants based on the same released claims.
The deadlines for exclusion from the class and for objections to the settlement were June 28, 2026. This left the August deadline for claims by holders of transferred tickets as the main remaining practical issue for potential recipients. Submitting a claim does not result in immediate payment. The court must first assess whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate to protect the interests of the class, and the money cannot be distributed until the decision becomes final and any appeals have been resolved.
Final decision expected in November 2026
The final approval hearing is scheduled for November 4, 2026, at 9 a.m. Pacific Time, in Courtroom 7D of the United States District Court in Las Vegas. Judge Navarro will consider the terms of the agreement, administration of the fund, the requested attorneys' fees, any objections and the distribution plan. If the settlement is approved without appeals, the administrator should, according to the documents, arrange electronic payments or checks within the period specified by the agreement. If the decision is challenged, payments could be significantly delayed.
For Liberty Media and the organizers, the case has broader significance than the amount of the fund itself. Las Vegas was one of the key projects in Formula 1's expansion in the United States, and the race was unusual because a company affiliated with the owner of the commercial rights was directly involved in promoting and organizing the event. The chaos of the first day contrasted the ambitious image of the spectacle with the actual operational limitations in the city, on a temporary street circuit and during a program that continued deep into the night. The legal dispute also demonstrated that the promised content of a ticket can become a contractual issue even when the disruption was originally caused by a safety incident on the track.
The sporting part of the weekend ultimately produced an exciting race. Max Verstappen won ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez, while the second free practice session, held without most of the paying audience, ended with a Ferrari one-two as Leclerc finished ahead of Sainz. Nevertheless, the event's legal aftermath remained unresolved for almost three years. The proposed settlement now offers partial cash payments instead of the original merchandise voucher, but the final answer regarding how much each spectator will receive and when the money will be paid will depend on the court's decision in November and any subsequent appeal proceedings.
Sources:
- Official LVGP 2023 Ticket Settlement website - settlement terms, eligibility, deadlines and date of the final hearing (link)
- United States District Court for the District of Nevada / Settlement Agreement - fund amount, ticket categories, calculation amounts and distribution rules (link)
- Plaintiffs' Unopposed Motion for Preliminary Approval - procedural history, estimated number of tickets and ranges of possible payments (link)
- Long Form Notice of Proposed Class Settlement - rights of class members, application procedure, fund expenses and deadlines (link)
- Formula 1 - report on the interruption of the first free practice session because of a problem with a cover on the track (link)
- FIA - report on the extended second practice session and work carried out following the water-valve problem (link)
- RaceFans - joint statement by the organizers regarding the closure of spectator areas and compensation for part of the audience (link)