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.
