Tom Wood
Formula 1 has been slammed as ‘elitist’ and out of touch after the hospitality food menu at the Miami Grand Prix was revealed.
Of course, anybody who's a fan of F1 will know that the sport certainly isn't a cheap one - whether that's the price of the cars or how much the drivers get paid - it takes a lot of money to keep the sport going.
And you’d have to imagine that the tickets to get to the races and the exclusive areas would also be quite expensive.
Notable attendees at this weekend’s event in Miami – which was won by world champion Max Verstappen – included two of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos - which already kind of sets you up for the prices of the food and drink.
Advert
Well, a menu from the Miami Grand Prix has been revealed online and it shows the cheapest food available was a salad that would set punters back $250 – that’s nearly £200.
Yikes, it had better be a good salad for that kind of outlay.
The salad in question was a watermelon and tomatillo salad, with goats cheese, mint, arugula – rocket for the UK-based – and blood orange dressing.
In honesty, the salad and all the other meals allegedly served four people, but that’s still a $62.50 salad per person.
Also on the menu in Miami, you could have had Maine lobster rolls for $450, a yellowfin tuna poke for $350, some chilled prawns with mustard and cocktail sauces for $500, or a fruit refresher for $295.
Advert
Caviar was then priced at $400 per ounce, and that’s before we’ve even arrived at the hot food menu and the desserts.
You can have a look at the whole menu here:
Elsewhere, there were concerns about the fact that they were charging $25 for a bottle of water, and up to $3,600 for a bottle of sparkling rose wine.
Even if it was an incredible bottle, that’s a lot at just over £2,850.
Advert
It’s nothing compared to the $12,000 (£9,509) tequila on offer, though.
Anyway, people have been kicking off about the pricing, even if this is for the hospitality seats.
While those in the hospitality seats clearly aren't worried about paying more than three grand for a bottle of wine, others have been outraged by the price lists.
One account wrote: “Feeding the #F1 elitist narrative. One of the storylines of Las Vegas GP is motorsports fans have been priced out.
Advert
Another said: “$25 for water is actually criminal.”
A third person wrote: “Insanely absurd… over 1000% markup on everything… basically a just because markup…”
However, others have mentioned that this is a menu for an exclusive table service area, and that everything sold is for sharing between many people.
One such person said: “Yeah but it’s all shareable items at a premier event, those prices are to be expected honestly.”
Are they?
Advert
Another defender wrote: “This is purely in a VIP area. The prices everywhere else were what you’d expect at any major sporting event.”
A third comment read: “This is for tables, literally table service… in Miami. Stop acting like this is obscene.
“All you mfs complaining clearly have never gone out in Miami. Go to [nightclubs] LIV or E11even on a table and let me know what their prices are.”
LADbible has contacted Formula 1 for a comment.