It’s further worth noting that F1 races abound with experiences that money can’t buy. I was surprised to learn that access to the Silver Arrows Lounge — a partnership between The Ritz-Carlton hospitality brand and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team — is largely for loyal guests of The Ritz-Carlton and members of Marriott Bonvoy. Through the Marriott Bonvoy Moments experiences platform, members can redeem points to acquire certain experiences or to bid on exclusive opportunities to interact with the racing teams or to gain even closer access. Both Lewis Hamilton (arguably the biggest star in F1 racing history) and Mick Schumacher stopped by the lounge to say hello and to hype up the already considerably hyped crowd. I also joined a group of fans on a pre-race walk through the racing pits, where I not only almost bumped into Queen Latifah but also watched in awe as an affable Tom Cruise, less than 2 feet away from me, was coached through the experience of efficiently changing a tire on Lewis Hamilton’s car.

And then, of course, there is the race itself. Whatever cynicism I might have had about racing pretty much evaporated the moment the cars lined up and waited for the green light. The roar of the crowd goes toe-to-toe with the din of the engines, and the collective excitement of being in such close proximity to these incredible machines induces a kind of mania that I’ve rarely witnessed. Since the cars fly by at such a lightning speed, even though the race is happening a few feet away from you, there is also a wall-sized monitor that shows you what is happening on the parts of the track you can’t see and an in-lounge racing expert providing an up-to-the-second play-by-play. Before you know it, the race is over (during my visit, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took the top spot), and everyone exits the stadium, a great number of them already making plans for the next big F1 date: the debut of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is set to race down the strip.