At the Bellagio, a gathering of chefs (and Mark Wahlberg) highlights the spectacle of F1
This article is part from the series “Beyond the Track”, a dive into the surrounding scene, glamor and culture that make a Grand Prix.
LAS VEGAS — A touch of dancing fountains, a touch of star power provided by a collection of celebrity chefs, and even something to spice it all up with champagne. Welcome to the Bellagio Fountain Club, a perfect recipe for everything the Las Vegas Grand Prix has to offer, making it the most unique race on the Formula 1 calendar.
At first glance, a who’s who of chefs coming together just hours before qualifying might be hard to swallow. Ah, not so, says Wolfgang Puck, who explains that there are parallels between performing at a high level on the court and preparing a gourmet meal in the kitchen.
“A restaurant is exactly the same as a Formula 1 team. Both are like an orchestra,’ Puck said The Athletics. “It’s exactly the same. Because everyone has to work together and everyone has to help each other. You really have to let it sink in, because it’s all about timing too. If you have three or four different stations in a restaurant and one order contains this or that and you have five different dishes for one table, you can’t have them all come at the same time. So it takes organization and a lot of training.”
Puck is not an F1 novice; he followed the European-oriented sport closely as a boy in Austria. His favorite driver was of course compatriot Niki Lauda, who later became a good friend. Just the mention of the three-time world champion’s name makes Puck smile, immediately reminiscing about watching Lauda race every time F1 visited the street circuit in Long Beach, California.
At the time, Puck was an emerging chef, about to become one of the first chefs to cross over into mainstream culture, while Lauda was already recognized as an F1 legend. A friendship was born, and every time Puck attends a Grand Prix it brings back a flood of memories of watching races around the world.
“A restaurant is exactly the same as a Formula 1 team. Both are like an orchestra,” says celebrity chef and F1 fan Wolfgang Puck. (Christopher Trim/Cal Sport Media via AP Images)
Puck was also present here at the first Grand Prix of Las Vegas a year ago, and he is impressed with how this race became a success. eventa word he emphasizes, because how can a setting like this – the famous Bellagio Fountains behind him, and a purposefully constructed street circuit winding through Las Vegas’ famous landmarks – be merely a race.
“I think (the Grand Prix) really showcases Las Vegas in a good way because they race at night,” Puck said. “I’m really excited to finally have it here. People can come from all over the world. There are more hotel rooms so close, like I go to Formula 1 in Budapest and they have very few hotel rooms, you have to stay in a small ass hotel 80 kilometers away. You must then leave the parking lot. Just like this year, we waited two and a half hours before we could leave the parking lot. That doesn’t happen here.”
While champagne toasts and caviar dishes have always been synonymous with the globetrotting sport that races in exotic locations, there’s no denying that F1 is presented very differently than even five years ago.
Fueled by the “Drive to Survive” effect, the boost in American interest in the sport often attributed to the Netflix docuseries, races have become such a spectacle that a gathering like this with nearly two dozen celebrity chefs isn’t feels out of place on a Grand Prix weekend.
And just as Puck is an example of a more traditional F1 fan, another participant here represents the other end of the spectrum.
“My daughter. Totally my daughter,” said Mark Wahlberg, explaining how he discovered F1.
Like so many, ‘Drive to Survive’ was the starting point for Grace Wahlberg falling in love with the sport. She was particularly attracted to McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. It wasn’t long before her newfound interest piqued her father’s curiosity, which eventually led to Mark, the famous actor, pulling strings so that Grace could have the chance to sit in one of Norris’ older cars.
“She has a crush on two of the boys, Oscar and Lando, and that’s why she wanted to meet them,” Mark Wahlberg said. The Athletics. “So being a dad who likes to make things happen for my kids, I figured out how to track down Lando and have a car sent home. It was cool for us to spend some time together and enjoy something.”
How did actor Mark Wahlberg end up in F1? “All my daughter,” he says. Daughter Grace is a fan of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. (Christopher Trim/Cal Sport Media via AP Images)
Donnie Wahlberg nods his head and smiles as his younger brother describes how he got into F1. It’s the kind of nod that means, “I told you so,” because Donnie is a longtime fan who discovered the sport and learned its intricacies while touring Europe during the heyday of the boy band New Kids on the Block .
Donnie has a lot of opinions about F1, but little time to express them all. He has to fly to meet his wife. But before he goes, he wants to make one thing known: he loves Michael Schumacher. And while the debate among fans about who is better often focuses on Schumacher, Ayrton Senna or Lewis Hamilton, Donnie leans in a different direction. His vote: Max Verstappen is the GOAT.
Mark himself smiles as Donnie makes his point, although he prefers not to get involved in the debate. Perhaps Mark’s dedication to McLaren isn’t quite at the level of Grace’s or Donnie’s, even if it doesn’t seem far off. His support isn’t just lip service either, it comes from a real place. He may be here at the Bellagio to support his other brother Paul, a chef who has worked in the restaurant industry since he was a teenager, but he’s also here because he’s a fan who wants to immerse himself in the event.
And here on a Friday afternoon atop a building purpose-built so fans could watch cars race down Las Vegas Boulevard, old and new F1 fans mingled. The event is the one thing everyone is talking about.
“It’s a global event now,” Puck said. “At that time, Americans did not yet know Formula 1. It wasn’t that popular. It’s not like today.”
The Beyond the Track series is part of a collaboration with Chanel.
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(Top photo: Jordan Bianchi / The Athletics)
