What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, as anyone who has ever rolled the dice knows. Decidedly not, however, for Formula One, which wants nothing more than the entire world to bear witness when the sport goes racing in the heart of Sin City next weekend.
When F1 hits the track in Las Vegas its intent is to be a showcase like no other. In a city that does nothing by half, this will need to be big, brash and utterly spectacular if it is to outshine the bright lights of the Strip down which the cars will race.
The sport has visited Las Vegas before in two unloved races, branded as the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, in 1981 and 1982. They were so named because they took place, in effect, in the car park of Caesars on an impossibly tight and unedifying circuit that failed to excite drivers or fans. The return more than 40 years later is on a far grander scale and of far greater ambition.
This time the Las Vegas Grand Prix will take place on a 3.8-mile street circuit through the very heart of the city, with its centrepiece being the run down Las Vegas Boulevard – the Strip – lined by the casinos that have been an integral part in backing the race. It is, as F1 sees it, more than just a race but an “entertainment event”.
To that end the house has changed the rules. The grand prix will take place on the Saturday, for the first time since the 1985 South African GP, and it will be staged at night, when F1 hopes the city will have reached fever pitch. Like the big fights Vegas specialises in, it will be seconds-out at 10pm.
Lewis Hamilton noted earlier this year that this race would be impossible to ignore. “Vegas is an iconic place,” he said. “The dream of driving down the Strip with all those casino lights. I’m really excited about getting to experience it.”
For F1 the stakes are high, says Emily Prazer, the Las Vegas GP’s chief commercial officer. “We want to make sure the fan experience is unrivalled and that we deliver a sports and entertainment event that is as good as the Super Bowl.”
For a sport that is still a relatively niche interest in the United States compared with NFL and in a city that will be hosting its first Super Bowl next year, this is fighting talk indeed. Yet Las Vegas is meant to change that, as Prazer notes how the race is intended to be an unmissable event which will put more eyeballs on the sport both in the US and globally.
“I don’t think anyone is prepared, this is genuinely the biggest event the city has done in terms of taking over a large portion of The Strip,” she says. “It is the first time anyone has encapsulated the city. We are trying to own where we are and make it unique on the F1 calendar.”
This will be the third race in the US this year, alongside Miami and Austin, and F1 sees it as a vital part of the sport’s intent to expand in the country, perhaps even the vital part of breaking a market it has long coveted. It is a showcase it believes will catch the eye of an audience beyond that already drawn in by the success of the Netflix series Drive to Survive.
To that end it is very much going all-in. For the first time the sport’s owner is organising the meeting itself, rather than guaranteeing a profit by selling race rights to a local promoter. F1 is bankrolling it to the tune of almost half a billion dollars by the time all is done and dusted.
Putting it together since 2020 has required a complex collaboration. The casinos’ collective agreement had to be part of it, to allow the race to take place on the Strip – something the former F1 impresario Bernie Ecclestone failed to secure, hence Caesars car park – as well as the Las Vegas Convention Authority and the Clark County Commission, right up to the governor of Nevada.
A great part of the costs, in September running to $435m (£370m), has been the purchase of land in the heart of the city to build a section of track and a vast, permanent paddock complex. The roads have been resurfaced for the track and, as the race looms, additional infrastructure will include an array of temporary bridges to enable the business of Vegas to continue in the background.
The Las Vegas GP chief executive, Renee Wilm, has spoken of a race being staged here “for many decades”. Perhaps it is the perfect example of what Liberty Media, F1’s owner, had in mind when wanting races in “destination cities”, particularly one that styles itself as the “global entertainment capital of the world”.
F1 has come to the desert city to make a noise and next weekend it will show its cards. Expect it to be as flamboyant, audacious and overwhelming as Vegas itself and perhaps not to everyone’s taste. Yet its real success will likely be measured over years, rather than in the small hours of Sunday morning when bleary-eyed fans weave their way back for a final flutter before bed.
