Formula 1
By Vlad Roman,
General Manager, Smart Games
For the third time this year, Formula 1 makes its appearance in the United States, marking a significant return after 40 years in the vibrant city of entertainment, with the inaugural edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
When Formula 1 last appeared in Las Vegas, the race was known as the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, after the name of the famous hotel – where the circuit was set up in the parking lot. The somewhat featureless and repetitive track was not particularly popular, so it was used for F1 only twice, as the season-ending race in both 1981 and 1982.
In 2023 the situation has changed radically, the newly designed street circuit, with a length of 6.2 kilometers, which revolves around the iconic “Strip” in Vegas, is ready to host a race that will have immense historical significance for this sport.
Liberty Media invested $600 million in the 4-story building that houses the paddock alone, the Wynn Grid Club, a balcony with 360-degree visibility and a roof shaped like the Formula 1 logo, which is actually a giant LED panel visible from the plane but also from the upper floors of the hotels on the Strip or the “Signature” buildings nearby. This will be the permanent headquarters of F1-USA, it will be open all year round, offering karting races, shops with F1 products but also projects carried out together with Netflix – the producer of the documentary series “Drive to survive” which contributed essentially to its popularization of this phenomenon in the United States and beyond.
After the start and the first 4 turns enter the straight from Koval Lane, accelerate to the maximum with DRS open until turn 5 which opens the series of curves that go around the Sphere, the newest attraction in Vegas, a spherical structure 112 meters high covered entirely by 1.2 million LED panels. The construction – the largest of its kind in the world – features 15,000 square meters of high-resolution 16K screens. Costing $2.3 billion, The Sphere opened in early November with a U2 concert and “The Sphere Experience,” a part sci-fi show about the future of technology presented by the humanoid robot Aura and directed by Darren Aronofsky known for the films Pi, Noah, The Whale or The Fountain. During the grand prix weekend, Sfera lit up the circuit with a reproduction of the Pirelli P Zero tire, alternately with the Pirelli logo and other representative images of the event.
Once around the Sphere we enter Sands Avenue, we pass the Wynn resort golf course and the Sands Expo Convention Center the site of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E), we see the Fashion Show Mall ahead, we brake hard and enter Las Vegas Boulevard …we are already not concentrating on the race because on the left we pass the Palazzo, on the right Treasure Island, on the left again we have The Venetian, we don’t have time to ride the gondola on the canals because on the right the Mirage volcano is erupting. We’ve reached turn 13, we pass the Linq and Flamingo we’re on the second straight and with DRS on we inspect Caesars Forum Shops, Bellagio with its fountains, we pass the Eifel tower and Paris Hotel & Casino. Already the speed is 340 km/h, we don’t have much to see from Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood but we brake hard before Aria because turns 14, 15 and 16 are coming. We are on Harmon Avenue – the third straight line, we pass Marriott’s Grand Chateau, Hilton Elara and The Signature luxury apartments and after turn 17 we reach the start/finish line.
The new circuit is the third longest on the calendar, after Spa-Francorchamps and Jeddah, and thanks to the three straights on Harmon Avenue, Koval Lane and The Strip, it is one of the fastest.
Qualifying and the race took place at night, it couldn’t be otherwise in the city that never sleeps, it was a major test from a technical point of view, both for the teams and the drivers, all coming to this race without any real reference with except for simulators. No one has driven on the Las Vegas circuit, the surface is a mix between regular street asphalt, especially on the Strip section, as well as new segments completely repaved for the occasion. Las Vegas is located in the Mojave desert and at night temperatures drop to 5 degrees so the difference between cold tire pressure and normal running pressure is much reduced, when the car moves the pressure will increase less than on other circuits due to the lower temperature of the asphalt, which is why Pirelli has brought the softest compounds C3, C4 and C5, which should guarantee good grip.
In qualifying Ferarri dominated, however due to the accident caused by the detached trunk lid Sainz had to start the race from P12, thus Verstappen shared the front row with Leclerc.
The race went as we expected – with Max on the top step of the podium, followed by Leclerc and Perez.
