F1 RETURNS TO LAS VEGAS

The Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix will take over the strip with racing and scores of off-track entertainment from November 16-18.

Written by Bridget Williams

If you’ve ever been in the back seat of an Uber as it inched its way through the seemingly ceaseless traffic on the Las Vegas strip, it would seem hard to believe that in November of this year, a select few drivers will have the privilege of racing down the garishly grand boulevard in excess of 200 MPH as part of the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix and related events on November 16-19. The event marks the first time the unmistakable shrill whine of an F1 engine operating at max capacity will quicken pulses in Sin City in nearly four decades.

In 1981 and 1982, the F1 world championship was decided by the Caesar’s Palace Grand Prix and staged on a temporary anticlockwise street circuit curiously squeezed between concrete barriers in a coiled snake configuration within the Caesar’s Palace parking lot. Australian driver Alan Jones, driving for Williams-Ford won the 75-lap race in 1981, with Michele Alboreto taking the checkered flag the following year in a Terrell-Ford. The 1982 race marked the end of famed driver Mario Andretti’s F1 career. However, he would return to the site to race after F1 dropped Vegas from its calendar and the circuit was reconfigured into a modified oval for Indy Car. In 1984, the last year of parking lot racing in Vegas, Andretti was crowned the Indy Car series champion.

The 2023 track design is 3.8 miles long from start to finish, with top speeds estimated to be over 212mph. Held on the evening of November 19 under lights in the heart of Las Vegas, the typical strip energy will be amplified with additional off-track entertainment before the drivers take on 50 race laps designed with three main straights and 17 corners. Drivers will zoom past iconic locations including Caesar’s Palace, the Bellagio, and the Venetian.

If attendance at kickoff events this past November is any indication, demand for tickets will far exceed the 100,000+ official spectator capacity. “Taking over the sports and entertainment capital of the world for almost an entire week is going to be a game changer for Formula 1 and has the potential to set the benchmark for all global sports and entertainment events in the future,” said Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1.

Ticket prices will start at $500. Premium seating experiences include:

• Paddock Club

Enjoy the epitome of Las Vegas hospitality from the best seats in the house. The Paddock Club sits on a newly- purchased 39-acre parcel of land adjacent to Las Vegas Boulevard, serving as the central point of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

• Wynn Grid Club

Located inside the Paddock Club with a theme heartening back to the 1920s, the Gatsby-esque setting will offer the most indulgent and glamorous vantage point to watch the race.

• Skyboxes

Situated above the premium start/finish grandstand featuring excellent views of the start/finish and the pre- and post-race festivities.

• Suites

These private suites feature elevated views of the race action as the cars head into the Koval straightaway

Through an initiative with the Las Vegas Grand Prix Foundation, in just 24 hours this past August, F1 fans interested in securing a spot in line for tickets donated enough funds to provide one million free meals to the local Las Vegas community. “While we are confident in the positive economic impact the Grand Prix will bring to the greater Las Vegas area, we are focused on making a difference for those most in need,” said Grand Prix’s CEO Renee Wilm." We are in Las Vegas for the long term and look forward to contributing to the community in many ways over the coming years. One million free meals is just the beginning.”

Charitable contributions will also benefit Green Our Planet, which assists “farmpreneur” and school garden programs at Clark County Schools and the Just One project to grow its no-cost Community Markets.

A ticket to the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the hottest ticket in global sport,” said Domenicali. For more information, visit formula1.com/en/racing/2023/Las_Vegas.html. sl