Everything You Need to Know About the Las Vegas GP

Make Sure You Don’t Miss It!

The Las Vegas Grand Prix features a rather unusual schedule, so study up to not miss any of the action.

Thursday is now ‘practice day’ with everything moving one day earlier compared to the normal race weekend schedule. FP1 takes place in the evening, but FP2 starts at midnight and runs into Friday morning. It’s the same story for ‘qualifying day’ – FP3 takes place on Friday evening but qualifying starts at midnight and runs into Saturday morning.

Qualifying and the race (which is at 10pm local on Saturday) both take place on the same day. And the race start time is the latest F1 start time in the sport’s history.

While the timetable brings challenges for the team at the track, it’s also tricky for the crew back in Brackley in the Race Support Room. The schedule is similar to the Japanese GP, with work starting around 2am GMT.

Take a look at the full schedule on our Las Vegas race page.

F1 Has Been Here Before

Newer fans of F1 might not know that Formula One has in fact raced in Las Vegas before. There was a two-year stint from 1981 to 1982 where the Caesars Palace Grand Prix was part of the calendar.

The races were held on a temporary street circuit located in the car park of the famous Caesars Palace hotel and on both occasions hosted the season finale. They were won by Williams’ Alan Jones (1981) and Tyrrell’s Michele Alboreto (1982).

For us as a team though, this will mark our first race visit to Sin City!

What’s the Rest of the Track Like?

The 6.201km Las Vegas Strip Circuit is the second-longest lap of the calendar, behind Spa-Francorchamps, and features 17 corners – 11 left-handers and six right-handers.

It’s a high-speed track with many long straights separated by tight and twisty corners. We’re expecting top speeds close to Monza levels and 78% of the lap distance taking place at full throttle – one of the highest percentages of the season.

There is a set-up trade-off to be found to not sacrifice top speeds, while still ensuring the car retains good mechanical grip and downforce for those slower corners.

There are two DRS zones, located between Turn 4 and 5, and then on the back straight between Turn 13 and Turn 14. The corners directly after the DRS zones, Turns 4 and 14, are the most likely overtaking opportunities.