Las Vegas Saturday race "obvious thing" for F1 - Zak Brown

Las Vegas Grand Prix

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Las Vegas Saturday race "obvious thing" for F1 - Brown

The new race will take place over Thanksgiving weekend next year

Ewan Gale

Sunday 3 April 2022 12:30 Updated: 13:47

McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes scheduling the Las Vegas Grand Prix on a Saturday night was the "obvious thing" for F1.

The long-anticipated Las Vegas event will take place over Thanksgiving weekend next season with the iconic Strip to feature in the layout.

The last time F1 held a grand prix on a Saturday was at the 1985 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami and addressing the scheduling, Brown told Reuters: “It looks very proper and all the right people are behind it. I think it’s going to be stunning for Formula 1.

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“We want to respect the history of the sport but there are not many sports that haven’t changed in recent times to adapt to a changing world. I think a Saturday night race in Vegas is the obvious thing to do."

On the geographic consequence of adding Las Vegas to Austin and Miami on the calendar, Brown added: “I think these are three awesome markets. I think it’s almost the perfect schedule from an American standpoint.”

Brown refloats rotation idea

McLaren has long been an advocate for fielding a core number of races on the calendar with certain events then being rotated in order for variation to the schedule.

With Las Vegas adding to the already brimming number of races on the calendar and more locations interested in hosting events, Brown has explained how he would form an ideal schedule.

“If you could wave a magic wand I’d like to see something like 21 or 22 races,” said Brown.

“Seventeen or 18 as permanent fixtures and seven or eight that rotate because I do think to continue to grow the sport the more quality markets we can be in the better. I’d love to see us be in 30 markets but race 21 or 22 times a year.

“I think there are A markets and B markets that we race in. Maybe your B markets [should be] every other year.”