Vegas F1 race rules out gamechanging move

Las Vegas Grand Prix

Vegas F1 race rules out gamechanging move

The Las Vegas Grand Prix is next up on the calendar

By Jay Winter.

Thursday 14 November 2024 01:00

Organizers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix have made a significant announcement, ruling out a controversial addition to their race weekend.

The late night race in Nevada is currently the only US race on the calendar not to feature a sprint race in its schedule and, with more sprints being added all the time, the question was raised ahead of this month's edition.

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In a major announcement for the F1 community, Las Vegas COO Emily Prazer confirmed that the event is 'quite comfortable letting Austin and Miami keep the sprint'.

Currently, two of the six sprint races for the 2024 season are slated for American soil, with Max Verstappen taking victory in both Miami and Austin.

Max Verstappen won the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix

No F1 Sprint race for the Las Vegas Grand Prix

Despite its unique position as the only Grand Prix directly organised by F1, the logistics of opening and closing the Las Vegas Strip for the race make additional scheduling demands challenging.

Prazer highlighted the difficulties, noting, “We have around 46 track openings that people don’t realise... Adding a sprint would also create a nervousness of ‘can we fix the track if something was to happen fast enough?’”

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The Las Vegas GP, with its city-centre circuit and timed closures on the iconic Strip, stands apart from traditional street circuits.

Prazer compared it to Singapore’s GP, where roads remain closed for an entire week, a scenario she noted would be unthinkable for Las Vegas.

“Can you imagine us and the council keeping the roads closed for seven days? It would just literally never happen,” she said.

Introduced in 2021, sprint races have generally promoted higher-stakes overtaking and closer competition in shorter distances than traditional Grands Prix.

However, Prazer believes the Las Vegas GP itself already delivers intense racing action, with 99 overtakes recorded in its 2023 race, the most in an F1 event since 2016.

Reflecting on this, she explained: “The race in itself essentially feels like a sprint race.

“So if you think about the speed you're going, from a safety standpoint, how fast is that to how quick the track is, there wouldn't be too much difference between the actual race and the sprint based on the performance from last year, we did look at it.”

The decision effectively rules out a sprint race in Las Vegas for the foreseeable future, leaving Austin and Miami as the only US destinations hosting sprints.

Max Verstappen Ferrari Las Vegas Grand Prix