Las Vegas Grand Prix organisers have ruled out a sprint race following Formula One’s other U.S. rounds in Austin and Miami and switching to a sprint format.
The 100km race, a day before the main event, is aimed at providing more racing entertainment for fans but the Las Vegas GP is already on a Saturday and last year featured more overtaking than any other round.
Formula One’s chief commercial officer Emily Prazer told reporters, ahead of next week’s second edition of the night race down the famed Strip, that a sprint had been considered and rejected.
“I think one of the big takeaways from last year is how insanely good the racing was,” she said of a race promoted directly by Liberty Media-owned F1.
“We’re quite comfortable letting Austin and Miami keep the sprint because we’ve got so much more happening anyway and we’re in a really good place,” she added.
The U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas is at a purpose-built circuit while Miami uses the Hard Rock Stadium complex owned by the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.
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Prazer said the Las Vegas circuit needed to be opened and closed at 42 locations during the day.
“I think adding a sprint would also create a nervousness of, can we fix the track fast enough if something was to happen?,” she added.
“I was in Singapore with the race and chatting to the promoter and they were like ’we don’t understand how you open and close the track the way you do’. They keep the roads closed for seven days. Can you imagine us, the council keeping the roads closed for seven days? It would just literally never happen, ever,” she said.
Las Vegas Grand Prix chief executive Renee Wilm said the calendar slot, with Miami in May and Austin in October, was also a good fit.
Las Vegas is a potential title decider this year, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen 62 points clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris and three races remaining.
“We are a lot of glamour and glitz, as Miami is, and having us separate on the calendar I do think is a good thing. Austin is a very different market,” said Wilm.
“It (Austin) is the heartland of America. It’s cowboy boots and American flags and I think it brings in a different demographic of fan.”
Steve Hill, chief executive of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors’ Authority, said last year’s race had a huge impact.
“November in Las Vegas is typically the eighth-best month of the year, November last year was the second-best month in our history,” he said.
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