It will probably be the penultimate race of the season, before the usual close in Abu Dhabi. The Grand Prix in Vegas is also run on Saturday evening, early Sunday morning in Europe. The street circuit will be more than 6 kilometers long, with three long straights and fourteen corners.
“A third race in the United States shows the enormous appeal and growth of our sport”
Formula 1 has been owned by Liberty Media, an American media conglomerate, since 2017. For the owner, the United States is very interesting from a commercial point of view. Thanks in part to the blood-curdling title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton last year and the popular Netflix documentary Drive to Survive Formula 1 is also gaining popularity on the other side of the ocean. At the beginning of May this year, Miami makes its debut on the calendar and that race was sold out quickly.
Last season’s Grand Prix in Austin was the most attended race ever with 400,000 spectators spread over three days. And recently the opening race in Bahrain on the American ESPN the most watched Grand Prix on cable television since 1995. With an average of one and a half million viewers, that is not so bad in absolute numbers, but it is clear that the sport is on the rise in America.
The racetrack in Las Vegas.
“A third race in the United States shows the enormous appeal and growth of our sport,” said Formula 1’s CEO Stefano Domenicali. Las Vegas is a destination known around the world for its excitement, hospitality, thrills and, of course, the famous Strip. There is no better place for Formula 1 to race than in the entertainment capital of the world and we can’t wait to be here next year.”
The Formula 1 leadership therefore chooses next year to travel to America at three different times, presumably in May (Miami), October (Austin) and therefore November (Las Vegas). In Las Vegas, a Grand Prix has been completed twice before, in 1981 and 1982.
With the arrival of Las Vegas, the return of China and the permanent ‘appointment’ of Qatar – which will probably also return to the calendar this year instead of Russia – the calendar is busy. It is certain that at least one of the races that is still on the calendar this year will disappear. The French Paul Ricard and Belgian Spa-Francorchamps are in the making in that regard.