Las Vegas GP aims to stay on F1 calendar 'forever'

What happens in Vegas stays and Vegas, and the organisers of next year's new Formula 1 race in Sin City aim to keep their event on Grand Prix racing's calendar "forever".

Las Vegas will host America's third race of the 2023 F1 season, after Miami and Austin, and it will feature as the penultimate round of the world championship on November 18.

Contrary to F1's first visit to the gambling capital of the world back in the early 80s, when it set up shop in the parking lot of the Caesar's Palace hotel, next year's race will take place on a proper 6.12 km (3.8 miles) street circuit that will feature 14 corners and will follow a long stretch of Vegas' glittering Strip.

But the event's main singularity will be its late Saturday evening start.

Las Vegas holds a three-contract with Formula 1 which is also an investor in the event, with parent company Liberty Media purchasing a ploy of land for $240 million where it will locate its pit and paddock complex.

But the city aims to become a permanent fixture on F1's schedule after 2025, as Emily Prazer, the chief commercial officer of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, explained at a recent BlackBook Motorsport Forum event.

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"From our point of view, we purchased a piece of land with the intention of having a race here," said Prazer.

"I don’t think there’s any intention to only be here for three years. We want to be here for forever.

"This is such a unique market and somewhere that we think we can keep continuing to grow the sport. So we’re very excited about that kind of permanent infrastructure that will be in place.

"From our point of view – and it’s definitely not something that’s ready to share more broadly – but we’re looking at how that piece of land and what we do on it from a year-round perspective becomes an experience in Las Vegas like no other."

Vegas will certainly benefit from Formula 1's presence, but expectations are also high that the sport will run its operations with a minimum of disruption for the array of casinos located around and in the vicinity of the track.

"Significant planning has been going into daily meetings with resorts and casinos around how we ensure that the island we’re creating is completely accessible, mostly for staff," explained Prazer.

"One thing that we really didn’t factor in from our understanding is the shift change patterns and how many people actually work in Las Vegas in terms of that hotel industry.

"So we are constructing bridges to make sure that people can come in and out of that inner circuit area as much as we can, and we’ve been very strategic about where we’re placing the really heavy [traffic] areas."

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