Formula 1 and the FIA have jointly decided to prohibit the use of the colors yellow, red, and blue at Las Vegas’ MSG Sphere during all track sessions this weekend to prevent any potential distractions for the drivers.
The Sphere has been up and running for only two months, but the arena is already a prominent landmark in the city’s landscape.
The next-generation entertainment medium that is redefining the future of live entertainment, is the largest LED screen in the world.
Its outside surface, called the Exosphere, consists of approximately 1.2 million LED pucks, spaced eight inches apart. Each puck contains 48 individual LED diodes, with each diode capable of displaying 256 million different colors.
The Sphere is currently the home of Irish rock band U2 during its residency in Las Vegas, but F1 reached a deal with MSG to take over the arena for the duration of its event in Sin City, which has allowed FOM to include it in its marketing packages.
Although the Sphere will remain operational around the clock this week, careful attention has been given to its display.
To avoid any misinterpretations and maintain driver focus on crucial light panels at the track's periphery, it has been agreed not to showcase three colors, specifically red, yellow, and blue.
The landmark will sit in plain view of the drivers as they barrel down towards Turn 5 and remain in their line of sight as they run through Turn 6.
©Formula1
"It's all safe,” commented MSG Entertainment executive Joel Fisher, quoted by Motorsport.com. “Obviously, we're going to comply with the FIA's requirements, and make sure.
“They've come here at night and tested different colours and different things on there. And we know what we shouldn't show. So we have a show runner to do all that.
"There's going to be some live footage, there's helmets, there's driver cards, there's ads, there's all those types of things, and some other surprises.”
Mercedes George Russell reckons the Sphere won’t be a distraction for drivers simply because of its sheer size.
“We’ve often got LED lights around us, but never so much in your peripheral,” he said. “And it’s a pretty spectacular building to say the least.
“I recognise they’ve banned those three colours but I think with the vastness of that, if I saw a big red ball on there I don’t think I’d be backing off thinking it was a red flag.
“But I think that’s one of the exciting things about this race is we’re going into a bit of unknown territory with bits and pieces like that.”
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