Although the Las Vegas Grand Prix is just a couple of days away, F1 keeps giving new updates for the weekend. The latest update from F1 is their record-breaking pit building for the teams, officials, and fans.
Normally in street circuits, F1 usually builds a temporary pit building or converts an existing building into their pit building. However, for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, F1 has decided to construct a permanent F1 pit building. This will continue to stand on the streets of Vegas even after this weekend.
This new pit building is 4 levels tall and covers the length of 3 American football stadiums. The roof of the building holds a 28,000 sq. ft. F1 logo with LED modules. It is clear that F1 and the organizers are expecting the Grand Prix to be a success. The construction taking place is in anticipation that the Las Vegas Grand Prix will be held for years to come. However, this could be challenging for various reasons.
Few facts about the upcoming Las Vegas Grand Prix:
– 110m tall amphitheatre at turns 7-9, with 1.2 million LED screens
– 18,000 seater stadium with 160,000 sq-ft 16k screen
– New, permanent four-level pit building, the length of three American Football stadiums (and now the… pic.twitter.com/czN3qV4J6s
— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) November 13, 2023
The layout of the Las Vegas street circuit is not a very exciting one. Although it has long straights, there are no tricky corners or technical corners to make it interesting for the drivers. It’s fair to say that the F1 drivers will not enjoy driving around this track. The event is mainly held for entertainment reasons.
The construction that has been taking place this year in preparation for the Grand Prix has been an absolute nightmare for the locals. Most of the roads around the track were blocked for construction. Hence, it became a major issue for the local building up to the Grand Prix.
How much money did F1 invest in the Las Vegas GP?
As of September 2023, Liberty Media’s CFO announced that they had already spent $435 million in preparation for the Grand Prix. Although we don’t have the final exact numbers, it is estimated that the cost to set up the Las Vegas Grand Prix was at least $1.06 billion.
The weekend is expected to hold a number of promotional activities for entertainment purposes. For the first time in F1 history, they will host an opening ceremony before the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix. The weekend is also bringing back the driver introductions we saw at the Miami Grand Prix.
The race is scheduled to take place on Saturday night at 22:00 local time. This was to make sure that the race would be convenient to watch for fans in Europe. However, this could be frustrating for those who are not watching the race as the sounds of the sport will be heard from miles away. The sounds will disturb those who will be having an early morning on Sunday. Since it is Vegas there will be a lot of hotel and casino workers who will need to work on Sunday morning.
“I think it’s going to be wild!” 💬
Safe to say Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to the Las Vegas Grand Prix 😅 pic.twitter.com/uHltMEoYn6
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 14, 2023
It will be interesting to see how many spectators turn up for the weekend. The latest reports were not very good for the organizers as it was just a few thousand from the least attended Grand Prix in the last 2 years. If F1 does not attract a large audience from the US market, F1 will reduce the number of races in the country.
Do you think F1 should hold 3 races in the US next season? Post your answers in the comment section below.