Does the racing already match up to the glitz and glamour in Vegas?
Red Bull
Is the Las Vegas Grand Prix already a classic?
When the F1 hype machine fired up after the March 2022 announcement of its Nevada return – following two drab races at the Caesars Palace parking lot in the early ‘80s – many found its inevitable largesse off-putting.
This only increased in the build-up to its 2023 debut, aided by a spectacular opening ceremony: “99% show, 1% sporting event” Max Verstappen pithily commented.
Thing weren’t helped by Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari sucking up a manhole cover in Free Practice 1, meaning fans couldn’t stay to watch a delayed late-night FP2 session due to security staff finishing their shifts.
Things got off to a bad start when Carlos Sainz inadvertently damaged some street furniture
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Was the race in Sin City really all show and no go?
However, when the lights went out at the first Vegas GP in four decades, a huge amount of the criticism melted away.
The race was a thriller, largely helped by a simple but effective layout which begins alongside F1’s purpose-built pit and paddock building.
The opening section of the track already features a decent-length straight in between two sets of winding corners, giving the chance of an early overtake, with drivers having to make sure they’re not distracted by the almost-blinding LED lights of the ‘Sphere’ concert venue as the circuit threads its way round.
Mind that Sphere
Red Bull
Once the track reaches The Strip, it has a 1.2-mile blast past many of the city’s most famous landmarks – if you count the Vegas Eiffel Tower as a landmark. This means plenty more slipstreaming is possible, with more potential overtakes on the following start-finish straight again facilitating an exciting race.
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And that was exactly what we got in 2023. Now, Vegas looks like it could follow a similar-ish path to Baku and Jeddah. Both those tracks were given lukewarm receptions when they appeared in render form, but the pair morphed into modern classics when it became apparent how good they were for racing.
The tedious fanfare which surrounded the Las Vegas build-up only increased the apathy to its early CGI impressions but after all manhole covers were secured, it quickly became clear this track is actually quite good for 200mph competition.
Rather like when Bahrain used it’s ‘Roval’ configuration for the Sakhir GP during the Covid-hit 2020 season (another thriller, that time won by Sergio Perez for Racing Point), the relatively simplistic layout with long straights clearly serves as a platform to great racing action. The Grand Prix itself finely demonstrated this.
At the beginning of the race Verstappen ran pole-sitting Charles Leclerc off the track in a bid to take the lead – sound familiar? – before one of the best races of a largely beige 2023 unfolded.
Verstappen runs wide at the start – and takes Leclerc with him
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Early chaos ensued, the culprit being a lack of grip on The Strip, cold temperatures combining with heavy braking zones to give drivers a headache on the rapid layout.
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Fernando Alonso went barrelling sideways into the first corner at the start, before Lando Norris hit the barriers hard at Turn 12 on lap four.
Verstappen was handed a 5sec penalty for his indiscretion, but for now it mattered not as Leclerc used the long Strip straight on lap 16 to get back past the Dutchman who dived into the pits.
After serving his 5sec penalty, Verstappen had a bit of work to do in making it back to the sharp end, and connected with George Russell when trying to overtake, breaking the endplate on the Red Bull front wing.
This ironically brought Verstappen back into play for the race lead though, as the debris on track from the incident triggered the safety car and the field bunched up.
The trio of Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez all exchanged places over the next 20 laps in a flurry of overtaking moves. It culminated in Leclerc making a daring last-lap overtake on Perez to claim second as Verstappen won. Fans watching on were certainly entertained.
Red Bull vs Ferrari on The Strip
All this was possible due to configuration of the track, which makes great racing possible even with these downforce-dependent cars giving each other plenty of dirty air.
And though there’s a large amount of ‘DRS-ing’ involved, a feather-touch on the brake pedal is required on a cold, dirty street track in such extreme transfers from high to relatively low speed. It demands a huge amount of skill from the drivers, not only to get ahead, but then keep your rivals behind.
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“I loved the racing,” enthused Leclerc afterwards. “I did not expect to have that much fun in the race because in FP2 I was following, I think, George [Russell] and I really struggled to overtake him.
“Then we went down on the downforce and today was much better. So I’ll make sure I watch that race back.”
Most of the drivers agreed with Leclerc on the track being one to provide excitement, particularly Lewis Hamilton.
“It was one of the best races,” he said. “So many people, all the media, everyone’s been so negative about this race and about the show and all that. Just let it be and see how it goes. This is like Baku but better.”
This year the cars have converged in performance, with the top four teams of McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes all incredibly close.
This means 2024 could be an even better race than the inaugural one – it’s going to be essential watching this weekend.
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Red Bull
For the world championship to have a truly holistic character, it needs tracks that have individual personality – and Vegas has this in spades (apologies).
Unlike Miami, it isn’t in a car park, and different to the upcoming Madrid GP, it isn’t a business park tour either.
Vegas is a unique location with a track that almost guarantees a high-stakes thriller.
You could argue the race is already a classic. If 2024 consolidates its position as an on-track success, that argument will be undeniable.
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