Las Vegas: The Race F1 Loves and Hates in Equal Parts

The Las Vegas Grand Prix is not a conventional race, since its return to the calendar in 2023 the urban circuit that crosses the Strip has become a compendium of excesses, controversies and surreal moments that distinguish it from any other Formula 1 event. With four editions disputed between the old and the new era, the Nevada event maintains a striking statistic: no driver has repeated a victory. Alan Jones (1981), Michele Alboreto (1982), Max Verstappen (2023) and George Russell (2024) are the four names that appear in the winners' list, a sample of the unpredictability that surrounds this layout.

The modern debut in 2023, was about to sink before starting. The first free practice session was canceled at nine minutes when a defective drain cover destroyed Carlos Sainz's car and almost sent him to the hospital, FP2 was delayed so much that the fans had to be evacuated from the stands. Verstappen himself sentenced: "This is 99% show and 1% sporting event" a phrase that summarizes the tension between the glamour of the city and the sporting essence of the category.

The 2023 race, however, compensated for the organizational disappointments with a spectacle on the asphalt. Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez starred in a memorable battle for second place, with the Monegasque recovering the position on the last lap after a previous mistake. Verstappen took the victory but the weekend left images to remember, such as the three podium drivers getting into a taxi to be transferred to the Bellagio where a show of fountains and lights awaited them.

The most controversial aspect of the Las Vegas GP is its format. The race is held on Saturday night a schedule designed to maximize television audience in Europe and adapt to the American market, it was the first Saturday race since the 1985 South African GP, to this are added the freezing November temperatures that hover around 10 degrees and complicate tire management, forcing the teams to seek an almost impossible balance between aerodynamic load and tire warming.

Off track, Las Vegas has offered moments as unusual as the presence of Beyoncé and Jay-Z in the Ferrari garage, the actor Terry Crews driving the podium drivers in a Lego Cadillac or a Mickey Mouse directing a fountain show at the Bellagio. Valtteri Bottas, faithful to his style, appeared as an improvised matchmaker and several Elvis Presley impersonators received the drivers on media day.

The fourth edition, in 2024, left another controversial chapter: the disqualification of the two McLarens after the race, which handed the victory to Verstappen ahead of the Mercedes, the average speed of 229 km/h and Verstappen's fastest lap in 1:33.365 confirmed that the circuit, beyond the noise, also produces vertiginous races.

Las Vegas is, in short, an experiment that Formula 1 is still calibrating, a place where sport and entertainment collide, where drivers complain about the cold and the spectacle but where the spectacle, unstoppable, always finds a way to shine.