F1 is preparing for a rather grandiose weekend for its big return to Las Vegas, venue for the penultimate Grand Prix of the season where winter temperatures are expected.
After Miami and Austin, Las Vegas will be Formula 1’s third (and final) stop in the United States this year. This is a lot for a country that was deprived of races around fifteen years ago (between 2008 and 2011) and where F1 suffers from competition with the very popular Indycar races. Formula 1 had until then only made two stops in Las Vegas, in 1981 and 1982, on a circuit set up in the parking lot of the legendary Caesar Palace! Forty years later, it is not in front of the famous hotel that the 20 cars will repeatedly exceed 300 kilometers per hour, but on a brand new 6.2 kilometer route designed in the famous Nevada city. The drivers will pass, 50 times during the race, on the unmissable Las Vegas Strip, one of the most famous avenues in the world. Luxury hotels, casinos, fountains and reproductions of various places on the planet – such as that of the Eiffel Tower – will appear on the images of all televisions around the world.
In the city of all sins, a festive atmosphere should reign throughout the event. Liberty Media, owner of F1, had planned to spend $400 million on organizing the Grand Prix according to Forbes magazine. From Wednesday evening, world-renowned artists, such as Will.i.am, Keith Urban, Kylie Minogue and Jared Leto’s group, Thirty Seconds to Mars, were responsible for putting on the show. Many evenings, with the presence of VIPs such as the English footballer David Beckham or the American basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, are scheduled to attract a clientele ready to spend fortunes. And Formula 1 in all this? From the looks of it, the show might also be on the runway.
Very cool temperatures expected during the race
To bring together as many viewers as possible, the organizers decided to shake up the usual schedules. So, for the first time, the Grand Prix will not be contested on Sunday but on Saturday on site. It is in fact at 10 p.m. local time that the single-seaters, most of them in special liveries (Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Williams…) will set off for just under two hours of race. It’s late for the drivers – more used to riding in the afternoon – who might also have to live with the cold. The latest weather forecast shows possible temperatures around 5 degrees at the time of the race on Saturday evening!
A real unknown for them but also for the cars, the tires not having been tested to run in such low temperatures. If the tires are slow to warm up, the track could turn into a real ice rink for the drivers, especially during the first laps. “Vegas will be the biggest sporting event on the planet this year,” predicts Christopher Horner, the director of the Red Bull team of now three-time world champion Max Verstappen. “I mean this race is going to be crazy.” We actually expect no less from a Grand Prix contested in such an exceptional setting.
For those who were hoping to watch the penultimate race of the season on Sunday evening in prime time, the disappointment may be quite great. And yes, the organizers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix have decided to shake up the habits of the paddock by not offering the race at the beginning of the afternoon in local time (therefore in the evening in France), but by bringing it forward to. ..Saturday night ! A choice made to try to reach as many viewers as possible. Thus, the Grand Prix will take place in prime time in a very large part of the United States, on Sunday morning in Europe and on Sunday afternoon in China. For the French fan, you will therefore have to set your alarm for 7 a.m. on Sunday… The drivers’ first contact with the track, Friday in France (Thursday in Las Vegas), is scheduled for…5:30 a.m.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix will be broadcast exclusively on the channels of the Canal group, holder of the rights to the Formula 1 world championship. The different channels will share the event since the three free practice sessions and the qualifying sessions will be broadcast on Canal Sport while, as usual, the race will be broadcast on Canal.
Do you prefer to follow the Grand Prix on your computer, tablet or from the warmth of your bed with your smartphone and your duvet? No problem, this twenty-first Grand Prix of the season will of course also be viewable in streaming. Two possibilities are open to you: access to the Canal streaming platform MyCanal or via the official F1 website, F1.com. Both will offer the entire practice sessions, qualifying sessions and races live but also in replay. On MyCanal, activating expert mode also allows you to combine screens, multi-cameras (including on-board cameras) and data, for example pilot times in real time. On F1.com, live broadcasting of testing and the race is supplemented by replays, documentaries and even historical reminders via the F1TV Pro service, offered at 64.99 euros per year or 7.99 euros per month.