One F1 driver claiming ‘98%’ credit for Las Vegas Grand Prix creation

Henry Valantine
An artist impression of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

An artist's impression of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo is holding his hand up to take “98%” of the credit for the Las Vegas Grand Prix coming into being later this year.

The AlphaTauri driver, while he was at Red Bull, was sat alongside Lewis Hamilton at a press conference which has now become famous for its foreshadowing back in 2017, after Liberty Media bought Formula 1 and listed its intentions to expand the calendar.

He and the Mercedes driver were both asked where they would like the sport to race in the future, and while Hamilton responded with Miami, Ricciardo hoped a Las Vegas Grand Prix would be added – and both wishes have since come true.

Daniel Ricciardo taking some credit for Las Vegas Grand Prix

Formula 1 is gearing up to head to Vegas in November, with a Saturday night race in Sin City set to take the sport along the world-famous Strip and the circuit layout taking in some of the city’s most iconic landmarks.

Excitement is high surrounding the event, and it marks the first visit to Vegas since the ill-fated Caesars Palace Grands Prix in the 1980s which failed to capture the imagination – though this time it is an altogether different proposition, given the amount of investment and effort that has gone into putting Formula 1 on the map in the city.

And Ricciardo is hoping for a little piece of the credit for it.

“Coming to existence, I think it was 2017 I asked for it,” Ricciardo stated to P1 with Matt and Tommy when responding to a fan question about how excited he is for the race.

“Look, I don’t want to claim everything but I’ll claim like 98% of it, yeah.”

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The layout is predicted to carry Monza levels of top speed for the drivers, given the long straights in play on the streets of Las Vegas, which players of the official Formula 1 game have already been able to sample in the virtual world.

Though opinion appears split on the quality of the layout itself so far, Ricciardo predicts that when it comes to the real world, the circuit will start to come to life at night.

When asked if he thinks it will be an enjoyable circuit to drive, Ricciardo responded: “I think it will be because [of] probably just where it is, you know, and I think just knowing where we are and seeing all the bright lights, if there is a corner that maybe in a big open circuit doesn’t feel that good, it’ll probably feel a little bit better in Vegas.”

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