Las Vegas moving closer to Formula 1 comeback – report

Jamie Woodhouse
F1 logo displayed on a gantry at the Bahrain GP. Formula 1 Sakhir March 2019.

Formula 1 logo displayed on a sponsorship gantry at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sakhir March 2019.

Formula 1’s return to Las Vegas in the United States is reportedly moving ever closer after a reported breakthrough in talks.

As reported by Sports Business Journal, discussions between Formula 1 and the city have now reached a stage where ‘exact specifics’ and logistics of the race are being finalised.

According to the report, Formula 1 representatives have visited the area multiple times as they look to seal the deal, holding talks with ‘the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Steve Sisolak [Governor of Nevada] and businesses around The Strip’.

The report adds that a Las Vegas Grand Prix could join the Formula 1 calendar as soon as 2023.

Already there are two United-States based races scheduled for the 2022 season, with the Miami Grand Prix set to debut in May as round five of the 23-race campaign.

The United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas will then follow in October, scheduled to be the 20th destination on the calendar.

Formula 1 last raced in Las Vegas back in the 1980s, but the two stagings of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in 1981 and 1982 were a flop around a circuit based in a parking lot at the Caesars Palace hotel.

If Formula 1 does indeed strike a deal to return to Las Vegas, then it was previously reported that the event could take place on a street track designed around the Las Vegas Strip.

Formula 1 Turkish GP start. October 2021.
The start of the Turkish Grand Prix in wet conditions. Istanbul October 2021.

The 2022 F1 calendar may already stand at a record 23 races, but the series is looking to expand further into new and existing markets alongside this drive to increase its presence in the United States.

Two races in China is a future possibility, while the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami is also believed to be contending for a return. Even Colombia is eyeing a Formula 1 race.

F1 president and CEO Stefano Domenicali has also named South Korea as a market which Formula 1 wants to tap back into.

 

In fact, such is the interest in hosting a grands prix, Domenicali said recently that the calendar could expand to 30 races “tomorrow”.

“I think that with no doubt there could be easily over 30 venues that we could do [a deal with] tomorrow, but we cannot go in this direction,” he told The Race.

 

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