Some facts and figures about the Las Vegas Grand Prix

More than forty years ago, Las Vegas hosted Formula 1, but that was not the most successful idea at the time – if only because a temporary circuit was simply constructed in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel and two Grand Prix took place there . 1981-1982., bore the name of this famous hotel. Overall, that project resulted in nothing but losses and notoriety for the initiators.

Now it’s a different matter, when the American company Liberty Media, which controls the economics of Formula 1, itself became a promoter and investor of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this endeavor. We’ll find out what came of this in a week, but for now the championship’s official website has shared some statistics that indicate the serious scope that should become the hallmark of the new race.

Let’s start with the newly built bullpen complex, located near the intersection of Harmon Avenue and Coval Lane – its length is equal to the length of three American football fields, i.e. equal to 330 meters. This is the largest building that exists on the Formula 1 circuits.

To create the fence around the impressive mine building, more than 22 km of stainless steel reinforcement was required. On the roof of the building there is a screen in the shape of the Formula 1 logo, consisting of 22 thousand LED modules with a total area of ​​more than 2,600 square meters. meters.

About 100,000 spectators are expected to be in the track grandstands and open seating areas on each day of the race weekend, with about 120,000 guests expected to arrive from outside Las Vegas for the Grand Prix alone. To accommodate all this audience, it was necessary to build 18 temporary stands, 10 guest and 12 fan zones.

At least 60,000 additional rooms have already been booked in hotels in the city and surrounding areas, and overall the direct economic impact that the local economy will experience is estimated at around $1.2 billion. Catering in Las Vegas will also be in full swing, and it is very logical that all the places in restaurants and bars, from which you can somehow see the track, have been reserved long ago.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix will be preceded by a pompous 30-minute opening ceremony, organized in pure American style, in which all 20 drivers of the championship will participate. The lighting on the starting field is created by 1,000 special drones in the air, as well as 100 people with flags equipped with LED elements on the ground, plus an entire army of extras with glowing bracelets. But the main lighting at the circuit hosting the night race will be provided by 1,750 floodlights – far more than in Singapore or Jeddah.

The Grand Prix will be held on a new circuit of 6.1 km long, with 17 corners connected by straights of different lengths. By the way, before deciding on the final configuration of the ring, the organizers considered more than 30 projects proposed by architects. The Grand Prix distance consists of 50 laps and the movement along the circuit is counterclockwise, with average speeds of approximately 237 km/h, and the maximum speed is calculated to reach 342 m/h. These two indicators indicate that the track should be one of the fastest on the calendar.

Although this is an urban circuit, the width is 12-15 meters, which should allow drivers to compete a little more freely on the circuit than, for example, in Monaco.

The terrain of the track is largely flat, and only at Turn 14 does it go slightly uphill (2%), and in the area of ​​the pit lane entrance, i.e. Turn 17 has some gradient (3.5%).

To create a completely new new surface for the route, it was first necessary to remove layers of old asphalt 12 to 25 cm thick and then lay a “cushion”, which required about 60,000 tons of sand, crushed stone and other materials goods. and laid on top of it in several layers tons of new asphalt of special qualities.