What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas – unless you’re Formula One, which wants the entire world to witness their Sin City Grand Prix this weekend.
F1 races back into Nevada this week, having been sped out of the Entertainment Capital of the World back in 1982.
Motorsport’s elite competed in two flop races in the Caesars Palace car park in 1981 and then a year later in ’82.
Some 40 years later, F1 will are prepared to roll the dice again under their American owners as they hit the Vegas strip for the first time.
Unlike that ill-fated 80’s event, this edition is filled with all the glitz and glamour of Nevada and is set to take F1 to a whole new level stateside.
It has been forecast that F1’s arrival into Vegas will bring over £1billion to the area with a star-studded opening ceremony on Wednesday.
Music superstars including John Legend, will.i.am and Keith Urban will perform for all 20 F1 drivers, with Top Rank also staging a boxing world championship doubleheader the following day.
F1’s three-day weekend will then see Lewis Hamilton and co racing along a 1.4-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, the road more commonly known as the Strip.
The neon lights illuminating the world-famous hotels and casinos will provide the most iconic of backdrops for a chilly 10pm local time start.
The racing spectacle will cover a 3.8-mile street circuit in total, with top speeds comparable to Monza in Italy, aka F1’s ‘Temple of Speed’.
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There will be 17 turns overall winding past The Sphere at the Venetian Resort, which was only unveiled by MSG in September.
All 20 drivers will then bang in two quick bends followed by a hard left to proceed the long straight down the Strip at up to 212 mph.
Britain’s seven-time world champion Hamilton will be among the stars racing past the world-famous Venetian and Caesars Palace.
The drivers will then boost between the famed Bellagio fountains – with the hotel itself charging fans $11,247 [£9,228] for a three-day package – and the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas.
The 50-lap high-octane extravaganza does include a big braking zone and left-hander just past Planet Hollywood onto Harmen Avenue.
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But the F1 circuit boasts a 12-15m width on one side of the Strip’s existing carriageway to allow cars to race alongside one another.
The track starts on a piece of land F1’s American owners Liberty Media purchased last year for over £200million.
The redevelopment has led to a permanent pit building that is the length of three American football fields being installed.
It features a 28,000 sqft video screen as well as a chapel in the paddock for people to get MARRIED in.
Despite all that, former F1 chief Ross Brawn has admitted that the sport failed to properly consider the low temperatures.
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“The one thing we hadn’t considered initially but the tyre company have dealt with is it gets very, very cold at night,” former F1 team principal Brawn told talkSPORT.
“So, it can be really quite cold, and of course getting the cars to work in those temperatures can be a challenge.
“The tyre companies have done some work to make sure the tyres can cope with that.
“We’re definitely facing some new challenges which we’ve never had before, but I think it’ll be spectacular.”
