F1 CEO says Las Vegas at night too enticing to pass up

Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali said Friday that the spectacle of night racing on the famed Las Vegas Strip, with resorts towering in the background, was too enticing for his racing circuit to pass up.

“That was always my and our intent,” Domenicali said of the open-wheel race weekend set for Nov. 16-18, 2023. “If you come to Vegas you know the emotional attachment of having the race during the night. I think we’re going to have that magic at full scale. …

“I can already see the first shot of the opening of the Saturday night race. It will be just amazing. The lighting, the intensity of what is Vegas on the Strip. I would say it will be the picture of 2023.”

Between the land and the construction of the paddock, F1 will be investing about $500 million in the facility alone, according to Gov. Steve Sisolak. #vegas #F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/xFoTq93Yxh

— Mick Akers (@mickakers) November 5, 2022

Domenicali will give the city its first taste of Formula One racing on the Strip on Saturday with the Las Vegas Grand Prix Fan Fest. The free event will include a live car demonstration on Las Vegas Boulevard featuring several F1 drivers, including series star Lewis Hamilton. In the evening, the ignition will be turned over for general public ticket sales.

The process to land the race on the Strip didn’t happen overnight. F1 brass had their eye on Las Vegas far before official talks began last fall with area officials.

“Vegas has been on F1’s radar for a very long time, just given the marquee nature of the town,” Renee Wilm, Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO, said Friday. “When we saw just how successful the town had been in bringing sports to this geography, we really did think it was the ideal time to pursue the venture.”

Plans for the 3.8-mile, 50-lap race are centered on the Strip, with the MGM Zone, a fan area to be constructed over the Fountains of Bellagio, Domenicali confirmed. Race officials expect around 100,000 people will attend each day of the three-day race weekend.

The other main hub on race day will be the paddock area, to be constructed on 40 acres of land on the northeast corner of Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane that F1 purchased for $240 million. That is where the start/finish line, pit crews and high-end viewing areas will be located. The building is to stretch three football fields long and feature 300,000 square feet of event space.

“Super exclusive, high VIP experience, which is at the high end of our scale,” Wilm said. “On a year-round basis, we will look to activate the property, through many different types of strategies. It will be an F1 branded building and we’ve had significant interest in talking with our local sponsors and global sponsors about the different types of activations that we could see throughout the year.”

With F1 signage already located all throughout Caesars Palace, where the fan fest will take place Saturday, Domenicali is excited to get the wheels in motion for next year’s inaugural race.

“I just came into town and I see the energy. You can feel it,” he said. “This is a great start from what we can really build on. An event that I would say is an amplifier and I would say speed-up of what F1 is in the U.S.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.