The stakes are high for resorts on the Las Vegas Strip as preparations are reaching completion ahead of the first-ever Formula 1 Grand Prix around the all new Las Vegas Strip Circuit with a race day set for Sunday, November 19.
While the resort big wigs are brimming with optimism at the promised benefits of hosting an international sporting event, Sin City locals are less than impressed with their town being turned upside down for a sport that is simply not of interest to many in the United States.
It is perhaps because of this excitement that Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm told 8 News Now that the Vegas GP “is the new Monaco, from Formula One and Liberty Media’s perspective.”
Comparing an unproven and already seemingly unpopular race to the crown jewel of the F1 calendar for almost a century is bold, to say the least. In fact, the Monaco GP was first raced 12 years before the first casino-resort in Las Vegas opened its doors on what is now known as ‘the Strip’.
The American media company Liberty Media took over F1 from Bernie Ecclestone at the end of the Brit’s 40 year reign at the helm of the sport in 2017, and the change in ownership has been felt by fans, with many popular and historically significant circuits nearly squeezed out of a packed F1 race calendar in favour of newly fabricated North American city street races.
The 2022 Miami GP mimicked Monaco with a marina, which would be a nice homage to the storied street circuit, had it not been for the cardboard water beneath the trackside yachts. The F1 cars of today may have outgrown the Principality’s windy streets, but the glamour of the Monaco GP can not be so easily imitated, nor can it be cheaply replaced.
However, although it is no Monaco, the Las Vegas Strip Circuit has the potential to be a quality race in its own right, having been appropriately set up for an action-packed race weekend, with an impressive pit building F1 roof logo lighting up the already very illuminated Nevada night sky.
Featured image: Las Vegas Strip Circuit
