F1 in Las Vegas?

"Las Vegas"

Las Vegas, one of the most prominent cities in the USA, is commonly known for it's casino's, clubs and night life; however one would not relate it with an avid sporting culture. But this is exactly what the money thirsty FIA would want to do. 

F1 in USA - An Overview - 

Ever since Formula 1 was bought over by Liberty Media, it has been expanding like crazy over the years. The USA, where there is not much of a culture for F1 was a place targeted by them. They feel that with proper media usage and awareness of the sport it can be a rival to the NFL, NHL, MLB and IndyCar which is true in a sense but let's have a look at their real motive behind the USA moves. 

America has one of the largest usership of Netflix and ever since F1 released their Netflix series, 'Drive to Survive; it has seen a massive increase in viewership across the globe, but the highest of them all was the USA! Due to this, at the 2021 Austin GP, we saw the highest numbers of audience present at an F1 race of all time. 

There were over 400,000 fans in attendance who flocked from the Americas and around the world. These numbers prove why we are going back to Austin next year as well as adding Miami to the calendar. 2 races in America; and if Miami can produce even half of the numbers of Austin, the FIA will not hesitate in going further into America by adding Las Vegas, Chicago, etc.

Caesers Palace - Las Vegas -

If the FIA ever decide to expand further in the USA, Las Vegas will be one of their top options as the track - Caesers Palace has already held a few races. Namely in 1980, 1981 and 1982 whilst holding the finale of the 1981 season which had a 4 way title race ongoing till the last day of racing. The track is also made in a parking lot thus saving a lot of money for the FIA which clearly would show the reason for hosting a Grand Prix at this site.

However, the Las Vegas track has more disadvantages than advantages. It is based in a parking lot thus making it the flattest track one could set his eyes on. There is no gradient, no elevation and absolutely no slow corners. 

As seen from the picture above it is just a highly depressing track to look at from this angle. If we talk about beauty, there is none, if we talk about the racing we will get from it again it is a big zero. 

Another big disadvantage for the drivers is that, the entire circuit is left aligned, which means that drivers must keep their heads at a left sided angle while turning and while driving too. This is unlike any track around the world which is hosting Grand Prix's where all the tracks are right aligned. Hence, it is a huge challenge for the drivers who have driven in the opposite direction their whole life in a car that goes over 320 km/h.  

Conclusion - 

All in all, we personally feel that F1 in Las Vegas might be beneficial for the pockets of the FIA but, will not be well received by the fans. The USA anyways has comparatively less followership for F1 as compared to Europe and Asia. Just by having 3 races in the 2021 calender and 4 in 2022 is not being very well taken by the Asians and Europeans; having more will just make the majority crowd reluctant to the sport slowly. The 2022 calendar has the most races in a year ever and within a few years we can see the greedy FIA adding more and more races for the money. Las Vegas, Chicago, New Delhi, Melbourne are races that could be added.

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Credits: 

Josh Revell YT

Times of India