Las Vegas organisers play down future Formula 1 sprint race

There is unlikely to be a trilogy of Formula 1 sprint races in the United States in the near future as Las Vegas organisers have distanced themselves from introducing the format.

Two of the six sprint races of the 2024 F1 season have taken place in America, with reigning champion Max Verstappen winning in both Miami and Austin to help build a lead at the top of the drivers’ standings.

F1 returned to Las Vegas last year for the first time since the 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix, and following the first race last year that incorporates the city’s famous strip, the event has added a Ferrari Challenge support event for 2024.

The Las Vegas GP has a unique status on the calendar as the only race directly organised by F1 itself, which in theory would make it a simple process to give the event sprint status if the desire was there.

But, with track time at a premium on the Las Vegas Strip circuit, making the required alterations to a weekend to accommodate a sprint race means it is not something on the agenda for the organisers.

“I think we’re quite comfortable letting Austin and Miami keep the sprint, because we’ve got so much more happening anyway and we’re in a really good place,” said Chief Operating Officer Emily Prazer of Formula 1, which directly promotes the event.

“We’re adding support races and hope to continue doing that over the next few years. I don’t think people understand the complexity of this race versus other street races, either, and I do think that the reality is that we are opening and closing that track.

“We have around 46 track openings that people don’t realise the complexity of that versus any other grand prix. I think adding a sprint would also create a nervousness of ‘can we fix the track if something was to happen fast enough?’

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W14

Photo by: Erik Junius

“The complexity of Vegas versus even Singapore – I was in Singapore at the race and chatting to the promoter and they were like, ‘we don’t understand how you open and close the track the way you do’.

“They keep the roads closed for seven days. Can you imagine us and the council keeping the roads closed for seven days? It would just literally never happen, ever.”

Sprints were introduced to the F1 calendar in 2021, promoting more overtaking and closer contests in races over much shorter distances than a traditional grand prix.

But Prazer believes the on-track action during the Las Vegas Grand Prix – which saw 99 overtakes in 2023, the most in any F1 race since 2016 – also means they do not need to concern themselves with pitching for a sprint race

“The race in itself essentially feels like a sprint race,” she told Motorsport.com.

“So if you think about the speed you’re going, from a safety standpoint, how fast is that to how quick the track is, there wouldn’t be too much difference between the actual race and the sprint based on the performance from last year, we did look at it.”