How will F1’s Las Vegas GP transform the Strip in 2 hours? ‘It’s a science’

LAS VEGAS — Establishing a street race in Formula 1 is one of the toughest logistical challenges for Grand Prix organizers.

Every year in Monaco, Singapore and Baku, Azerbaijan, months of planning are put into action to turn a city center into a race track for just a handful of days, as the bumpy streets and beckoning walls pose a different challenge to the drivers than a normal race track. circuit.

But for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, that challenge is only made greater by the fact that the circuit, which proved to be a hit with drivers last year, includes one of the most famous roads in the world: the Strip.

“I was in Singapore at the race and talking to the promoter, and they said, ‘We don’t understand how you open and close the track the way you do,’” said Emily Prazer, F1’s chief commercial officer. the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

“They keep the roads closed for seven days. Can you imagine us telling the city (Las Vegas) that we’re going to keep the roads closed for seven days? It would just literally never happen.”

When F1 embarked on its ambitious plan to return to Las Vegas after almost 40 years (and insisted on having the Strip as part of the 6.8 kilometer circuit layout), it needed a plan to keep it open for as long as possible before it could be prepared. for F1 action every evening.

The task of opening and closing the roads that make up the circuit is overseen by Terry Miller, the general manager of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The event area for which he is responsible covers 450 hectares.

“That’s a big area, not to mention we have over 45 major companies around that track,” Miller said. The Athletics. “One of those 45 companies owns five different resorts. So the ability for us to manage the logistics of our track construction is significant.”

Installation of the track, including barriers, fences and lighting, began after Labor Day weekend. Miller instructed his team to approach track construction a little differently than in the first year: completing a lap in the same way as the drivers.

“This year we were able to be a bit more consistent and targeted in the way we built the track,” he explained. “You have to build all the track lighting first before you can install track barriers.

“We started at a corner of the track and worked our way around the path (the driver takes) and added all our track lights, and then we followed the same pattern with our track barriers, and then we followed with all our track lights. our electronics.”

A general view of the circuit along the Las Vegas Strip during previews ahead of the 2023 Las Vegas GP. (Dan Istitene / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

As part of the agreement with local authorities, track barriers will not be placed along Las Vegas Boulevard until 12 days before the race to minimize disruption. “They didn’t want to disrupt Las Vegas Boulevard any sooner than they had to,” Miller said. “We did our internal logistical calculations and we said we could try to complete this within 12 days prior to the race event.” Removing the barriers on the Strip is one of the first tasks after the race so it can be cleared four days later before Thanksgiving.

Preparing the Strip so that the F1 cars can use the track every night is a scientific process, said Miller, who conducted an extensive analysis of how his track crew worked to open and close the track last year.

“We had spent a lot of time on spreadsheets and stopwatches because we wanted to know: How much time does it take to move a block? How much equipment, how many crews can you use at once before they get in each other’s way?” he said. “Last year it was a science, and that allowed us to do a little more ‘lab work’ this year on the science of how to put this all in place.”

A team of 140 people works on opening and closing the track, spread over 42 locations that open and close every day. There are 3,500 rail barriers, stretching to a length of 12.2 kilometers, twice the lap distance. Under the night sky, the track is illuminated by 1,750 temporary light units.

Each of the 140 employees is assigned a job with a “very specific set of logistics and equipment,” Miller said. Training for the opening and closing of the course began in June for a team of 180 people, so that reserve players were ready in case one of the 140 dropped out. “We’re not just leaving it up to guesswork,” Miller said. “It’s quite advanced in terms of how we move those 140 crew members through that process.”

Transforming the track from “open” to “closed” involves three phases. It begins as a “hot lane” and remains largely open for public use, allowing traffic to pass through downtown Las Vegas. This period ends at midnight on Thursday (so the safety car can complete its high-speed testing) and lasts until 5am

A transition period begins at 3 p.m. to prepare everything for on-track action before it becomes a “hot track” at 5 p.m. This phase lasts until 2am on Friday and includes the first two practice sessions before a new transition period to get the track back to “warm up”.

“We determined how much time it would take to move each barrier,” Miller said. “We have barrier number one on this corner, and where it is being set up it will take three minutes to get it into position, then it will take another five minutes for them to put it in place, put in the rubble barrier and put in the spiral connections locked. . We know it down to the minute.”

Although there is a two-hour window to complete the process, Miller wanted to work in a buffer. “We’ve got it right in the matrix of exactly how we’re going to make the two hours work, and obviously what we’re doing is making sure that what we’ve established is a one hour and 45 minute time frame, so we’re training followed by an interval of 15 minutes,” he said. “It’s extremely detailed in terms of how we move through each of these openings and closings.”

Precise planning is required to coordinate the opening and closing of the Strip. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via AP)

Although a preliminary race, the Ferrari Challenge, has been added to the schedule this year, everything has remained the same for the transition between open and closed circuits. A large buffer was created for the first edition of the race in 2023, but the lessons from that year gave organizers confidence that the race could add something to the schedule.

There may of course be incidents that lead to delays, such as the loose water valve cover that caused FP1 to be canceled and FP2 to finish only at 4am last year, but these are also planned in collaboration with the FIA ​​and local authorities. . “We’re also doing scenario planning with the local fire and police departments, to everything from spectator trespassing – ‘How the heck did they get onto the track, what’s happening, how do we do that?’” Miller said. “So the level of planning that goes into this event is extraordinary.”

The race will be completed at midnight local time on Sunday and post-race celebrations will begin. Miller’s team will begin the dismantling process immediately. By 4 a.m., the track is “warm” again, meaning cars can move and a degree of normalcy can resume for those driving in the middle of Las Vegas. “By Christmas we will have everything collected,” Miller said.

It’s a big undertaking, but it was necessary to make the F1 dream of racing along the Strip possible. For Miller, even after a long and varied career in sporting event planning and execution, it was a very different animal.

“I have been involved in the design and construction of NFL stadiums, Major League Baseball stadiums, football facilities and Olympic facilities,” Miller said. “I’ve been doing it for 44 years now. Nothing compares to what I saw here in Vegas for the F1 project.”

(Top photo: Dan Istitene / Formula 1 / Formula 1 via Getty Images)