Formula One has no plans to add a sprint race to the Las Vegas Grand Prix schedule in the near future as officials remain “quite comfortable” keeping the format at other events.
F1 started staging sprint races, which run one-third of a grand prix distance on Saturday and reward reduced points, in 2021 and now holds them at six rounds of the calendar. Sprint qualifying and the sprint race replace a normal practice session, adding more competitive action to F1’s weekend schedule.
Sprints have divided opinion among drivers and fans, leading to regular tweaks of the format over the past three years. But F1 has reported a boost in viewership and interest for grands prix hosting sprint races.
Both Miami and Austin, which hosts the United States Grand Prix, staged sprint events in 2024 and are slated to do so again next year, leaving Las Vegas as the only American round not to have a sprint race.
While F1 did explore adding a sprint race to the Las Vegas weekend schedule, it ultimately decided it would not be practical or necessary.
Speaking in a media roundtable, including The Athletic, to preview this year’s grand prix on Nov. 23, Emily Prazer, the chief commercial officer of F1 and the Las Vegas Grand Prix, explained the thinking behind the decision.
Asked if F1 wanted a sprint in Las Vegas, Prazer replied: “No. Basically, because the race in itself essentially feels like a sprint race.
“If you think about the speed you’re going, from a safety standpoint, how fast those laps were, 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.”
Last year’s inaugural running of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, incorporating the Strip and other major landmarks, including the Sphere, cost F1 over half a billion dollars to stage but proved to be a huge commercial success for the sport and Las Vegas.
The circuit also won praise among the drivers for its high-speed, overtaking-friendly layout, with the battle for the win going down to the closing stages.
“One of the big takeaways from last year is how insanely good the racing was,” Prazer said.
“So I think we’re quite comfortable letting Austin and Miami keep the sprint because we’ve got so much more happening anyway that we’re in a really good place.
“We’re adding support races and hope to continue doing that over the next few years.”
Las Vegas will host its first support race this year with the Ferrari Challenge sportscar series on its undercard. It limited running to F1 only in 2023 so streets could be closed and reopened to allow traffic to move around Las Vegas.
Prazer said the added challenge of closing and reopening the track with an extra qualifying and a race session for F1 on a sprint weekend instead of two practices, where there are fewer incidents, was also part of the thinking to avoid using the format in Las Vegas.
“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,” Prazer said.
“I think we have around 46 track openings, that people don’t realize the complexity of that versus any other grand prix.
“Adding a sprint would also create a nervousness of, ‘Can we fix the track if something was to happen fast enough?’ et cetera, et cetera, because of the complexity of Vegas versus even (another street track like) Singapore.
“I was in Singapore with 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 telling the (Las Vegas) council we’re keeping the roads closed for seven days? It would just literally never happen, ever.”
F1 will run six sprint races again next year, holding them in China, Miami, Belgium, Austin, São Paulo and Qatar.
Top photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
