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Las Vegas F1 race is "ready to go" says Ecclestone

NEWS STORY
18/10/2014

Bernie Ecclestone has revealed he is in discussions about hosting a Grand Prix on the streets of Las Vegas and the organisers of the race have told him they are "ready to go" according to an article in the Independent by Christian Sylt.

Since F1 returned to United States in 2012 after a five year absence it has been looking for a way to make an impact and break NASCAR's stranglehold on the American racing market. A race in Vegas would do just that.

The track would include The Strip, the famous road which runs through the city and is lined with casinos including the Bellagio and Caesars Palace. "Vegas say they are ready to go and it would be on the Strip for sure," says Ecclestone.

The plans are well beyond the tyre-kicking stage as a senior source in the US racing scene says that Ecclestone's track architect Hermann Tilke has visited Vegas several times to design the layout of the circuit. "Tilke has made a couple of site visits. I knew that if he had gone along there must be something to it," says the source.

F1 last raced in Vegas in 1982 on a track in the Caesars Palace car park which was not embraced by the sport due to its makeshift nature. A race on the streets of the city would have more permanence and would do a better job of showing off the local landmarks. Industry experts have already come out in support of it.

"Vegas would be a fantastic addition to the F1 calendar and would be successful for so many people involved," says F1 sponsorship agent Zak Brown. "It's a great fit for the F1 brand and would draw a lot of interest from sponsors in one of the most important strategic markets for F1 - America. Vegas as a city would benefit greatly from F1's fan base who no doubt would spend a lot of money that weekend."

It would also double the number of F1 races in the US. The only one currently on the calendar is the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, the capital of Texas. It is next up on this year's calendar and takes place on 2 November. Whilst the track has been well-received within the industry, it hasn't put F1 on the map in the US due to Austin's low profile within the country. The same certainly can't be said of Vegas.

"They like their entertainment in the States so you could probably double it to two races and it would be great, maybe not right next to each other in the calendar though," says former champion Damon Hill. "I would just hope they make it a great track. They have got to be challenging circuits. It's great to have them in city centres but not if they are too easy."

Although the race in Austin has fuelled a resurgence of interest in F1 in the US, it still has work to do. The sport's television audience in the US, where it is broadcast on NBC Sports, grew by 1.7m viewers to 11.4m in 2013 but it still trails the home-grown IndyCar series on the same network by 5%.

"Vegas would be a great place for a Grand Prix and it is one of only two cities in the States that does not have to worry about cannibalising a market, since every weekend is a big weekend with a different crowd. The other being New York," says Tavo Hellmund who founded the Circuit of the Americas and the US Grand Prix in Austin. He is now bringing F1 back to Mexico City where it will race next year after a 23-year absence. Las Vegas may join it but a Grand Prix in the New York area seems less likely.

A race on 3.2-miles of public roads in New Jersey was announced with great fanfare in October 2011 but has since been dropped from the F1 calendar twice. As Pitpass revealed, the hurdle is that the organisers have failed to raise the £60m required to finish work on the track.

"In the end there's a million countries that would like to have an F1 race but they can't afford it," says Ecclestone. He adds that the sport is on track to have more races than ever regardless as the return of the Mexican Grand Prix next year will push the calendar to its current record of 20. In 2016 the Grand Prix of Europe in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, will be added to it and Ecclestone says "it's more likely that it will go over 20 with Baku than we lose a race."

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1. Posted by Spindoctor, 20/10/2014 19:47

"Surely nobody is taking this nonsense Seriously? Formula One is not that popular in the U.S.A. and having an additional race in Las Vegas won't change that. Arguably all the "new" races have similarly failed to increase the popularity of F1 outside its traditional heartlands. The only real winners have been a few despotic rulers, who revel in the spurious "respectability" bestowed by the races and Bernie & Co, who charge them fat fees for the privilege.

Instead of continually adding largely unwanted and seriously under visited races they might like to concentrate on making what we've already got better and move involving."

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2. Posted by Growler2, 19/10/2014 10:45

"The answer to NextDoor's question is in the last line of the article. Ecclestone says: "it's more likely that it will go over 20 with Baku than we lose a race." But add another in Las Vegas and we'll definitely lose an existing circuit. Ecclestone must be in negotiation with the promoter of an existing race and this floating of a race in Las Vegas is just an unsubtle threat to boost his fees: "pay me more or I'll go to Las Vegas".
"

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3. Posted by Renone, 19/10/2014 9:05

"Bling, bling and more bling! How about spending the money on a classic circuit such as Watkins Glen.Vegas will be another circuit in the sand, boring. "

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4. Posted by NextDoor, 19/10/2014 8:19

"This is no more than idle speculation. What the article fails to address is who is prepared to fund Ecclestone's fees and all the necessary infrastructure costs. I can understand why F1 hangers-on would be happy to give supportive quotes, but why would Las Vegas be interested?

What's Ecclestone up to right now, that he wants to distract attention from with this non-runner?
"

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5. Posted by Paul C, 18/10/2014 23:13

"Las Vegas & Austin just seem too close in a country the size of the USA. If Bernie is fixated about hotels, Atlanta has enough of them including a Ritz-Carlton. However, at Bernie's age, he should be looking at an assisted living facility."

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6. Posted by MrShadow, 18/10/2014 21:20

"The problem is that after Phil Hill and Mario Andretti they have failed to bring drivers with enough talent, and apart from the efforts of Panske there has not been a decent team. Supporting foreigners is not something that will make the masses stand behind a sport. "

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7. Posted by RDFox, 18/10/2014 16:51

"A street race on the Vegas Strip would be better than Caesar's Palace was, but really, Vegas isn't *that* big a thing in the States. There's all sorts of things that happen there that nobody pays any attention to.

Attempting to knock off NASCAR as the most popular form of motorsport in the States is pointless; it's a completely different concept from F1--indeed, from high-level open-wheel racing in general. And, most importantly, in a country that prides itself in egalitarianism and despises elitism, it has the "right" roots--a "blue collar" background based on how it started with moonshine runners racing their cars for bragging rights, and, as it grew, for many years, it retained an attitude that anyone who brought a car to the track could try to race, meaning working-class drivers. Open-wheel racing, on the other hand, and F1 in particular, are seen as "elitist" because it started as a way for bored members of the "idle rich" (and, in Europe, the aristocracy) to entertain themselves; this somewhat stigmatizes it in the view of the general public over here, as a "rich man's sport" that only "snooty" old-money types would enjoy, much as polo, horse racing, and (until relatively recently) golf are seen. (Sports car racing is in an odd middle ground here, because, while the lower classes feature cars that are distinctly low-priced like Miatas and hot hatches, the overall winner is invariably someone driving a starship built by a company known for six-digit price tags on their street cars. And for sake of argument, we shall, just as the general public do, conveniently ignore that NASCAR teams have, ever since the 1960s saw the advent of sponsorships, invariably been owned by very wealthy people who can afford to spend a quarter-million dollars per race...)

In a perfect world, I think that the US would have three F1 races (with a land area and a population both comparable to that of Europe as a whole, it certainly could support that many!), geographically well-separated. The first one would be held at Laguna Seca in the early part of the spring, the second would be at Watkins Glen the week before or the week after the Canadian GP, and the third would be held in Austin in the same late-October/early-November slot as it currently holds. (Road America, Road Atlanta, Virginia International Raceway, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and Willow Springs are all deserving candidates, but the Glen is within a relatively short two-hour drive of New York City, and Laguna Seca is similarly close to San Francisco, which would make them more attractive from a marketing standpoint.) Of course, that won't happen until Bernie is dead, since he already complained that he "couldn't find a decent hotel" in Indianapolis and "had" to stay in Chicago and fly in by helicopter every day instead, but from a *racing* standpoint, those would be my choices..."

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8. Posted by kiwi2wheels, 18/10/2014 16:08

"LAs Vegas is almost as bad as having races in sandland; " almost " because at least you can get a drink.......

I remember well the two CART races there..................utter shite"

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9. Posted by Dreadnaught, 18/10/2014 14:32

"Didn't work before. What's changed ? The tracks are becoming all the same and emasculated, the regulations incomprehensible, spectating expensive, TV restricted and expensive. No wonder the punters are looking elsewhere. "

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10. Posted by F One, 18/10/2014 12:44

"No, no, no, no, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

No more bloody stupid pointless street races! They're all 100% awful! Monaco is only acceptable because of the history."

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11. Posted by f1khun, 18/10/2014 12:22

"I say GO for it!
Las Vegas knows how to out up a show; that is what Las Vegas does best. If the circuit is decent, then it'll be great for F1 publicity, which is good for us, the fans, just as well. As long as the track will be challenging enough.
"

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12. Posted by MrShadow, 18/10/2014 10:59

"I remember watching the Vegas race. It made Monaco look wide.
"

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13. Posted by Cobra Driver, 18/10/2014 10:58

"Typical Ecclestone, all glitz, no game! I remember Caesar's Palace...what a joke! Can you imagine...Sochi followed by Los Vegas! Senility has set in Bernie, time to hand off to someone who can restore F1 to its' former greatness. "

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14. Posted by Burton, 18/10/2014 10:05

"ugh, tacky."

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