Explains: Why Formula 1 is already racing the Grand Prix of Las Vegas on Saturday in 2024 and whether there have been Saturday races before
The Grand Prix of Las Vegas is different from other Formula 1 races. And that is evident from the event schedule alone. Instead of running from Friday to Sunday, the race weekend in the gambling city is held from Thursday to Saturday. But why is that?
The fundamental aim of the Formula One organizers is to maximize the global TV audience. Las Vegas, in the US state of Nevada, has a time difference of nine hours with Central Europe.
So if Formula One had followed the traditional schedule for a night race, the Las Vegas Grand Prix would have started on Sunday at 10 p.m., which would have been Monday morning in Europe. Many potential Formula One viewers would have been on their way to work at that time and TV ratings would probably have remained modest throughout Europe.
That’s why Formula 1 decided to move its schedule forward by 24 hours. This way, more viewers in Europe have the opportunity to watch the race live, namely on Sunday morning.
Las Vegas was always planned as a night race
Important to know: The Grand Prix in Las Vegas was planned as a night race from the start. In this case, there was never any question of choosing a starting time that would have guaranteed a broadcast in Europe in the evening.
Even bringing it forward a few hours with a race during the day (local time) would probably only have led to many viewers in Europe skipping the live broadcast and only watching the race in the repeat. That would also not have been in the spirit of Formula 1.
Formula One therefore deliberately chose the night hours in Las Vegas to take advantage of the famous backdrop of the city with its many neon signs around the “Strip” and to stage the Formula One cars in this extraordinary environment.
The lead time for this Grand Prix, in which Formula One is also acting as a promoter, was correspondingly long. The big goal for Las Vegas has always been to have as many spectators as possible right from the premiere of the Las Vegas Strip Circuits in the 2023 season.
Did F1 ever race on Saturday before?
But: that did not make the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix the first Saturday race in F1. On the contrary, it was already the 74th World Championship race in the history of the championship not to be held on a Sunday.
The very first round of the World Championship in the 1950 season was a Saturday race and the British Grands Prix remained so until 1975. And especially in the early years of Formula 1, there were some races that did not take place on Sundays, mainly due to the Indianapolis 500, which officially had World Championship status until 1960.
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For many years, the Indy 500 was always held on May 30, regardless of the day of the week. In 1950, for example, it was held on a Tuesday. But all other days of the week were also race days in Indianapolis and thus also in the Formula 1 World Championship.
Formula 1 World Championship deciders on Saturdays
Over time, however, Sunday established itself as the only race day in Formula 1. Since 2021, however, this statistic has been somewhat diluted by the introduction of Formula 1 sprint races on Saturday. And that reached its preliminary high point in 2023, when Max Verstappen became the first driver since Nelson Piquet in 1987 to be crowned world champion on Saturday after the sprint in Qatar.
The circumstances in the 1987 season: Nigel Mansell had such a bad accident in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka that he was unable to continue in the penultimate race weekend of the year. This meant that Piquet could no longer be caught as the leader of the standings.
Piquet’s career achievement is remarkable in any case: he did not win any of his titles on Sundays. The 1981 World Championship was decided in the Saturday race in Las Vegas and in 1983 in the Saturday race in South Africa.
Las Vegas today and then
In 1985, also in South Africa, the last Formula 1 Grand Prix until 2023 took place on a Saturday. Williams driver Mansell won. In 2023, Formula 1 found its successor in Las Vegas: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the first Saturday Grand Prix in decades.
The Las Vegas race track since 2023 is quite different from the one used in Las Vegas in 1981 and 1982: it was located in the parking lot of the Caesar’s Palace hotel and thus not far from today’s turn 13 on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. In the meantime, however, the area of the former Formula 1 track has been redesigned and various buildings have been added.
