Formula 1 has revealed the first details of the new street race in Las Vegas which will hold America’s third round of the world championship from next year.
The series has raced in the city before, but the unloved circuit it used for the short-lived grands prix of 1981 and 1982 is a far cry from the one presented by F1 today.
The original Las Vegas circuit was a temporary course laid out in the car park of the Caesars Palace Casino. It was tight, slow and repetitive, akin to a go-kart track. The race took place in the daytime, and the punishing heat took a toll on the drivers.
F1’s new track in Las Vegas is an entirely different prospect. It’s immediately apparent that the number one goal behind it was to create the spectacle of Formula 1 cars racing along the illuminated Las Vegas strip at night. That box has been emphatically ticked, and if the rest of the circuit is somewhat simplistic, it’s far from the succession of 90-degree corners which street tracks, particularly…