LAS VEGAS — Making a street race happen in Formula One is one of the toughest logistical challenges for the organizers of a grand prix. Each year in Monaco, Singapore and Baku, Azerbaijan, months of planning go into action to turn the center of a city into a racetrack for only a handful of days as the bumpy streets and beckoning walls pose a different challenge to the drivers than a normal circuit. Advertisement But for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, that challenge is only multiplied by the fact its circuit, which proved a hit among the drivers last year, incorporates one of the most famous roadways in the world: the Strip.
“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,'” said Emily Prazer, the chief commercial officer of F1 and the Las Vegas Grand Prix. “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.
” As F1 embarked on its ambitious plan to return to Las Vegas after almost 40 years away (and insisted on having the Strip as part of its 3.8-mile track layout), it needed a plan to keep it open as long as possible before preparing it for F1 action each night. The task of opening and closing the roads that are part of the circuit is overseen by Terry Miller, the general manager of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
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