The excitement of the Las Vegas Grand Prix launch party ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix has been a main talking point ahead of this weekend’s action at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, with Sergio Pérez having been asked all about it during the pre-weekend press conference.
With the first Las Vegas Grand Prix since 1982 just 12 months away, the sport and Liberty Media have been pulling out all the stops to promote the event on a scale never seen before, partly because it is the sport and it’s owners who are promoting the event and selling the tickets.
It’s set to be a weekend like no other, with the Grand Prix set to be the first to take place on a Saturday since 1985, whilst it has been scheduled to start at the latest time ever.
The lights are set to go out at 10pm local time, making it the latest race in the history of Formula 1.
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Whilst this is virtually midnight in Las Vegas, it is 6am in the UK on Sunday morning, meaning an early wake-up for the whole of Europe.
Given the excitement that surrounds the event, which will feature part of the famous Vegas strip, fans presumably won’t mind the odd start time, especially as the race could decide the 2023 World Championship due to it being the penultimate round of the year.
Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Alex Albon and Pérez were present at the launch last week, where they undertook demo runs in front of fans who are “looking so much forward to it”.
Las Vegas is, of course, famous for being the so-called ‘entertainment capital of the world’, with its casinos being part of the reason for that.
Pérez comically revealed that he endured some “not very nice memories” in the casinos during the launch; however, this could be down to the fact he drove a Red Bull through one as part of the launch event.
The Mexican revealed ahead of this weekend’s action in Brazil that he expects next year’s race in Las Vegas to be the “biggest event” of 2023, a huge expectation to live up to.
“Can we throw it back to last weekend, first of all,” said the interviewer.
“You attended the official launch of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, what was it like? What was your stand out memory?” Pérez was asked.
“Yeah, it was a great, a great weekend,” replied the Red Bull driver.
“It’s great to see how the fans are looking so much forward to it.
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“Things didn’t went that well in the casino so, not very nice memories,” joked the Mexican.
“But other than that, everything was really, really cool, really happy.
“You know I’ve been in Vegas many times before, so it was very enjoyable, short visit and yeah, just looking forward, I think it’s going to be the biggest event the world next year,” admitted Pérez.