How does F1’s Las Vegas GP transform the Strip in 2 hours? ‘It’s a science’

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.

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. The event site he’s responsible for covers 450 acres.

“That’s a big area, not to mention the fact that we have more than 45 significant businesses around that track,” Miller told The Athletic. “One of those 45 businesses owns five different resorts. So the ability for us to manage the logistics of our track build is significant.”

The circuit installation, including the barriers, fences and lighting, commenced after Labor Day weekend. Miller instructed his team to approach the track build a little differently than in year one: completing a lap in a similar fashion to the drivers.

“This year, we were able to be a little more consistent and targeted as to how we were building the track,” he explained. “You have to build all the track lighting before you can put up any track barriers.

“We started at one corner of the circuit, and we worked our way around the path (the driver takes) and added all of our track lighting, and then we followed that same pattern with our track barriers, and then we followed with all of our electronics.”

A general view of the circuit along the Las Vegas Strip during previews ahead of the 2023 Las Vegas GP. (Dan Istitene / Formula 1 via Getty Images)

As part of the agreement with the local authorities, no track barriers are put along Las Vegas Boulevard until 12 days before the race to try and minimize disruption. “They didn’t want to disturb Las Vegas Boulevard any sooner than necessary,” Miller said. “We did our internal logistics calculations, and we said we could try and get it done in 12 days prior to the race event.” Removing the barriers on the Strip is one of the first tasks after the race so it can be cleared before Thanksgiving four days later.

Preparing the Strip for the F1 cars to use the track every night is a scientific process, according to Miller, who conducted an extensive analysis of how his track crew last year worked to open and close the circuit.

“We’d spent a lot of time with spreadsheets and stopwatches because we got it down to: How much time does it take to move a block? How much equipment, how many crews can you use at one time before they get into each others’ way?” he said. “It was a science last year, and that allowed us going into this year to do a little more ‘lab work’ on the science of how do you put all of this in place.”

A team of 140 people works to open and close the track, assigned across 42 locations that open and close each day. There are 3,500 track barrier blocks, stretching out to 7.6 miles in length, twice the lap distance. Under the night sky, the track is illuminated by 1,750 temporary light units.

Each of the 140 workers is assigned a duty with a “very specific set of logistics and equipment,” according to Miller. Training for the track opening and closing started in June to cover a team of 180, ensuring alternates are on standby in case any of the 140 drop out. “We don’t just leave it to guesswork,” Miller said. “It’s pretty sophisticated in terms of how we move that 140 group of crew people through that process.”

Transforming the track from “open” to “closed” involves three stages. It starts as a “warm track,” remaining mostly open to public use so traffic can pass around the center of Las Vegas. This period ends at midnight Thursday (to allow the safety car to complete its high-speed tests) and lasts until 5 a.m.

At 3 p.m., a transition period begins to prepare everything for on-track action before it becomes a “hot track” at 5 p.m. This phase lasts until 2 a.m. Friday, covering the first two practice sessions before another transition period to get the track back to “warm” again.

“We have identified the time it takes to move each barrier,” Miller said. “We’ve got barrier number one on this corner, and where it is staged will take three minutes to move into position, then it will take another five minutes for them to set it, put the debris fence in and lock up the spiral connections. We know down to the minute.”

Although there is a two-hour window to complete the process, Miller wanted to work in a buffer. “We’ve got it in the matrix of exactly how we’re going to make the two hours work, and clearly what we do is we make sure that what we have established is a one hour and 45-minute window, so we’re training to that with the 15-minute interval,” he said. “It’s extremely detailed in terms of how we move through each one of these openings and closings.”

It takes precision planning to coordinate the opening and closing of the Strip. (Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via AP)

Despite adding a support race, the Ferrari Challenge, to the schedule this year, everything has stayed the same for the open and closed track transition. A big buffer was put in place for the race’s first running in 2023, but the lessons from that year gave the organizers confidence that the race could handle something being added to the schedule.

There can, of course, be incidents that lead to delays, such as the loose water valve cover that canceled FP1 and meant FP2 did not finish until 4 a.m. last year, but these are also planned for in conjunction with the FIA and the local authorities. “We’re also doing scenario planning with the local fire department and police department, to everything from incursion of a spectator — ‘How the heck did they get on the track, what happens, how do we do that?’” Miller said. “So the level of planning that goes into this event is extraordinary.”

By midnight Sunday local time, the race will be complete, and the post-race celebrations will begin. Miller’s team will immediately start the dismantling process. By 4 a.m., the track is back to “warm,” meaning cars can move around, and a degree of normality can resume for those driving in the middle of Las Vegas. “By Christmas, we will have picked up everything,” Miller said.

It’s a sizable undertaking, but one was required to make F1’s dream of racing along the Strip possible. For Miller, even after a long and varied career in sports event planning and execution, it has been a completely different animal.

“I’ve been involved in the design and construction of NFL stadiums, Major League Baseball stadiums, soccer facilities and Olympic facilities,” Miller said. “I’ve been doing it for 44 years now. Nothing compares to what I’ve seen here in Vegas for the F1 project.”

(Top photo: Dan Istitene / Formula 1 / Formula 1 via Getty Images)