Las Vegas Grand Prix
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| Caesars Palace - Las Vegas | |
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| Race information | |
| Laps | 75 |
|---|---|
| Circuit length | 3.650 km ( mi) |
| Race length | 273.750 km ( mi) |
| Most wins (drivers) |  Alan Jones (1) Michele Alboreto (1) |
| Most wins (constructors) |  Williams (1) Tyrrell (1) |
| Last race (1982): | |
| Pole position |  Alain Prost Renault1:16.356 |
| Podium | 1. Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:41:56.888 |
| Fastest lap | Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:19.639 |
For the Champ Car race, see Vegas Grand Prix
The Las Vegas Grand Prix was a car race which was a Formula One World Championship event in 1981 and 1982.
When Watkins Glen went off the schedule after 1980, F1 continued to look west and put an event in Las Vegas for the 1981 campaign. The new race ended the year, whereas Long Beach started it, but it was not popular among the drivers, primarily because of the desert heat. The track was laid out in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel and was surprisingly well set up for a temporary circuit: wide enough for overtaking, it provided ample run-off areas filled with sand, and had a surface that was as smooth as glass. Its counter-clockwise direction, however, put a tremendous strain on the drivers' necks. When Nelson Piquet clinched his first World Championship by finishing fifth in 1981, it took him fifteen minutes to recover from heat exhaustion after barely making it to the finish. The 1982 race was won by Michele Alboreto in a Tyrrell, but that was the end of Formula One racing in Las Vegas since the races had drawn only tiny crowds.
There have been speculative rumours of a return of the Las Vegas Grand Prix to the F1 calendar. In fact, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 program advertised a possible street circuit along The Strip, but it never materized. After the 2005 U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis, rumors again circulated, however, it is one of many circuit linked with future races, and a strict limit on the number of races in a year means Las Vegas is not a favourite for a race.
[edit] Winners of the Las Vegas Grand Prix
The Formula One races in 1981 and 1982 were officially called the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The Indycar races 1983-84 were officially called Caesars Palace Grand Prix.
| Year | Driver | Constructor | Location | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Michele Alboreto |
Tyrrell-Ford | Caesars Palace - Las Vegas | Report |
| 1981 | Alan Jones |
Williams-Ford | Caesars Palace - Las Vegas | Report |
[edit] See also
- List of Formula One Championship events
- United States Grand Prix
- United States Grand Prix East
- United States Grand Prix West
[edit] External links
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