F1 cars will race down the legendary Las Vegas Strip for the first time in history this weekend. The sport last travelled to Sin City back in 1982 for the second and final running of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix. A lot has changed since that afternoon.
Since the chequered flag waved in the shadow of the legendary Caesars Palace in September 1982, F1 has gained two seven-time world champions. The first of those was, of course, Michael Schumacher, who made his debut nine years after the most recent race in Las Vegas.
After winning two World Championships with Benetton in 1994 and 1995, Schumacher became both the first driver in F1 history to claim five successive Drivers’ Championship titles, as well as the first-ever seven-time champion after dominating with Ferrari between 2000 and 2004.
Despite Schumacher’s dominance, the Scuderia have undergone major droughts since the 1982 Caesars Palace GP. Ferrari have failed to win either World Championship since 2008 and were forced to wait 18 years after the last race in Las Vegas took place to see a driver wearing the scarlet red overalls lift the Drivers’ Championship trophy.
The other seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, wasn’t even born the last time F1 raced in Las Vegas. Now standing on equal footing with Schumacher, the 38-year-old has the most race wins, podiums and pole positions of any racer in the sport’s history after dominating the turbo-hybrid era.
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History has also been made on the other end of the win scale. At the 2006 Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen made his debut for Red Bull at the age of just 18. He marked the occasion by capitalising on the infamous opening lap clash between the two Mercedes drivers to claim his maiden F1 race win and become the youngest winner in the sport’s history.
Returning to the topic of world champions, the first two sons of former Drivers’ Championship winners have followed in the footsteps of their elders since F1 last raced in Las Vegas. Damon Hill, son of 1962 and 1968 world champion Graham, clinched the 1996 title, while Nico Rosberg matched the achievement of his father Keke with his 2016 triumph.
Individual races have also made history in the last 41 years with one of the most iconic coming just one year after the Caesars Palace GP in 1983. At the United States Grand Prix West, held at the iconic Long Beach, John Watson came from 22nd on the grid to win the race in what remains a record achievement to this day.
13 years later in 1996, the Monaco Grand Prix played host to possibly the most chaotic race in F1 history. Only three drivers were still running when the chequered flag waves with Olivier Panis, David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert the only men to survive a race that produced an astonishing 19 retirements as treacherous conditions caused mayhem on the streets of the principality.
In 2011, the longest Grand Prix in F1 history took place as the drivers were forced to undergo a stop-start affair in Montreal. The race, eventually won by Jenson Button after 4 hours and 4 minutes, has gone down as one of the all-time greatest contests in the sport’s history and also led to the four-hour maximum time limit for a Grand Prix.
Even in the modern era, firsts are still being achieved in F1, and this was the case in 2021 when the British Grand Prix played host to the first-ever sprint race in the sport’s history. Verstappen became the first-ever sprint winner, beating out the two Mercedes drivers in the top three, although this event was overshadowed by the chaos of the Grand Prix later that weekend.
These are but a mere snapshot of the dramatic storylines that this sport has produced since the last time F1 races in Las Vegas, and more storylines and history will be created when the modern generation of cars hit the streets of Sin City for the first time this weekend.
