The Las Vegas Grand Prix had a bumpy opening when the first practice of the $500 million Formula One race was halted nine minutes into the session Thursday night because Carlos Sainz Jr. ran over a water valve cover that badly damaged his Ferrari.
It caused the first practice to be aborted, a delay of 2 1/2 hours before second practice for track repairs, and all spectators were removed from viewing areas ahead of the 90-minute session that ended at 4 a.m. local time — the deadline for F1 to return the roads to Las Vegas commuters.
But, the big race is still on for this weekend.
For those who are going, and those who are not, what’s it going to be like? If you want to visit the Las Vegas Strip during the race —you know, just walk around — what will you see?
And what’s this really mean for Las Vegas? We can’t say Vegas is now “on the map,” we can’t say “it’s a game-changer.” We already have the NFL, the NHL, WNBA, and we’ll have major league baseball and the NBA, very likely, very soon.
The Associated Press contributed to this written report.
Guests: Mick Akers, reporter, Las Vegas Review Journal; Jacob Solis, reporter, The Nevada Independent; Randall Cannon, author; Soni Brown, writer
