F1’s Grand Prix Plaza ushered in with ‘Mr. Las Vegas’ waving checkered flag

Formula One debuted its Grand Prix Plaza attraction Friday night to a select crowd, giving those in attendance a peek at what will be offered when the plaza opens to the public.

F1 legend and 2009 world champion Jenson Button took home the win in the first F1 Drive karting race on the nearly 1,700-foot track at Grand Prix Plaza, beating out various resort and tourism executives, as legendary Las Vegas entertainer Wayne Newton waved the checkered flag and the race came to an end.

The space, located in and around the F1 pit building located at 4400 Koval Lane, offers multiple activities F1 fans can indulge in, including F1 Drive, the go-karting experience, F1 X, an interactive look at the history of F1 and F1 Sims, featuring virtual racing. The plaza also includes an F1 flagship retail store and the Fuel &Fork Eatery restaurant, giving fans a place to grab a bite to eat and a drink while taking in the space.

Maximizing space

F1’s parent company Liberty Media spent $500 million on acquiring the 39 acres of Grand Prix Plaza and the construction of the four-level, 300,000-square-foot pit building, so year-round use was always in the cards.

Initial plans were for Grand Prix Plaza to open Saturday, but that date has been pushed back to May 2, as crews needed more time to finalize the space.

Grand Prix Plaza being open on a year-round basis will now allow for racing excitement to build before each year’s race and shows F1’s commitment to Clark County, F1 CEO Stefan Domenicali said.

“It’s our responsibility to connect with the community and progress our presence here, to give the chance to explore the activities during the day and the night, to offer the community this karting experience.”

F1 has plans for other potential uses of the space, including allowing juveniles to train to get their drivers licenses.

“It’s something that we want to do because F1 will stay for a long time here in the city and we want to be part of the community,” Domenicali said. “I think that everything is looking really good and we are feeling really part of it (the community).”

Las Vegas Grand Prix President and CEO Emily Prazer said she recently purchased a home in Summerlin and looks forward to continuing building the relation between the race and Southern Nevada residents.

Race officials are also planning a kids’ karting program at the plaza that will launch at a later date.

“Once a week we’re going to be bringing in kids that have an interest in karting and want to go karting, so that we start getting them ready for competitive racing,” Prazer said.

Other activities will be rolled out as officials will look at Grand Prix Plaza as F1’s experimental facility in North America, Prazer noted.

Pricing

F1 X prices start at $79 for visitors and $59 for Nevada locals and $69 for children, military and senior citizens. VIP packages for F1 X are available for $229.

F1 Drive’s course travels through multiple garages with a portion of the track running on pit lane of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. That marks the only F1 Drive experience in the world that actually travels on a portion of a race’s circuit.

Crews began setting up the experience in January and will be working through next month to have it fully ready when the full public opening occurs in May. The space will then be cleared in late September, to allow for crews to begin setting up Grand Prix Plaza for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Going forward, plans call for the space to be ready to go in January of each year and for teardown to continue occurring in September, ahead of each year’s planned race.

County connection

Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said he sees opening the space to the public outside of just race weekends as a way to better connect the city and F1.

“This was really the plan all along,” Gibson said. “This fun kart path and experience is something that is available to everybody. Not just people who come to Formula One and come to the pit building, but everybody in this community. Karting has really taken off around the world in the last few years, but this is taking it to the next level. And the people that live in this community get to do that.”

Newton, known as “Mr. Las Vegas,” said he is happy F1 is in the community, noting the area has seen a boom in professional sports over the past few years, with the grand prix, until recently, the missing link.

“This was the only thing we were missing, was the grand prix,” Newton said. “We are thrilled that you (F1) are here.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.