Las Vegas GP CEO shares the ‘biggest challenge’ organisers faced ahead of this weekend’s race

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Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Renee Wilm has revealed the biggest challenge she’s faced in making sure Formula 1’s newest race is going to run as smoothly as possible this weekend.

Wilm was speaking ahead of what’s being marketed as one of the biggest events in F1 history.

The track, designed by Hermann Tilke’s Tilke Engineers & Architects, has the potential to become an iconic fixture on the racing calendar.

Watching 20 Formula 1 cars racing down the Las Vegas Strip is going to be a surreal experience on Saturday evening.

However, there are going to be some obstacles that both the teams and the organisers have to overcome.

The track is going to be one of the coldest on the calendar with temperatures potentially approaching freezing during qualifying and practice that will run until 1 am local time.

Wilm has now said that the biggest challenge they’ve faced in Las Vegas is the logistics of the event.

Hosting a race in a major city is always very difficult considering how much equipment is required by each team.

Finding places to store everything and physically moving things around is far from easy.

Las Vegas has never seen an event like this before and it would be a surprise if there were no teething problems this year, but that should stand them in good stead for future events.

Transport logistics the biggest challenge facing Las Vegas GP organisers

Asked about the difficulties faced by the organisers ahead of this weekend, Wilm said: “I would say the biggest challenge is really just transportation planning.

“We are essentially encapsulating 60,000 hotel rooms, workers, guests and visitors of Las Vegas.

“And how do we ensure that we are able to keep traffic moving, keep people moving when the track is hot?

“And in that regard, we have installed three temporary bridges which will allow vehicles to access the interior of the track while we are during race time.

“And working with the locals hand and glove to figure out how we continue to move the employees and how we get guests into the interior of the track.”

The transport logistics for both the teams and the Las Vegas natives will be difficult to navigate when Formula 1 arrives in town.

In an ideal world, Wilm will hope any issues in this department do not affect the actual spectacle.

As long as things run smoothly during free practice, qualifying and the race itself, any challenge faced behind the scenes in Las Vegas will be largely forgotten.

Space is at a premium in Monaco and Singapore for their street races but they run like clockwork.

In an ideal world, the same scenario will play out in the Nevada desert this weekend.