Guenther Steiner exclusive: “They can do anything in Vegas; the city is for the people”

The F1 circus rolls into Las Vegas this weekend, with the Championship race still in the balance between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

This is the third time fans will witness the famous strip with 20 flying machines heading down, in an event which takes around six months of planning.

Guenther Steiner, former Team Principal at Haas, believes that the organizers deserve plenty of credit after taking feedback from the last two renewals on board.

“When Vegas first arrived on the calendar, it had a very late start time, even for a night race and took a lot of criticism”, he said.

“They are gradually learning, though, like with everything in life. This year, the start is earlier because now the organizers have had a couple of attempts with it, so the machine runs a lot better.

“They couldn’t close the roads earlier, but now everything is smoother and they can do everything a lot quicker, so they lose a lot less time because the roads are open during the day.

“The session starts within half an hour, everything shuts down, and you need time to learn that process with the street circuits.”

Vegas is known for much more than its tourists; the locals are incredibly proud of their city, and some will have had doubts regarding another circus joining their already-lively beat.

Fans of Formula 1 also initially disliked the move to ‘Sin City’, but an engaging 2024 race showed even the most in-denial supporters’ what could be achieved in Vegas.

Steiner continued: “Again, if somebody can learn it in Vegas, because they can do anything, that city, if you give them enough time and money. That city is there for the people.

“A lot of the fans thought at the beginning, ‘Yeah, it’s a street circuit. It will be dull racing’. It was not dull racing there at all last year.

“For me, the picture of the F1 cars going down the strip, it’s one of the coolest things in racing, because whoever had thought that would be an image five years ago, let alone 20 years ago, they would have called you out as being mad or insane.

“But it’s happening, and it’s something cool to do. People enjoy it, and with the earlier start, people have even got a little longer to party afterwards, too!”

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