The Las Vegas Grand Prix starts after dark. The Strip closes to cars, the grandstands fill up beside Sphere and the Bellagio fountains, and Formula 1 cars come down Las Vegas Boulevard at more than 340 km/h, about 212 mph. That's the scene. The plain facts: it's a 6.2-kilometer street circuit, 3.8 miles with 17 turns, built on public roads around the Strip, and F1 has signed to race here through 2037.
Thursday: practice night
Thursday is the gentlest way in. Two practice sessions run after dark, the crowds are thinner, and it's the night to learn the circuit: where the cars brake, where they're flat out, and how loud a Formula 1 engine is when it's bouncing off hotel towers. The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix sells passes by zone, and each zone has its own entry, food and screens.
Where: F1 Las Vegas Strip Autodrome, pit building at Grand Prix Plaza on Koval Lane. Nights: Thursday practice, Friday qualifying, Saturday race. Best for: racing fans and anyone who wants the Strip at full volume.
Check Las Vegas Grand Prix tickets
Friday: qualifying, and the grid gets decided
Friday adds the session that sets the starting order. Qualifying is short and sharp. Every lap counts. On a street circuit with walls a foot from the tires, it's often the most tense hour of the weekend. It also tells you where to look on Saturday.
Saturday: race night
Saturday is the Grand Prix itself. It's 50 laps under the lights. The long run down the Strip is 1.9 kilometers of flat-out road, past Caesars Palace and the Bellagio, and the start sends the whole grid into the first corner at once. Max Verstappen has won here twice, in 2023 and 2025, and George Russell took 2024.
Where to watch the Las Vegas Grand Prix
The main grandstand faces the start-finish straight at the pit building, which is the place for pit stops and the start. That's the classic view. The grandstands near Sphere put the glowing globe behind the cars, a photograph no other race can offer. Along the Strip, resorts sell their own viewing packages, the Bellagio's fountain-side club among them. For the cheaper end of the weekend, Thursday practice in a general zone gives you the cars and the city without the race-night crowd.
Getting around, and staying warm
Session nights close sections of Las Vegas Boulevard, Koval Lane, Harmon Avenue and Sands Avenue, and some pedestrian bridges are restricted while the cars run. The Las Vegas Monorail runs above the closures along the east side of the Strip, and it keeps running on session nights. Cold is the surprise. A November night in the desert drops into the high 40s Fahrenheit, about 8°C, and you'll be outside for hours. Our Las Vegas weather by month guide has the full November numbers.
The first lap, and the week after
The moment worth the whole trip is the first lap, when the noise reaches the grandstands before the cars do. The calendar helps, too. In 2026 the Grand Prix lands the weekend before Thanksgiving, so a trip can run straight into the holiday; our Thanksgiving in Las Vegas guide lists the shows playing that week. If watching makes you want to drive, the racing simulators are in our guide to Vegas spots where you compete, and Ferraris, go-karts and a 707HP Hellcat near Las Vegas puts you behind a real wheel.
