Andretti believes in success GP Las Vegas: 'This is for the long haul'

It is the most hyped Grand Prix of recent years: the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Next weekend, Formula 1 will visit the streets of the gambling city for the first time, and it promises to be a true spectacle. At least off the track, as the requisite celebrities have been drummed up to walk the grid. Whether the race itself will be interesting remains to be seen. Mario Andretti, 1978 F1 champion, is in any case looking forward to the Las Vegas GP.

There are many uncertainties at the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. For instance, it will be a matter of waiting to see how the cars - and Pirelli tyres in particular - perform in the expected cold evening in Nevada. Once evening has fallen, temperatures of around 7 degrees Celsius are perfectly normal. Moreover, it is impossible to estimate in advance whether and to what extent the street circuit layout will provide spectacle.

Andretti is sure: Las Vegas is here to stay

On the track - which includes a piece of the legendary Strip - drivers are going to reach high speeds, but on paper it certainly doesn't look like a technically complex circuit. "The issue is, in every street course, you're stuck with the geography," Mario Andretti responded during an exclusive interview with GPblog. "You try to make the best of it."

But, Andretti continued: "I think what they're doing there is amazing because the investment that's there means it's going to be there a long time. It's not going to be like it was at the Caesars Palace. Maybe we will try one year or so forth. This is an absolute commitment. A lot of the infrastructure will be there forever, for the foreseeable future. So you don't make that investment just for a year or two. That's a beautiful thing.

Andretti sees that there are now no less than three Grands Prix in his country: "The same thing that they're doing in Miami too. I mean, of course, COTA, you had the facility, but these temporary courses like Miami and Las Vegas, there's more than just weekend investment. They have a lot of it that actually stays there and will be an investment that has to be justified. So that's for the long term. That's the beautiful part about it."