Five things to know ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix

Formula 1 is heading back to Nevada for the first time in 40 years as Las Vegas plays host to a Grand Prix like no other.

Racing under the neon lights down The Strip with packed grandstands and unusually cool temperatures will be quite the test for all teams and drivers.

Yet, as the only team on the 2023 grid with a Vegas victory, we're happy to enter the weekend with a slight edge over the competition.

If you didn't already know Williams Racing had a Mojave desert win, read on below to find out more, plus four other things to know about the Las Vegas Grand Prix

If you're going to part ways with a team that you enjoyed stellar success with, there's no better way to do so than with more of the same.

Alan Jones ended his time for Williams Racing at Las Vegas in the inaugural Caesars Palace Grand Prix in 1981.

One of just two Vegas races in F1 history, we entered the weekend with Alan just out of the championship hunt and teammate Carlos Reutemann locked in the title fight against Nelson Piquet.

Pole position in qualifying was a dream for Carlos, but he slipped back to P8 in the race to miss out on being crowned champion by a single point.

Alan, though, comfortably took his 12th F1 victory, bookending the 1981 season with P1s after winning the season-opener in Long Beach, too.

It seems unusual that we'll have lights out on a Saturday rather than Sunday for the 2023 Las Vegas GP, but it's far from a one-off occurrence.

Formula 1's first-ever race, the 1950 British GP, fell on a Saturday, and Britain was joined by some South African, Dutch, Spanish, and Indy 500 races to avoid a Sunday start.

Curiously, the previous two Vegas races in 1981 and 1982 also occurred on Saturdays, and we're now facing three of the upcoming four rounds having Saturday races.

Next year's Bahrain and Saudi Arabian events will also be Saturday night affairs, with the championship accommodating Ramadan, which begins on March 10.

The last Saturday race, the 1985 South African Grand Prix, saw Nigel Mansell lead Keke Rosberg over the line as the pair took their FW10Bs to a 1-2 finish, lapping the field.

We were in Texas last month and had a Floridian trip to Miami back in May, making Las Vegas our third 2023 race in the United States.

That's a lot of racing in one country, but it's not the first time Formula 1 has taken three trips to the same nation in a single season.

The USA was the first to welcome the sport for a trio of events back in 1982 — the last year we were in Las Vegas.

Round 3 had the United States GP West at California's Long Beach in April before June's Detroit GP and the September season finale at Caesars Palace.

In more recent memory, the pandemic-affected 2020 season meant Italy had two additional venues stepping in to create a heavily revised calendar.

A September double-header had us racing at Monza for the traditional Italian GP just before F1's only visit to Mugello for the Tuscan Grand Prix.

Imola returned to the calendar in November as the Emilia Romagna GP in what was intended to be a one-off event but has now become a recurring feature.

We've no idea what the reality of running around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit will be, but we know it will be a long lap.

The 6.201km layout vaults the track up the charts for lap length, with only Spa-Francorchamps beating it in mileage.

That makes Vegas just 27m longer than fellow street circuit Jeddah, which clocks in as 6.174km and bills itself as the sport's fastest street circuit.

Lewis Hamilton has the lap record for the Saudi Arabian track, taking a 1:30.734 in the 2021 race, and lap times from simulation runs around Las Vegas are around that mark, too.

If you didn't think there were enough fun things happening in Vegas, there's also a street circuit head-to-head subplot to keep your eye on!

We've told you how Williams Racing boasts a pole position in Las Vegas courtesy of Carlos Reutemann and a race win thanks to Alan Jones.

Did you know we also scored a World Drivers' Championship victory one year after Alan's heroics?

Keke Rosberg headed into the 1982 season finale all but certain to clinch the crown, but he needed to either score points or hope John Watson couldn't clinch victory.

Both looked positive after qualifying, as Keke claimed a P6 start, three places ahead of his McLaren rival, but the race wasn't so kind to the flying Finn.

Watson's quick pace had him progressing through the field, eventually ascending to a P2 place and just one DNF away from the lead in a race that had nine mechanical failures.

Thankfully, Watson crossed the line in second place, and Keke brought his FW08 home in P5 to take two points, securing his sole championship title.