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The Pit Straight: What Happened in Vegas?

With Formula 1’s inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix (although not the inaugural Formula 1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas) bringing a tense three-way fight for victory among Sergio Perez, Charles Leclerc and eventual winner Max Verstappen, many race fans are willing to forgive the event’s tumultuous lead-in.

An errant manhole cover wrecked Carlos Sainz‘s Ferrari eight and a half minutes into first practice. The first racing lap lap saw two former World Champions collide and both race leaders slide off the track in the first corner. And that’s to say nothing of months of headache for Las Vegas residents and workers, or the class-action lawsuit.

So, as Americans, race fans and (first and foremost) F1 podcasters, The Pit Straight‘s own Jack Swansey and Alex Gintz break down the late night in Nevada, what Las Vegas means in the American popular imagination, and how F1 got it wrong.

See also
F1 Review: Max Verstappen Outduels Charles Leclerc, Cashes In For 18th Win At Glitzy Las Vegas GP

The Pit Straight is Frontstretch‘s F1 podcast, available weekly on Tuesdays on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and right here on the web.

About the author

Jack Swansey primarily covers open-wheel racing for Frontstretch and co-hosts The Pit Straight Podcast,but you can also catch him writing about NASCAR, sports cars, and anything else with four wheels and a motor. Originally from North Carolina and now residing in Los Angeles, he joined the site as Sunday news writer midway through 2022 and is an avid collector (some would say hoarder) of die-cast cars.

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