Caesars Palace and Its Parking Lot Grand Prix

Formula 1 first came to Las Vegas on a temporary circuit in a hotel parking lot, where the 1981 and 1982 seasons ended in fierce desert heat.

For two seasons, the Formula 1 World Championship ended in a hotel parking lot. The temporary circuit was spread across the Caesars Palace hotel's lot in Las Vegas, and it owed its moment to Watkins Glen: once the race there fell off the calendar after 1980, the Las Vegas event gained new weight, and Bernie Ecclestone was among those who worked to make it happen. Long Beach, some 480 km away, opened those same seasons, so the year began and ended within a day's drive.

The Grand Prix layout folded 14 turns into 3.650 km, doubling back and forth across the asphalt. It had its virtues: room to pass, sand filled run off and a very smooth surface. It also ran counterclockwise, which punished the drivers' necks, and many found it flat and repetitive, with a setting that did little to help. It has been called one of the poorest circuits Formula 1 has ever raced on.

The heat was the sterner test. In 1981 Alan Jones won for Williams, the last championship victory of his career, while Nelson Piquet finished fifth to claim his first world title and then spent some 15 minutes recovering from heat exhaustion. The next year brought intense heat again. Michele Alboreto won for Tyrrell, his first Grand Prix victory, and fifth place confirmed Keke Rosberg as champion. By a neat symmetry, both titles decided here went to a driver who finished fifth.

Small crowds and a heavy loss for the hotel ended the experiment after two championship rounds. Indy cars ran on a shortened oval there in 1983 and 1984, and the land has since disappeared beneath the Forum Shops and the Mirage. Formula 1 did not return to Las Vegas until 2023, when it left the parking lot behind and took to the Strip.

Every Grand Prix here

• 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix
• 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix