PICTURES
RED BULL AND LAS VEGAS GP
The first attempt to bring F1 to Las Vegas wasn’t a success. A twisty and demanding track in the Caesars Palace car park, combined with the heat, made drivers literally throw up. Just ask Nelson Piquet. On his way to fifth in the 1981 Caesars Palace GP which secured him the title, the Brazilian deposited the remnants of his lunch in his cockpit, then struggled to recover for another 15 minutes after the chequered flag.
It wasn’t all bad, of course.
“The good part was Caesars Palace itself!” Marc Surer, who took part in both races in Las Vegas in the early ’80s, tells GP Racing. “It was easy: you walk out of the hotel, and you’re in the paddock. It was even possible to go from the paddock directly to the pool. So after driving, when you were hot, you walked in your overalls to the pool, got changed, and jumped into the water.
“There were celebrities, too. I met Paul Newman. Diana Ross had the show, and all the drivers were invited backstage, which was nice. She also gave the trophies, if I remember it right.”
She did, indeed. And Michele Alboreto, who won the second and final edition of the F1 Caesars Palace GP in 1982, even got to kiss the ‘Female Entertainer of the Century’ on the podium.
But that was as good as it got.
“Well, I mean, we all were excited to go to Vegas,” Surer recalls, “but when you saw the setup… That was just
