With a 1am ET start time, the F1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix will mark the first U.S. F1 race not to air on ABC since ESPN picked rights back up in 2018. Ninety minutes worth of pre-race coverage for the event will start at 11:30pm ET/8:30pm PT on Saturday night. But the drivers won’t start the initial pace lap until a Rolex-branded clock strikes 1am ET/10pm PT exactly, and the race itself won’t start for a couple minutes after that, an extremely rare if not unprecedented time to begin a major U.S. sporting event. F1 execs opted for the start time in part to create a true nightlife feel for those on site in Vegas and to make it easier for those in Europe to watch the race. For example, by running it at 1am ET, it will be 6am in the U.K. and 7am for those countries on Central European Time.
Nonetheless, ABC will still be tangentially involved in the event as “GMA” will air segments about the event and about F1 itself on Friday. ABC News correspondent Will Reeve will do a piece on the all-female F1 Academy, “GMA” contributor Jess Simms will go behind the scenes of the race and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay will discuss his hospitality efforts during race weekend. “SportsCenter” will do segments from Vegas by anchor Nicole Briscoe from today through Sunday, and anchor Gary Striewski will also be on site. ESPN2 will air highlights from the Opening Ceremony tonight. There will also be digital and social coverage plus hosting a pre-race party at Wynn Resorts’ Encore Beach Club on Saturday from 4pm-9pm ET with performances by EDM DJ Marshmello and rapper Tyga. ESPN has been running a special ad previewing the race that has a Marshmello song playing in the background. ESPN pays F1 $75-90M a year for the rights to F1, which has one remaining race in its 2023 season after Vegas (Abu Dhabi).
