Michael Buffer and brother Bruce will get us ready to rumble. The hollering siblings have been drafted in to perform introductory duties on Formula One’s night under the neon swank of Sin City.
If half the hype is to be believed, Brad Pitt and Beyonce will lead the starry celebrities and influencers swanking in the early hours of your British Sabbath. Adele has already been spotted in the paddock, which, being on the Las Vegas Strip, is obviously the gaudiest and hugest in the high-speed business.
Paris Hilton is tipped to be here. So is Sylvester Stallone. And Snoop Dogg.
A British star who would love to push his name into the limelight among his big-swinging friends is Lewis Hamilton, the most successful grand prix driver on American soil, who at least started promisingly in practice.
He was fastest in both Thursday sessions. In contrast, he finished last year’s race in seventh place.
In contrast, Max Verstappen was only 17th quickest on Thursday night. But he only needs to score three more points than Lando Norris, second best in practice, to clinch the title this weekend. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell was third best. A decent night for the Brits, then.
Michael Buffer (left) and his brother Bruce (right) will join forces to introduce Formula One’s stars for Saturday’s celebrity-fuelled Las Vegas Grand Prix
Lando Norris is amongst the F1 stars that will be given a heroes welcome at the Las Vegas GP
American rapper Snoop Dogg is amongst the many celebrities attending the race
The title contest is practically over. Norris pretty much must win all the remaining contests: here, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and even then he would need Verstappen to implode. There is more chance of the Dutchman landing on Pluto.
For Hamilton a much-improved performance is overdue, a hard fact underlined by his desperate performance in the wet in Brazil a fortnight ago.
Mercedes want to chivvy him along and last night team principal Toto Wolff largely shrugged off Hamilton’s downbeat half-threat that the rainy mess might be his last race for Mercedes. He then, presumably, would have returned to the stage at Ferrari next year.
‘We all know that Lewis wears his heart on the sleeve,’ said Wolff. ‘It was such a bad experience for him that whole race weekend, and particularly the Sunday, he said something (rash).
‘Now, this time was probably particularly bad. But he and us as a team have held on to working together. There are three races to go.
‘He announced at the beginning of the year that he was joining Ferrari, and I am proud how we have maintained the professional relationships and we have given him a tool that is not good enough.’
Clearly, there is a historic respect between boss and driver forged over six world titles in the salad days of both careers, but relations are not as warm as they were. Hamilton’s bombshell decision to decamp saw to that.
Wolff, perhaps feeling scorned, recently said in an official Mercedes book that drivers (aged 39 in Hamilton’s case) had ‘a shelf life’. Did this, however true, cause a rupture that required repair?
Lewis Hamilton was quickest in both practice sessions at the Las Vegas Grand Prix after finishing seventh last year
‘Lewis and I speak, and we have always done so,’ added Wolff. ‘It’s a case of one sentence being made public on a weekend when he has not been satisfied with his driving, and one plus one makes it look bad.
‘But one rule we have established is that we talk immediately and ask, “Why did you say that?” Or “What did you mean?” And that is what we have done.
‘That was one sentence in a book and there are 99 sentences where I have said that Lewis is the greatest driver of all time, and if we can give him a quick car, he is going to be able to win and fight for world championships. But we have failed to do that.’
How Hamilton, a serial conjurer of dramatic magic, could do with another rabbit showing up on the Strip.
