Race Start
Saturday, November 21 at 11:00 PM EST
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Free .ics download — sessions appear in your local time in Google, Apple & Outlook calendars.
Round 20 of 22 · Las Vegas Strip Circuit · November 19–21, 2026
Free .ics download — sessions appear in your local time in Google, Apple & Outlook calendars.
| Session | Eastern | Central | Mountain | Pacific |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Practice 1 | Thu, Nov 19, 9:30 PM EST | Thu, Nov 19, 8:30 PM CST | Thu, Nov 19, 7:30 PM MST | Thu, Nov 19, 6:30 PM PST |
| Practice 2 | Fri, Nov 20, 1:00 AM EST | Fri, Nov 20, 12:00 AM CST | Thu, Nov 19, 11:00 PM MST | Thu, Nov 19, 10:00 PM PST |
| Practice 3 | Fri, Nov 20, 9:30 PM EST | Fri, Nov 20, 8:30 PM CST | Fri, Nov 20, 7:30 PM MST | Fri, Nov 20, 6:30 PM PST |
| Qualifying | Sat, Nov 21, 1:00 AM EST | Sat, Nov 21, 12:00 AM CST | Fri, Nov 20, 11:00 PM MST | Fri, Nov 20, 10:00 PM PST |
| Race | Sat, Nov 21, 11:00 PM EST | Sat, Nov 21, 10:00 PM CST | Sat, Nov 21, 9:00 PM MST | Sat, Nov 21, 8:00 PM PST |
F1 races down the Las Vegas Strip at night, past the Sphere and the casinos, on one of the fastest street layouts ever built — the cars hit over 210 mph on the boulevard. The November desert cold makes tire warm-up a genuine problem, which keeps the field closer than the layout suggests. It's the only Saturday-night points race on the calendar and the closest thing F1 has to a home prime-time event for US TV.
The Las Vegas Strip Circuit is built for top speed: 6.2 km of boulevard including a 1.9 km blast down the Strip itself, past the Sphere, Caesars Palace, and the Bellagio fountains, where cars exceed 340 km/h at night in the desert. The layout's 17 corners are mostly 90-degree street intersections, putting a premium on braking stability and traction rather than aerodynamic finesse.
November desert nights are cold — often below 15°C — and that's the circuit's secret variable: tires fall out of their operating window on every safety car and struggle to warm up for restarts, keeping the field artificially close and the racing scrappy. The long straights make DRS overtaking almost routine, so track position matters less than tire temperature management, a complete inversion of the usual street-race logic.
F1 first raced in Las Vegas in 1981 and 1982 in the Caesars Palace parking lot — a forgettable venue that nonetheless decided the 1981 title. The 2023 return as a night race down the Strip was an entirely different scale of production: the sport's biggest promotional bet of the modern era, complete with a purpose-built pit building. After a rocky first practice (a loose drain cover), the race itself overdelivered, and the event has settled in as the sport's flagship US spectacle.
Mark it: the RACE IS ON SATURDAY NIGHT, 8 PM Pacific / 11 PM Eastern — prime time on the West Coast, a late one back East. Qualifying runs after midnight Pacific on Friday night. It's the one weekend of the year where US fans get the 'European fan experience' in reverse, and East Coast viewers may want coffee.
This is the one for American prime time: the race starts Saturday at 8 PM Pacific / 11 PM Eastern — F1's only true US evening broadcast slot. West Coast fans get the perfect Saturday night; East Coast fans face a midnight-adjacent finish, so plan the Sunday morning replay if you can't hang. Friday qualifying runs late into the Pacific night. Remember: no Sunday race this weekend — everything wraps Saturday.
The race starts Saturday, November 21 at 11:00 PM EST. That's 10:00 PM CST Central, 9:00 PM MST Mountain, and 8:00 PM PST Pacific.
No, it uses the standard format: three practice sessions, qualifying (Saturday, November 21 at 1:00 AM EST), and the Grand Prix.
50 laps of the 6.201 km Las Vegas Strip Circuit, a race distance of about 310 km.
The Saturday 8 PM Pacific start puts the race in US prime time and lets the Strip's lights do the broadcast work — it's the only race of the 2026 season scheduled as a Saturday night event in the US, and there is no Sunday running at all.
New to Formula 1 or planning your viewing weekend? Read our guides to watching F1 in the US, how a race weekend works, and why F1 start times vary.