2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix start time pushed up by two hours

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The start time for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix is getting bumped up.

On Monday, Formula 1 and Las Vegas Grand Prix officials announced that this year's race will be at 8 p.m. The last two Vegas races started at 10 p.m.

However, those are not the only times being adjusted.

According to Formula 1's website, the first and third practice sessions will start at 4:30 p.m. while the second practice session and qualifying will start at 8 p.m.

Formula 1

Later start times have been a hot topic among drivers and team officials over the last two years.

"At the moment, it's such a big time shift that, especially at the end of the season, when everyone is already a bit tired, I think it's a little bit much," 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen previously told me. "I think the 12-hour time zone shifts and also, completely different timings for racing, I find that a bit much."

Those sentiments were echoed by McLaren driver Oscar Piastri.

"There's a few unique challenges like the time zone we're on. Having qualifying at midnight is different for us so we've been trying to stay up until three or four in the morning and then sleep through the afternoon," he told me in 2023. "The main thing is to stay awake more than anything and to get into the same time zone."

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner both agreed the timing has been brutal for teams.

"We are not used to the cities which never sleep. Sin City, which always keeps on going. There's always something going," Steiner previously told us. "I lost sense of time and day."

"It's been a brutal weekend for everyone behind the scenes and I think we need to look at how we can improve that for the future. We're working so late at night; maybe to run it a little earlier in the evening because you're never going to keep every television audience totally happy," Horner said. "This is an American race and if you run it at 8 o'clock in the evening or something like that, it would just be a bit more comfortable for the men and women working behind the scenes."

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur and Mercedes-AMG team principal Toto Wolff said fixing the schedule would be helpful but it's hard to find the right balance.

"In the past, we had no issue because F1 was just for the European people and we had to stick to the European timing and it was okay," Vasseur said. "Now it's a worldwide project and it's much more difficult to find something fitting with the expectations of the 24-hour zone."

"I think that it's logistics," Wolff said. "How do you manage the traffic situation in Las Vegas?"

Race officials tell us they will release additional information, like upcoming traffic closures, in the coming months.

Festivities for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix kick off on Nov. 20, 2025 and the race is scheduled for Nov. 22, 2025.