The Las Vegas Sphere will be operational during track action over the course of the F1 event – but every effort will be made not to distract the drivers.
It has been agreed not to display anything that might be misinterpreted, and particularly the red, yellow and blue colours that drivers are looking for on light panels at the side of the track.
As previously reported, the F1 organisation has rented the Sphere and the land around it for the duration of the event, obliging Irish rock band U2 to pause its acclaimed residency at the city’s newest venue until December 1.
F1 was keen from the start of negotiations to include the Sphere as part of the backdrop of the track, even though it hadn’t been completed when the layout was agreed.
The outside surface of the structure, known as the Exosphere, is the world’s largest LED screen, and it operates around the clock.
In order to help recoup its investment F1 has sold advertising slots on it as part of event sponsorship packages, as well as dedicated promotional spots.
The Sphere is highly visible from the cockpits of the cars and concerns have been raised about drivers being distracted.
However the Sphere owners have worked with the FIA and F1 in an attempt to avoid any issues arising during track action.
Joel Fisher, who as the executive vice president marquee events and operations for MSG Entertainment is responsible for the deal between the Sphere and the F1 event, said that every effort has been made to ensure that there won’t be any problems.
"It's all safe,” he told Motorsport.com. “Obviously, we're going to comply with the FIA's requirements, and make sure.
“They've come here at night and tested different colours and different things on there. And we know what we shouldn't show. So we have a show runner to do all that."
Asked what will be displayed he said: "There's going to be some live footage, there's helmets, there's driver cards, there's ads, there's all those types of things, and some other surprises.”
Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said last week that F1 will make more use of the Sphere in years to come.
“We have a long-term relationship with the Sphere, and I think we will have more programming in place,” he said.
“Partly because we didn't know if the Sphere would be done, and partly we were hustling to get ourselves done, that combination made it hard to programme for this year. But I think in future years, we'll have a lot more going on.”
