LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — For Silvia Bellot, racing is in her blood. Raised in Spain, Bellot’s father was involved in racing for decades, and despite a college experience that included more biology and less high-speed hydraulics, she ended up back in the family business.
“Motorsports has always been part of the family,” Bellot said. “I never thought, to be honest, that would be my career path.”
But it did. As senior director of race operations for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix on Nov. 18, Bellot now oversees, almost everything, including “the safety and fairness of the sport.”
“This is a very very exciting project,” Bellot said. “It’s a big big challenge and it’s a great one to be part of.”
Bellot said the new grandstands across from the F1 finish line are 95% complete. So too are the garages that will house the high-technology race cars that will be zipping around 3.8 miles of newly-paved racetrack on and near the world-famous Las Vegas Strip, she said.
“F1 cars are like the most advanced cars that we’re going to be seeing here, not just in Las Vegas but around the world,” she said Tuesday at a tour of the facility.
The cars and equipment heading to the race area will come either by air or sea and will run three practice rounds prior to the race.
The Las Vegas track is the third-longest Formula 1 racetrack in the world. The integrity of that track, Bellot said, is so important that she and other officials will walk every step of the newly paved pathway in the days prior to the race.
“We’re all going to be walking the track all together, making sure that when the track is finalized everything is in place and everything is according to the rules and regulations,” Bellot said. “So that will happen just before the cars go on track.”
Should that walk go well, F1 will grant the Las Vegas Grand Prix a license to conduct the race.
