Formula 1 and the FIA have agreed restrictions on the use of the giant Sphere overlooking the Las Vegas Strip Circuit to prevent drivers being distracted by it this weekend. George Russell says the enormous structure, which is lined with video screens, is so large drivers will be able to ignore it. The Sphere Exosphere is the largest LED screen on earth, comprising 1.2 million separate ‘pucks’, each containing 48 diodes. It is capable of displaying 256 million different colours. However, in order to ensure drivers do not mistake it for the LED light panels stationed around the track, the colours red, yellow and blue will not be used during track sessions. However Russell believes drivers are unlikely to be distracted by the eye-catching structure. “We’ve often got LED lights around us, but never so much in your peripheral,” he said. “And it’s a pretty spectacular building to say the least. “I recognise they’ve banned those three colours but I think with the the vastness of that, if I saw a big red ball on there I don’t think I’d be backing off thinking it was a red flag. “But I think that’s one of the exciting things about this race is we’re going into a bit of unknown territory with bits and pieces like that.” However Valtteri Bottas said the quantity of other coloured light panels around the circuit besides the Sphere will make Las Vegas a different experience to F1’s other night races. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and “Every night race, you have quite a bit of reflections, but more colours here,” said the Alfa Romeo driver. Although the Sphere is “quite bright” Bottas is unsure how much of a distraction it will be. “In the evening, it is bright. We are obviously looking quite low, the sphere is obviously quite high up. So we’ll find out.” “We always have different visor options, you can use different levels of dimming if you want, but that also depends on the light and track itself,” he added. “I think it’s going to be fine, probably a bit more going on, but normally we tend to look ahead.” F1 will use the Sphere to display graphics including driver information, real-time pole position data, helmet designs and more during the race weekend. It overlooks turns five to nine on the 17 corner track. Check out all 20 #F1 drivers’ graphics on the Sphere overlooking turns six to nine at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.#LasVegasGP #RaceFans pic.twitter.com/DJp1nz1vy1 — RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) November 15, 2023 Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix F1 must tackle “incredibly expensive” Vegas ticket prices – Leclerc Russell fears Las Vegas track ‘designed for racing’ won’t produce exciting race Pre-race ‘driver intro’ returns at Vegas for first time since unpopular Miami debut “Vast” Las Vegas Sphere is too big to be a distraction – Russell Las Vegas Grand Prix build-up and opening ceremony in pictures Browse all 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix articles