• EA is making F1 23 available to play for free over the weekend to celebrate the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
• Players on PlayStation and Xbox can access the game from today with the free weekend starting on Thursday for PC gamers.
• All progress will be stored and carried over should you choose to buy the game after the free weekend.

This weekend, Formula 1 returns to Las Vegas. Yes, while the iconic city is a new destination for motorsport, Formula 1 has raced in Vegas before.

This race could be rather different given that the cars will be racing through Las Vegas including down the iconic Las Vegas Strip where drivers will be pushing their foot into the noisy pedal for 21 seconds. The street race will also be taking place at night with temperatures expected to reach lows of 5 degrees Celsius. Formula 1 cars need heat in the tyres and brakes to operate efficiently and the low temps in Vegas are surely going to cause issues.

You can find this out for yourself in F1 23 thanks to a free weekend EA is offering to gamers and race fans. Starting today on consoles and 16th November for PC, you can play F1 23 for free up until 20th November.

This free weekend is available for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC via Steam. To access the game simply head to the F1 23 product page on your platform’s storefront and start playing.

EA notes that progress achieved during the free weekend will carry over should you decide to buy the full game at a later stage. This is great news because, over the course of the race-weekend, there will be special Vegas-themed in-game items to claim.

To claim these in-game items simply log in to the game and claim it.

• 16th November – Las Vegas GP Gloves and Helmet
• 17th November – Las Vegas GP Suit
• 18th November – Las Vegas GP Livery

Playing over the weekend will also grant you Double XP so there are a raft of benefits to picking the game up this weekend.

The race in Las Vegas is the penultimate event on the 2023 calendar which has been dominated by Max Verstappen in Oracle Red Bull’s RB19. Both Verstappen and Red Bull have claimed the Drivers and Constructors Championship respectively but the battle for second and third place is still any team’s game.

The schedule for the Las Vegas Grand Prix follows below. Note that all times are South African.

• Practice 1 – Friday 17th November from 06:30 to 07:35
• Practice 2 – Friday 17th November from 10:00 to 11:05
• Practice 3 – Saturday 18th November from 06:30 to 07:35
• Qualifying – Saturday 18th November from 10:00 to 11:05
• Race – Sunday 19th November from 08:00

You can stream the race on F1 TV which costs $5.99 per month or alternatively via DStv Stream.