Grand Prix thread HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2023

I thought I would post early as fair bit of chat going on about this race.

50 laps of the 6.2-kilometre Las Vegas Strip Circuit in Nevada

17th November Practice 1 04:30 - 05:30
17th November Practice 2 08:00 - 09:00
18th November Practice 3 04:30 - 05:30
18th November Qualifying 08:00 - 09:00
19th November Race 06:00 - 08:00

All times are UK times
Poll closes before Quali.

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Image from moreinjuredthanowen

 

At least it's not being held in a car park this time.

 

Could be talking about silly temperatures of as low as 8 degrees Celsius for the night quali and race- insanity.

Could potentially flip the grid on its head- anyone with intel as to which cars fire their tyres up best?

I thought Ferrari looked a very strong option for pole here- excellent straight line speed and not soft on their tyres- hence the ability to heat them up?

Wouldn’t be surprised to see Williams handy but the slow corners might hurt them. Alpha Tauri and Haas I think may also qualify very well!

Red Bull will be strong as usual but wonder if their tyre whispering might hurt them in these conditions to just take away their edge and make it close?

 

Well we all believe red bull takes longer to heat up tyres so they should have a mare.


hopefully.

by anyone using that style of suspension (merc now) should take another lap to condition tyres to go.

I'm thinking that the teams will do 2 or 3 conditioning laps before a flying lap

 

Perez has more struggles firing the tyres up than Verstappen, right? So a difference between the Red Bulls wouldn't surprise me.

 

Some are reporting that it might get as low as 4 Deg C!!! Not sure if the tyres will be able to be worked enough to get them in any sort of working window. There might be some issues at the end of the main straight as the tyres will have cooled down so no grip to brake!
It looks like it could be aesthetically great - so hopefully one way or another we might get an unpredictable race. Next years won't be as unpredictable though as they will have too much data.

 

I'm not worried.

nobody actually cares and honestly bar the desperate for records and such you could park your car here after a couple laps and move on to the final race.

 

If/when there is a safety car it's highly likely to trigger more given that everyone will be on ice again. It could be a cluster similar to the first Indycar race in Nashville. Might be entertaining so long as nobody gets hurt.

 

that'll probably goose the lot of them.

I'd go so far as to say someone is already planning a red flag in that instance to allow full blanketed tyre change.

I think the first corner could be as interesting as by the time the grid forms up someone should hold the front runners for a minute by the time they trundle up

 

Hate how long it takes to form a grid these days. They should really crack down on that.

 

I just watched a lap of this track by the safety car.

it looks very narrow, you can barely tell its vegas bar seeing the sky train track and a couple of casinos

they'll need a lot of laps to get any sort of grip down as the thing looks greasy and fresh

 

A huge sphere that lights up has had the coulours of red,yellow and blue banned on it as these are the flags coulors and could be a distraction for the drivers.

To be honest,this race seem more like a circus than a Grand Prix!!

 

If the track is as bad as we all think it is the winner will be the driver of the safety car

 

I can't imagine that the FIA haven't run the track through the simulators and seen it's OK. Mind you some of the other street circuits that they go to makes me think maybe their sims are a bit 1980's.
I am just hoping that it will be an unpredictable quali and race with people out of place and having to overtake.

 

Ref your last point .

Max has said the whole thing is 99% show and 1% race .

 

Makes sense so that the drivers aren't catching sight or reflections of the sphere and thinking they're flags I guess.

 

Well this is a cracking start.

 

How embarrassing for a brand new track. So much time lost for free practice one.

Sainz and Ocon with damaged floors.

 

The start of FP2 has been delayed, with no word yet on how long by.

Sainz’s car was destroyed in the impact, with the FIA revealing that his car requires a new survival cell (chassis), Internal Combustion Engine, Energy Store, and electronics.

 

Liberty should pay for the damage, failing to provide a circuit that is fit for purpose.