For the third and final time this year, the MoneyGram Haas F1 team is heading to the United States, this time for the long-awaited Las Vegas Grand Prix.
For the third and final time this year, the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team will head to the United States, this time for the highly anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix, round 22 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Las Vegas was originally part of the Formula 1 calendar in 1981 and 1982, when the temporary circuit was placed in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel. However, Formula 1 did not make significant progress in Las Vegas or the United States, as the barren and boring circuit was not popular with the drivers and thus took a shameful place in the history of Formula 1 .
Three decades ago, the picture was very different. The popularity of Formula 1 has grown worldwide, especially in the United States, with championship organizers targeting Las Vegas as a desirable location for a grand prix. In March 2022 an agreement was reached for Formula 1 to return to Las Vegas. This time a circuit is placed in the heart of Las Vegas, including a part of the iconic Las Vegas Strip, and the grand prix will be held at night, on a Saturday, the first race to do so since 1985. It will take place in Thursday night and qualifying takes place at midnight, while Friday starts on Saturday.
The 6,201-kilometer Las Vegas Strip circuit takes drivers through the heart of Nevada’s famous entertainment city. The circuit was temporary and used city roads, but a permanent pit and paddock complex (and an opening section of track) was built on East Harmon Avenue. The circuit will take drivers along Koval Avenue, before circling the MSG Sphere, and then on to Sands Avenue.
The star section is Las Vegas Boulevard, better known as the Strip, and the circuit passes the city’s famous hotels, as well as the Bellagio Fountain. A top speed of 340 km/h is estimated on the 1.8 km stretch of the Strip, before the drivers brake at the left-right chicane, which takes them back to East Harmon Avenue to complete the lap. . The 17-turn circuit is expected to rival Monza and Baku as a high-speed circuit.
Guenther Steiner, Haas F1 Team Principal:
The penultimate round of the season will bring Formula 1 to the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix. Putting the race aside for a moment, what are you looking forward to this week and how does this race affect the upcoming game?
“I think we all have expectations, but we know what Las Vegas is. It’s hard to imagine what it will be like, but it’s a great event and something completely different from anything that has been done before in Formula 1. Trying so hard to compete in a city like Las Vegas is a challenge to say the least. And doing it a few years ago would have been impossible to imagine, much less. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s sure to do a standard for many things in sports in the future”.
The team decided to run the old and new VF-23 in Las Vegas, with Nico running the original package and Kevin opting for the new COTA-spec package. Can you tell us what the benefit is now, for the team and the drivers with two races left?
“The main reason behind it is that Nico felt that the old details suited him better, and Kevin the opposite. We chose to give them what they wanted, we have two races left and nothing to lose, so that we’re trying to do. what we can do. we can talk about data collection, but we have enough data, it’s a decision based on what each pilot wants more than anything else. it puts them in a comfortable position for them to be as happy as possible with the car they get.”
The air temperature will be below 5ºC. How is this expected to affect performance? Could it be that the VF-23’s tire wear issue, as shown in both specs, may not be as expensive in Las Vegas as it is in higher temperatures elsewhere, for example as seen in Brazil last season ?
“The low temperature is a challenge, because everyone knows that it is necessary to keep the tires above the minimum temperature, which is above five degrees, so we always have to keep them warmer, but it also depends on the asphalt.” It’s a combination of the temperature and the roughness of the asphalt, but I don’t think the deterioration will be worse for us than in Brazil. we will know.”
This is our last race of the year in the United States. Can you summarize how the home race is going this season and how the races differ from the rest of the calendar?
“I think it’s great to have three races in the US, especially as an American team. Five or ten years ago, who would have thought we would have more than one race in the US? Now we have three and they are all very different. events, as it happens when we compete in different continents, not only in the country. I think it is good for Formula 1 and for the American fans who come more to watch -watch and support. The highlight for me is the difference in each race. You go to Austin, which is a more “traditional” race with a lot of hardcore fans, and then you go to Miami, where it’s the center of the party, and then we’ll see what Las Vegas has to offer. We know you’ Can’t sleep at all and we’ll race at night, coming back completely different.”
