Three weeks after an emotional race in Brazil, Formula 1 returns this weekend for its fourth visit to the glamorous city of Las Vegas, and it is likely that the 2024 champion will be officially decided on Saturday night. After two events held on the track built around the famous Caesars Palace hotel-casino in 1981 and 1982, last year the Las Vegas GP moved to a new “home” in the entertainment capital of the world, with the track structure using part of the famous street The Strip, which is also the name of the track.
The Las Vegas GP is the third race to take place in the United States this year, after Miami and Austin. After Spa-Francorchamps at 7.004km, the Nevada circuit is currently the second longest in F1 at 6.201km, with 17 corners, for a total of 50 laps. It’s a high-speed layout, with three straights and a top speed of 350km/h last year. So there are plenty of overtaking opportunities, especially around Turn 14.
As in 2023, the official on-track action will start with FP1 and FP2 on Thursday, and end with the race on Saturday evening. All sessions will be held under the lights of Las Vegas. There are other events under similar conditions – Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi – but none will have such a huge temperature difference as this weekend. This is due to the city’s location in the Mojave Desert, while the other four venues are all just a short distance from the ocean.
Additionally, the November event will not have the spring or summer weather that most other races experience, so the cars will likely be racing in air temperatures of around 10°C, with little variation in track temperatures.
As usual for street circuits, Pirelli has chosen the three softest tyre compounds for this race, namely C3 Hard (white), C4 Medium (yellow) and C5 Soft (red), just like in 2023. The biggest challenge will be tyre warming, especially in qualifying and on the front axle. Drivers will have to be careful about tyre heating and avoiding overheating, avoiding locking situations at the end of the longest straights. In addition, low temperatures reduce grip and can cause tyre wear.
These factors can accelerate tyre wear, making a double pit stop the most suitable strategy. In fact, this was the most popular option last year. However, a single pit stop strategy is still possible if the driver knows how to warm up the tyres slowly, prolonging their life over a long race. Due to the difficulty of warming up tyres, pitting early to undercut opponents is not the most effective option. In theory, it is better to extend the time before pitting.
The experience gained from the first event last year will be useful for the teams and Pirelli. In fact, a large amount of data on grip and wear has been collected and shared with the teams, who have provided their simulation data. The first task on arriving at the track will be to check the initial wear and grip levels and compare them with last year’s figures, then to check the track and analyse the data. Thursday’s testing sessions will be crucial to get more data, which will help to make more accurate predictions about tyre degradation and wear.
For the street races, red flags and safety cars are likely to be in place. 12 months ago, Max Verstappen won the race, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez in the top three. Medium and Hard tyres were used in the race, with Medium being the preferred choice for most drivers at the start.
This year’s Las Vegas GP is the 79th event to be held in the United States since the tournament began in 1950. The United States, along with Germany and the United Kingdom, is tied for second place on the list of countries with the most Grand Prix races, with Italy leading the way with 107. As of 2024, there are 11 venues hosting races in the United States: Austin (12 GPs), Dallas (1), Detroit (7), Indianapolis (19), Las Vegas (3), Long Beach (8), Miami (3), Phoenix (3), Riverside (1), Sebring (1) and Watkins Glen (20).
A notable statistic is that the top two drivers in the US race wins list will be on the Las Vegas track this weekend, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, with six wins each. Following Charles Leclerc’s victory in Austin last month, Ferrari is now the most successful team in the “land of the flag” with 14 wins.