The ultimate stretch of the 2024 FIA Components 1 World Championship will start with Spherical 22, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
Las Vegas first featured on Components 1’s schedule within the early Eighties however two races held within the automobile park of the Caesars Palace Lodge proved underwhelming and the championship quietly moved out. Quick ahead 4 a long time and the panorama for Components 1 in the USA was reworked, and Las Vegas joined the championship in 2023. Las Vegas’ addition marked the third annual grand prix in the USA, becoming a member of the Miami Grand Prix on the Miami Worldwide Autodrome, and the USA Grand Prix on the Circuit of the Americas.
The 6.2km Las Vegas Strip Circuit takes drivers by the guts of Las Vegas, with the focus being the 1.8km stretch of the Strip, passing the well-known lodges, casinos and leisure institutions for which the town is famend. A bit across the spectacular Sphere is preceded by a prolonged straight alongside Koval Avenue, whereas a high-speed blast by the curved Sands Avenue leads drivers onto the Strip. A difficult left-right-left chicane brings drivers onto East Harmon Avenue, with a high-speed left-hand kink finishing the 17-turn lap.
The abundance of straights means a low-downforce set-up is favored by groups for the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, with a mean lap velocity of just about 150mph making it among the many quickest road tracks on this planet. There are additionally further challenges, with the championship encountering a low grip floor and chilly situations throughout its debut in 2023. Las Vegas will retain its Saturday evening race placement, holding the most recent begin time of any race at 22:00 native time, with observe exercise commencing Thursday, and qualifying going down Friday.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Group enters the Las Vegas Grand Prix in seventh place within the Constructors’ Championship, on 46 factors, and is striving to bounce again from a difficult Sao Paulo occasion. Kevin Magnussen will return to the motive force line-up alongside Nico Hulkenberg, having been sidelined as a consequence of sickness in Brazil.
Ayao Komatsu, Group Principal: “The Las Vegas Grand Prix affords a really distinctive problem for numerous causes. Just like Baku, it is a road circuit with low-speed corners and a really lengthy straight. What may be very completely different from Baku is the temperature. It is fairly chilly, therefore it is difficult to handle tires specifically. Final yr noticed a number of incidents in Vegas, so we have to keep sharp and take each alternative we get to attain factors.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “We’re about to enter the final three races and naturally we wish to regain P6 within the Constructors’ Championship to complete this season on a excessive. The primary cease, Las Vegas, is really a novel observe with the backdrop that may’t be overwhelmed, it is a very completely different vibe for F1. I’m wanting ahead to this weekend and I’ll be placing all of it on purple this time round.”
Kevin Magnussen: “I just like the observe, it is cool to be racing down the strip. I actually like road circuits and Las Vegas is a reasonably cool road circuit. There’s a whole lot of high-speed, not perhaps so technical in high-speed, however you are going very quick round corners on these streets and that is exhilarating. There isn’t any doubt once you race down the strip and see Vegas so clearly, it is a cool feeling. It is nonetheless a troublesome schedule, it is a late evening race so the entire schedule strikes in the direction of the late night and it shifts your routine rather a lot.”
