Could anything live up to this hype? Las Vegas GP taking points

And so, the single most hyped-up Formula 1 world championship grand prix of all time has arrived: the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix is this weekend.

A unique event on the calendar, the race will take place on a Saturday instead of the traditional Sunday.

But while the sport hopes that all eyes will be on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit this weekend, what will the fans truly be talking about? Here are the talking points for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Formula 1 goes all in on Vegas

Las Vegas is synonymous with the biggest headline names in American entertainment: Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Liberace – Carrot Top. After poaching the Raiders NFL team from Oakland, Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium will host the upcoming Super Bowl LVIII in February.

And yet, despite its international reputation as the ultimate party city and playground of the rich, famous and those who aspire to be both, this weekend’s grand prix could be one of the biggest events Sin City has ever seen.

The first grand prix promoted by Formula One Management itself, the Las Vegas Grand Prix has been pushed as being the ultimate vision of what the sport’s owners, Liberty Media, see that grands prix could and should be – major events in major destination cities with a Super Bowl atmosphere. If the Miami Grand Prix at the Miami Dolphins stadium was the blueprint, Vegas takes that model to a whole new level with neon lights, casinos, high-end hotels and other eye-catching architecture.

The millions of dollars’ worth of investment that both Formula 1 and the city of Las Vegas have ploughed into this event is unprecedented. The volume of work required to the world famous strip to accommodate the race has caused disruption for and discord among the city’s residents and workers, but a multi-year agreement to host the race shows how much the sport’s owners are betting on this event becoming the biggest grand prix on the calendar each year.

With Formula 1 betting the house that it can continue to grow its appeal and popularity in the richest country on the planet with three races a season, it needs the first ever Las Vegas Grand Prix to truly live up to the hype.

Can Mercedes recover from its “worst weekend in 13 years”?

While, as ever, Red Bull and Max Verstappen remain favourites to win during what is now officially the most dominant season the sport has ever seen, closest rivals Mercedes will be looking to avoid another woeful performance like they experienced at the last round in Brazil.

One year after their last race win at Interlagos in 2022, Mercedes spent both the sprint race and the grand prix in Sao Paulo falling down the order, finishing well below where they qualified. Lewis Hamilton finished the grand prix eighth, while team mate George Russell was eliminated from the race after his power unit began to run so hot that Mercedes were forced to call him in and avoid imminent failure.

As a result of their performance, rivals Ferrari chipped two points off Mercedes’ advantage over them in the fight for second place in the constructors’ championship. Team principal Toto Wolff described his team’s performance as “inexcusable” and went as far as calling it the team’s “worst weekend in 13 years”. However, Wolff says the team are now confident that they will not endure the same difficulties this weekend.

“We understand our mistakes and can explain our performance loss to the field,” Wolff said. “That’s important as we look to secure P2 in the constructors’ championship.”

Even so, this could be another tough weekend for the team. The W14 does not heat its tyres as effectively as rivals’ cars do, and Ferrari suspect the track configuration will suit their car. The fight for second in the championship could look very different come Sunday morning in Vegas.

Last roll of the dice for Logan Sargeant?

As Formula 1’s only American driver – and the first for many years – Williams’ Logan Sargeant is also the only driver on the grid with the privilege a trio of ‘home’ races in 2023. While Miami was the rookie’s true home round, the Williams driver will naturally receive extra attention throughout the week’s build up and the weekend itself.

Sargeant has endured a tumultuous first season in Formula 1. He has made more conspicuous errors than any other driver in the field and was the only driver who was on the grid in the opening round of the season in Bahrain yet to have scored a point by the time he arrived at the United States Grand Prix less than a month ago. However, after some post-race disqualifications, Sargeant was promoted into the top 10.

Williams took a gamble on their junior driver by promoting him into Formula 1 after just a single full season in F2 for 2023. The 22-year-old has had to learn difficult lessons in his first season – including just how difficult it is to keep a Formula 1 car on the track at all times. However, Sargeant’s run in the recent triple header was probably his strongest three-round run all season and his team certainly have the potential to compete for minor points again this weekend.

While Sargeant’s future isn’t officially determined yet, the fact that he is listed to run in the post-Abu Dhabi Grand Prix test suggests Williams aren’t looking to replace him for 2024. However, a strong run in the Las Vegas Grand Prix could go a long way to helping him change the narrative heading into that likely second season.

White line worries

The second half of the 2023 season has seen track limits become an increasingly common concern. The last time F1 raced in America at the US Grand Prix in Austin, track limits caused drivers problems in qualifying and the grand prix. A request for a review by Haas – though unsuccessful – highlighted just how contentious the policing of track limits can be.

Thankfully, the street circuit nature of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit should go a long way to preventing those kinds of problems dominating the weekend. Like Monaco or Singapore or even Montreal, many of the corner exits in Vegas will be lined by barriers, with little risk of drivers having times deleted for running four wheels out of the white lines. If any drivers do, it’s near-certain they will end up with heavily damaged cars as a result.

A more likely problem will be drivers who abandon attempts to turn into the many corners on the circuit whenever they lock up or carry too much speed, leading to them having to take the escape roads and making a 180 degree turn to return to the track. In that way, Vegas could have more in common with Baku than any other circuit on the calendar.

Power unit concerns?

The penultimate grand prix of the championship, round 21 of 22, is an especially brutal point in the year to hold a race where power units will be pushed to their limits with one of the longest full-throttle sections on the calendar.

Every driver on the grid has used up all their four power units allocated to them for the 2023 season (increased from three after the championship began), with at least a quarter of the grid having taken penalties for using a fifth unit. That means the vast majority of the field have only power units available to them that have already had a fair amount of miles put on them already.

Russell was forced to retire from his Mercedes the Brazilian Grand Prix last time out after his power unit, which was due to be relieved of duty following that same race, began to run excessively hot and was at risk of imminent failure. Many power units will be on their last legs in Vegas, but the cold ambient temperatures may go a long way to help prevent further instances of overheating.

Whether some may choose to take a grid penalty for the benefit of a fresh new power unit for these final two rounds is always a possibility.

AlphaTauri on a charge

Williams could do with Sargeant having a strong race this weekend in Las Vegas, because they are currently feeling growing pressure for seventh place in the constructors’ championship from AlphaTauri. After ten rounds of being rooted to the bottom of the standings, Red Bull’s junior team has leapt up from tenth to eighth over the last two rounds thanks to a 16-point haul through the triple-header.

Now, the team that were struggling to grab any points through the middle phase of the season could have a chance of catching Williams and sniping seventh place in the championship over the final two rounds. If they do, it will be a remarkable turnaround for a team that had the fewest top ten finishes of any team for the first 17 rounds of the season.

Even the five points that Yuki Tsunoda scored in Sao Paulo could have been more. After Tsunoda picked up three points in the sprint race, team mate Daniel Ricciardo was struck by debris at the start of the grand prix, before an unfortunate quirk of the red flag rules left him a lap down on the rest of the field for the remainder of the race, unable to make any progress despite his strong pace. Tsunoda claimed a couple more points in ninth, but was nursing a clutch problem in the later laps and lost several seconds with a mistake early in the race.

Although Williams should enjoy long straights of the Las Vegas Strip circuit, AlphaTauri will be on the prowl to take more points out of their advantage before the final showdown in Abu Dhabi.

Frosty welcome

While there are so many unknowns about how the first ever Las Vegas Grand Prix will play out, one thing teams will be expecting is very chilly temperatures.

As yet another night race taking place in November, the temperature hits single digits when the sun sets in Nevada. And with the on-track action all taking place later than 8:30pm, there will no heat from the sun to help provide heat energy for drivers’ tyres across the whole weekend.

Naturally, that is expected to be a challenge for drivers and teams alike as they fight to keep their cars and their tyres in the best possible operating window during one of the coldest rounds of the season.

Saturday night’s alright for racing

As if the Las Vegas Grand Prix did not have enough about it to make it a unique event on the F1 calendar, this will also be the first world championship round in decades not to be held on a Sunday.

Rather than running from Friday to Sunday as traditional, this weekend’s schedule will instead run from practice on Thursday, final practice on Friday, qualifying at the stroke of midnight on Saturday before the grand prix itself starting at 10pm local time on Saturday.

The offset schedule conveniently prevents the grand prix from clashing with the typical slate of NFL games held on Sunday evening, which Formula 1 hope will draw more viewers to the grand prix. But with the east coast of the USA being asked to stay up until 1am just to watch the start, whether that proves a winning tactic remains to be seen.

2024 F1 calendar will take place on Saturdays, only one of the next four grands prix has a Sunday date.

2023 F1 season

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