After qualifying fifth under the lights of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen will start the 2024 Las Vegas GP race from the third row, behind former teammate Pierre Gasly of Alpine in third. Despite strong efforts, the Dutchman, who won last year’s race, has struggled to match the pace of his rivals throughout the weekend.
However, Verstappen will start ahead of his title rival Lando Norris, who qualified a disappointing sixth despite strong showings in all three free practice sessions. If Verstappen can finish the race ahead of Norris, he will claim his fourth World Drivers’ Championship title in Las Vegas.
“A bit of a handicap”
While speaking with the media after Friday’s qualifying session, Verstappen was asked where he believed he had lost speed around the Las Vegas strip circuit.
“In the corners and on the straights,” he replied.
He claimed that this lost time was due to the rear wing, which he described as “a bit of a handicap.” However, Verstappen added that Red Bull had expected the issue, as they had also experienced it during the Italian Grand Prix.
“We know that with our wing you lose top speed, especially with the DRS open.”
“It’s a bit of a handicap, we knew that.”
“That’s something we have to deal with on a track like this, a track like Monza.”
Verstappen added that difficulties with his tyres had further compromised his qualifying pace.
“But also, besides that, I always felt like the tyres were a bit of a struggle for us to get them in the right operating window.”
P5 “the best we could do”
Verstappen claimed that his P5 qualifying position was the best that the team could achieve, considering the challenges experienced throughout the weekend.
“I do think that we did the best we could in qualifying with what we had, and then P5 is the result.“
However, he expressed that luck had helped him secure his P5 position, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton unable to get a good lap in during the third session. Despite strong performances throughout the weekend, the seven-time world champion will start Saturday’s race from P10 after making a “wrong call” during Q3. Verstappen believes he would have qualified sixth had Hamilton successfully put together his qualifying lap.
“We got a bit lucky, of course, with Lewis not putting a lap in. Otherwise, we would have been P6.”
However, he reiterated that, despite the role of luck, the team had “maximised” their performance as much as possible.
“I think we really maximised what we could.”
RB20 still “too slow” despite optimised performance
While Verstappen praised the team for optimising the RB20’s Las Vegas GP’s qualifying performance, he identified that they had still been “too slow” compared to their rivals.
“I think we were more than a second off, and today that’s a little bit less.”
“I also feel like we optimised it as a team, but of course, still too slow.
However, he reiterated that the rear wing’s performance on the straights had most significantly contributed to the team’s lack of pace. He added that the team could not fix these issues before the race.
“But, I think more than half of that is already just on the straights. That is just something that there’s nothing that you can do.”
When asked about how the grip of his tyres had affected his qualifying, Verstappen acknowledged that it had been better than during the practice sessions. However, he claimed that, despite the improvements, he had struggled with grip more than his rivals at Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.
“It was a bit better compared to all the runs that I did before.”
“But naturally, it looked like it was still not like the guys fighting for pole.”
Expectations for the Las Vegas GP race
“Less of a DRS effect” due to trimmed rear wing
Having identified it as his most significant difficulty during qualifying, the Dutchman was asked whether it would also affect his race. Verstappen acknowledged that the reduced DRS effect would make his race more difficult, especially when overtaking during the Las Vegas GP. However, he added that he expected the competitiveness of the RB20 to be “a little bit better” especially when racing without DRS.
“Naturally, of course, the wing is not the most efficient.”
“But hopefully, with everyone, let’s say DRS closed, it’s a little bit better. Because when you trim your DRS, naturally, you have less of a DRS effect.”
“And that’s what is quite painful in qualifying.”
“Naturally, of course, in a race, when you try to pass people, you have less of an effect. So that will be a bit more difficult.”
“You choose your priorities”
Verstappen claimed that the team’s decision to bring a less suitable rear wing to Las Vegas had been deliberate due to budget constraints.
“No, we opted to not make one. We don’t have one.”
“So this is already from 2022. I think we just never thought that we would run it that low.”
“And then with the budget gap, you choose your priorities and we shifted to that.”
Despite understanding the reasons behind the team’s decisions, Verstappen stated that he would have preferred a more efficient wing. He added that, in his opinion, Red Bull had “thrown away” two race weekends – Monza and Las Vegas – due to using an unsuitable rear wing.
“Would I have liked to have a lower wing, a lower downforce wing? Yeah, for sure. Or at least a different shape, a more efficient shape.”
“But on the other hand, there’s only one more year left with these rules, and I don’t know if it makes sense.”
“But for me, at least, it feels a bit like we throw away two race weekends like this. We should definitely lose too much on this race.”
“Hopefully, we’re just decent on tyres”
While Verstappen acknowledged that nothing could be done to improve the rear wing’s performance, he added that he hoped changes to the RB20 would help with tyre performance. He identified poor tyre performance as a contributor to his poor form in long runs during the Las Vegas GP weekend.
“But hopefully, we’re just decent on tyres.”
“My long runs haven’t been really that good, but we also made some changes to the car. And hopefully, that will help the tyres out.”
However, the Red Bull driver also acknowledged that he had not been happy with the performance of either the medium- or soft-compound tyres. He added that the performance of the hard-compound tyres was “an unknown.”
He added that he did not believe that his tyre preparation had been the problem, he had had the same grip, despite trying two different methods.
“It’s been okay. I mean, I tried two different approaches because you could only do one of them each. The timing, you know. It’s not enough minutes to do the normal prep.”
“But to be honest, the grip was the same in all my preps. So that was not the problem.”
Title fight with Norris
The Red Bull driver was also asked about the implication of his P5 starting position on his World Drivers’ Championship title fight with McLaren’s Lando Norris. While Verstappen acknowledged it was “nice” to have qualified ahead of Norris, P5 as opposed to Norris who qualified P6, he stated that their performance in the race would be more important.
“It’s nice today, but it’s more important tomorrow.”
With Verstappen currently 62 points ahead of Norris, he can claim his fourth WDC title if there is a gap of 60 or more points between him and Norris at the end of the Las Vegas GP race. This means that Verstappen will win the title in Las Vegas if he finishes ahead of Norris in any position, if neither he nor Norris scores points, or if Norris finishes ahead of him but scores only two points more than him.
If Norris can reduce the gap between them to less than 60 points, Verstappen will have to wait until the Qatar GP for another shot at claiming the title.
A slippery track at the Las Vegas GP
The Red Bull driver was asked for his thoughts about Las Vegas. While he stated that he was having a “good time”, he identified that the slippery track had posed a challenge. However, he stated that he would “have to deal with that” and expressed hope for a “good race.”
“I like Las Vegas, yeah. I’m having a good time.”
“Track is quite slippery at the moment, but it’s [the same] for everyone, right, so we have to deal with that, and hopefully, we can have a good race tomorrow.”
“Hopefully, of course, I can fight with an Alpine”
While Verstappen expressed that he would put up a fight to gain places during the Las Vegas GP, he admitted that he did not think that he would be able to compete against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, or Mercedes’ George Russell.
“Well, hopefully, of course, I can fight with an Alpine.”
“I don’t think, at the moment, I can fight with Ferrari or Mercedes. They’re being too quick.”
He added that he expected Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to put in a competitive performance, despite starting P10.
“And of course, Lewis is starting P10, so he will move forward.”
However, Verstappen stated that he did not know how his performance would compare to that of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as both teams had struggled during the weekend.
“And with McLaren, I don’t know. Both of us were struggling a bit in the long run.”
“But they made some changes, we made some changes.”
“So we have to wait and see how that will go.”
