Photo credit: Aston Martin Cognizant Formula 1 Team
With Formula One heading into uncharted-on-several-levels territory with regard to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the series’ most senior driver, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, anticipates a lot more variance in track conditions than at most races.
A big part of that stems from F1 being the only show going on this weekend, and therefore no other support series to add rubber to the track.
“With the conditions of the track and not having any support races, I think the amount of track evolution during the weekend is going to be bigger than normal.[…] I guess we will not have two laps the same over the weekend. Every lap of the track will be a little bit better than the lap before – from FP1 to the last lap of the race. We will have to adapt to that changeable grip.”
Alonso’s keys to victory include “just getting that confidence into the car” under braking, on a new and fast street circuit. He also thinks that this may be a track that doesn’t punish cars as harshly for tyre wear issues:
“It could be that with these long straights, the tyres lose a little bit of temperature. We’ve been facing a little bit of tyre overheating on the last three events and maybe here it’s a little bit the opposite. So maybe some cars that are struggling on long-run pace, here they are good because they can keep the tyres in the window and things like that.”
Alonso did manage third at São Paulo despite these overheating issues, his first podium since Zandvoort. Ultimately, neither he nor the rest of the paddock will know for sure how the track will respond until the cars finally turn those first wheels at FP1. “Tomorrow, we will have some answers.”
