The ultimate stretch of the 2024 FIA System 1 World Championship will start with Spherical 22, the Las Vegas Grand Prix, on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
Las Vegas first featured on System 1’s schedule within the early Eighties however two races held within the automobile park of the Caesars Palace Resort proved underwhelming and the championship quietly moved out. Quick ahead 4 many years and the panorama for System 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 way of the guts of Las Vegas, with the point of interest being the 1.8km stretch of the Strip, passing the well-known lodges, casinos and leisure institutions for which the town is famend. A piece across the spectacular Sphere is preceded by a prolonged straight alongside Koval Avenue, whereas a high-speed blast by way of 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 virtually 150mph making it among the many quickest road tracks on the earth. 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 newest begin time of any race at 22:00 native time, with monitor 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 result of sickness in Brazil.
Ayao Komatsu, Group Principal: “The Las Vegas Grand Prix provides a really distinctive problem for varied causes. Just like Baku, it is a road circuit with low-speed corners and a really lengthy straight. What could be very totally 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 monitor with the backdrop that may’t be overwhelmed, it is a very totally different vibe for F1. I’m trying ahead to this weekend and I will be placing all of it on crimson this time round.”
Kevin Magnussen: “I just like the monitor, 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 plenty 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 is no 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 direction of the late night and it shifts your routine lots.”
