After Triple-Header, F1 Ventures into Vegas

With a three-weekend stretch that featured the U.S. GP, the Mexico City GP, and the Sao Paolo GP, F1's busy schedule takes a week off ahead of the most anticipated race on the calendar: Vegas.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

The Formula 1 world will turn its attention back to the United States on November 19, 2023, as the fastest cars in the world will race around the bright city lights of Las Vegas, Nevada.

F1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix has been in the works for a good amount of time now, being announced last season that Vegas would host a night race. Though the event is a celebration of the “never-sleeping” nature of the famous city, the timings on the weekend calendar are very late. In Eastern Time, the qualifying round will take place at 3 a.m., whereas the race itself will take place at 1 a.m.

This weekend uniquely follows a Thursday to Saturday schedule as well, instead of the typical Friday-Sunday schedule.

According to The Athletic, Vegas has the potential to be one of the coldest F1 races in history, which will throw a huge new factor into the plans of the ten teams. The coldest race ever recorded, according to the article, was 41 degrees Fahrenheit back at the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

This being said, we can reasonably expect some minor errors by drivers. With low temperatures around 46 degrees, the tire grip for this weekend will be less-than-favorable for drivers.

CEO of the Las Vegas GP Renee Wilm stated, “We did certainly have conversations with Pirelli, with the teams, to ensure the quality of racing will be there.” Since this event has never before happened, it will be a big trial run for the future.

The track, seen below, shows the unique 17-turn layout of the LVGP, labeled with key landmarks that the race will pass through.

With one of the longest straightaways on the calendar, F1 cars will reach top speeds of over 200 mph on the Las Vegas Strip. They’ll pass by Caesar’s Palace, “Paris”, the Bellagio Fountains, and even the newly-opened Sphere at blazing speed.

The track is less tricky and tactical compared to other street circuits on the calendar, like the Monaco Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix. Both of these street circuits feature lower-speed corners and shorter straightaways. With this in mind, Vegas’s straighter-line nature can vastly help out the Williams car, which excels in this area.

So, what can we expect?

The volatility of certain drivers over the last three weekends makes it extremely difficult to predict the outcome of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. However, one thing is for sure: Max Verstappen will win the inaugural grand prix, as seems to be the standard across the whole year thus far. The three-time world champion simply will not be stopped.

McLaren isn’t that far behind the stampeding Red Bulls, however. Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez combined for big points in Sao Paolo (and even almost a double podium), but Perez struggled in his home race of the Mexican GP and in Austin the week prior.

Lando Norris of McLaren is moving his way up the driver standings. The British-born racer is now fifth in the driver standings, jumping ahead of the two Ferrari drivers of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc. He now sits right behind the long-tenured Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Red Bull right-hand man Perez, and world champion Verstappen.

With a couple more good races and maybe a podium finish in Vegas, Norris could stake his claim as one of the greatest on the grid right now. Bypassing two-time championship winner Alonso would be a great look for the 23-year-old star.

Two heavyweight teams, Ferrari and Mercedes, have struggled immensely through the recent three-race stretch. Looking back at the U.S. Grand Prix, both Leclerc and Hamilton got cited by the FIA for plank violations, meaning their car setups ran too low to the ground to be deemed legal. After an incredibly hard-fought P2 for Hamilton and a less-than-fortunate P6 for Leclerc from pole position, both drivers were disqualified, wiping out their points for the weekend. This moved American-born racer Logan Sargeant of Williams into his first-career points finish.

In Mexico, the race results brought much more favor to Hamilton and Leclerc, who respectively finished behind Verstappen to round out the podium. Ferrari, McLaren, and even AlphaTauri picked up some key points in Mexico’s capital city.

Most recently, Ferrari drivers lost out in Brazil which featured a shocking Aston Martin resurgence. Charles Leclerc lost control of his hydraulic system in his SF23 on the formation lap, barring him from the race entirely.

With all this negative karma built up, one can only hope that Leclerc’s feeling lucky in Vegas.

To predict, I think the Vegas track will suit the RB19 car extremely well, leading Verstappen to another win and maybe even a Perez podium finish. Leclerc will struggle in qualifying but has a strong race to finish in the top five. It seems safe to assume that Lando Norris will add another P2 finish to his repertoire.

Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes will struggle, and not find much success during the Vegas GP, but will succeed at the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi.

We will have to wait and see who hits the jackpot in the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.