Verstappen adds another layer about the Las Vegas circuit
He had already expressed his dissatisfaction with the Las Vegas track. After two free practice sessions, Max Verstappen is already drawing unflattering conclusions about the circuit.
After the end of the two free practice sessions, Max Verstappen answered questions from the press about what he felt about the circuit. It’s safe to say that the Red Bull driver hasn’t changed his mind.
« No, I have had better circuits in my life. He actually admitted yesterday that after testing the circuit on a simulator, he was not impressed with it. « I already said that yesterday, and there’s nothing new that I discovered or anything like that. But we will continue.
And the first session didn’t help Verstappen to get a better idea. Indeed, it was interrupted after a sewer grate protruding from the ground hit cars, damaging them. The opening session was abandoned after less than 8 minutes and the second practice was delayed by two and a half hours due to repairs and inspections.
The second practice session was extended to 90 minutes and went without incident, allowing Verstappen to complete 37 laps, enabling him to further understand the circuit, while not hiding the areas of uncertainty that still remain.
“It’s slippery. Of course, we didn’t drive much during FP1, so it took a bit of time to adapt to the conditions,” says the Dutch driver. However, he puts things into perspective when he mentions the end of the second session. “In the end, it was a little better. We managed to complete the entire program, which was the most important thing to do for today.”
The main problem, which was the major cause of concerns regarding Las Vegas, was the track temperature and how the drivers would adapt to these low temperatures. During the evening, an average of 14 degrees was recorded, which put the softest tires to the test. For Verstappen, the choice of tires in qualifying and in the race will probably not be the same.
« I think running on a soft compound tire is certainly good before adding, « The long stint was a bit more challenging, it seemed like the soft tires were struggling a lot, so we quickly switched to the mediums. But it seems that even the medium tire is not an easy tire on long stints ».
« There are still several things that we need to examine in order to see how we can improve our long-term performance. I believe we are doing very well compared to others, but I feel like we might still be able to do a better job. Therefore, choosing tires for the race is not easy. »
