Formula 1 drivers are expecting an “insane challenge” should rain be prevalent during any on-track sessions at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Las Vegas has experienced heavy rainfall in the lead-up to Saturday’s night race, causing some parts to flood, sparking fears about the race weekend.
Despite rain-impacted weekends being a common occurrence in the sport, Vegas presents an entirely different scenario.
The drivers have remained candid about their concerns on racing around Vegas for the very first time in wet conditions.
With rain predicted for Thursday’s practice sessions and potentially Friday, it adds yet another factor on an already challenging weekend.
Championship leader Lando Norris emphasised the unique elements which will make Vegas more challenging in the wet.
“I think it’ll be an incredibly difficult track in the rain, yeah, pretty nasty, I think,” the McLaren driver told media including Motorsport Week.
“It’s going to be a hell of a challenge. Obviously not a lot of room for error, quite tricky and quite quick in terms of being a street circuit.
“You’ve got the white lines, all the paint and stuff, which is pretty horrible at times when you’re in the car feeling these kinds of things.
“It will be a pretty insane challenge if it stays wet, especially if it doesn’t dry very quickly either because of the temperature.”
Sin City nightmares
Although the worst of the rainfall has already occurred, even light rain could cause severe headaches for teams and drivers.
The very low-grip asphalt and cold temperatures have already earned the track the lowest grip rating from Pirelli.
Additionally, the extreme speeds and long straights of the track force teams to run low-downforce setups, similar to those run at Monza.
With even less margin for error, Fernando Alonso offered a rather frank assessment of the weekend ahead.
“Not fun. Not fun at all,” Alonso emphasised.
“It’s fast. Visibility is going to be a challenge, I think, under the lights. And also, the grip level is very low already on dry tyres. Temperature is low. So it could be fun to watch, but not to drive.”
The visibility concerns are shared amongst several drivers, including Carlos Sainz, who believes the inconsistency in lighting has been a major factor in recent years.
“For some reason, all drivers feel around this track, there’s parts of the track that are quite dark, darker than Singapore, and all the night races that we go to,” he explained.
“And we don’t really understand why, because the lighting should be the same. There’s parts of the track that are darker than others, and with the rain could be particularly tricky.”
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton believes the lack of tyre grip will be the biggest imminent factor over the weekend.
Vegas already boasts some of the coldest track temperatures of the season. However, if rain persists and the track is damp, Hamilton admits the struggle will be amplified immensely.
“It’s going to be really hard if it’s wet,” Hamilton mentioned.
“I mean this is probably the slipperiest track that we go to in terms of the grip we had in the last couple of years.
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