Several Formula 1 drivers have urged for the Las Vegas Strip Circuit and other new venues on the calendar to follow the “gold standard” provided by Saudi Arabia when it comes to track surface.
The talk surrounding Las Vegas’ return to F1 for the first time in 41 years has been partially dominated by the expected low-grip conditions the drivers have encountered.
Aside from the cooler conditions present, the issue at the brand-new street venue has also been accentuated by the exclusion of any support races during the weekend’s racing bill and the reopening of the public road stretches of the layout during the daytime.
While Daniel Ricciardo acknowledges the latter provides a challenge, he believes Las Vegas should have attempted to replicate the example set by the Jeddah circuit.
“I think the surface is one thing us drivers haven’t loved,” the AlphaTauri driver admitted post-qualifying. “It’s hard when obviously it’s a street track, it’s public roads.
“Obviously, they’ve got machines that they could use to kind of like blast the circuit, get the stone out a little more I guess, and make it a little more abrasive.
“On our wish list, maybe we wish it was like a little bit more of a Saudi level of grip, because that’s really good for kind of a street circuit. So that’s probably the only thing that I haven’t loved is that kind of slippery feeling. Otherwise, it’s been alright.”
Fernando Alonso, who will line up ninth for tomorrow night’s race, concurred with Ricciardo’s view, citing that the dirty surface off-line will reduce overtaking opportunities.
“The track is not super exciting with these long straights and things. The asphalt is a super low grip. I don’t know why they don’t copy the asphalt that we know that works in Saudi or some other circuits,” he queried.
“That could maybe change the fun that we have behind the wheel and maybe overtaking tomorrow. We will not be able to go off-line and this kind of thing. So it is sad. But the rest I think is quite impressive what they did and the way the sport is growing and we need to embrace it.”
George Russell also believes drivers will be discouraged from venturing from the racing line to complete passes, drawing comparisons to Miami’s debut last year.
“Jeddah is the gold standard of track surface,” the Briton stated. “And we’ve been saying this for many years now. We’ve been to a number of tracks where they’ve resurfaced it or new tracks, and the grip has been really poor. And there’s only been one race in line. Whereas in Jeddah the whole width of a circuit has very good grip. They’ve done an exceptional job there.
“And that’s what we want because… I think it was in Miami in the first year, at least you couldn’t go off the racing line, there was no grip, and that doesn’t offer any racing. I think it’s been a challenge here in Vegas because we’ve been the only cars on track too.”
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