Christian Horner expects the teams and drivers to face a major challenge in Las Vegas next weekend due to the low temperatures. According to the Red Bull Racing team boss, it will be difficult to get the tires up to temperature and this could cause quite a bit of drama. Nevertheless, the Briton expects the Grand Prix of Las Vegas to be a great success.
Next weekend, F1 cars will race again in the gambling city for the first time since 1982, but it promises to be a real challenge for the teams and drivers. The various sessions will take place late in the evening and it is predicted that it will be between five and ten degrees Celsius in Las Vegas. People are very concerned about that.
When asked by Bloomberg how the teams prepare for such a weekend, Horner responds wittily. “By bringing a jacket,” the Brit jokes, before continuing in a serious tone. ‘Yesterday I watched with Max (Verstappen, ed.) on the simulator. The track looks great and it will be super fast. There will be a lot of overtaking opportunities and as for the tires… It could be like driving on ice. That creates a new aspect. Especially on a street circuit, it can challenge the drivers and teams to the limit.’
GP Las Vegas a great success
Due to the low temperatures, it will be quite a job for the drivers to warm up the tires in qualifying. How is Red Bull going to approach that? “When we go out on track for the first time on Thursday, we will find out what it takes to get these Pirelli tires up to temperature and who knows, maybe it will be several laps of qualifying instead of just one lap,” Horner is looking ahead. ‘It will be interesting to see how that turns out. We will have a lot of data to analyze and we will be working hard on the simulators, especially on Thursday evening,” said Horner.
Driving with cold tires on a circuit where the walls are never far away could cause major problems. However, Horner is not too concerned about that. ‘Street circuits always cause drama. We see that in Singapore, we see it in Azerbaijan and of course in Monte Carlo. But I am convinced that it will be a great success,” Horner concludes.
