Is Red Bull living a second Singapore in Las Vegas?
Red Bull has won 19 of the 20 races so far in 2023. Only in Singapore were police officers beaten once. Now some suspect that the bulls could weaken again in Las Vegas this weekend.
The reason is the extremely cold temperatures we drive in. “It may be that some teams feel more comfortable with low temperatures,” explains expert Norbert Haug. Darling.
The veteran Mercedes competition boss also makes it clear: “That […] The well-known balance of power really shouldn’t change much.” Because Max Verstappen is “clearly the benchmark this season,” he reminds us.
Therefore, “mastery” may not be counted on as in other careers. “But the team can certainly adapt very well and very quickly to the new conditions,” Haug said.
In addition, the RB19 also has a relatively large working window, which is why Haug again attributes to Red Bull “a certain role as a favorite” this weekend, despite the possibly difficult conditions.
Pérez: Las Vegas like Baku?
As a reminder: the Mexican achieved his last victory in Formula 1 to date in Baku. Are you encouraged that the Las Vegas route reminds you a little of Baku? According to Pérez himself, that is not the case.
He highlights that the race in Baku would be completely different if we ran there again now. Make it clear that the current situation cannot be compared to that of many months ago.
Still, he feels pretty well prepared for Las Vegas.
Hamilton: a great season even without second place
The second part of the PK is already underway and, among other things, it is about the fight for second position in the World Drivers’ Championship, something that, according to Lewis Hamilton, is no longer a battle. Because now he is already 32 points behind Sergio Pérez.
Hamilton emphasizes that he normally won’t be able to catch it in two races. However, it was a good season because he didn’t even expect to fight for the runner-up spot.
“If you take into account how bad the Mercedes were at the beginning of the year, then it was fantastic to have even fought for second position,” Hamilton said.
Jet lag in Abu Dhabi?
As a reminder: the season finale will be next week in Abu Dhabi. Drivers are not particularly happy about this, because then you will be traveling to a completely different time zone again.
Nico Hülkenberg explains that it is inevitable that pilots have to fight against jet lag. Of course, the question arises as to whether this is the point.
Because fans want drivers to be in top shape on the track. Nobody wants to see tired drivers in the car on a Friday…
Alonso: Each lap will be different
The temperatures do not worry the Spaniard much. However, he believes the drivers must be prepared for the fact that every lap this weekend will be different.
The bottom line is that the track improves with each lap, says Alonso. Because at first the track will be in very bad condition, but then it will continue to improve.
Additionally, in Las Vegas there are no frame series that provide additional grip.
Why Hülkenberg drives with the old package
Nico Hülkenberg will drive this weekend without the updates Haas brought to Austin. In the PK he explains again that this was his personal wish.
The new parts would have provided small improvements, but not the great leap in performance that was expected. And since he did not feel very comfortable with the package, now they have dismantled it again.
Teammate Kevin Magnussen will continue to drive with the new package.
Walk along the lost track
The PK is underway and at first the usual questions about Las Vegas, the track, etc. arise. Interesting: Carlos Sainz reveals that he did not walk on the track, although not entirely voluntarily.
This weekend’s schedule was so “strange” that he simply missed the window for the track walk. We have already talked before about the problems with acceptance, etc.
By the way, Lando Norris reminds us that the bottom line is that it is still a completely normal race weekend. You can forget that with everything that’s going on…
Focus on the PK
So we’ll focus on the PK, which starts in less than ten minutes! We are waiting for the following guests today:
Part 1:
Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
Lando Norris (McLaren)
Part 2:
Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
Pierre Gasly (alpine)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
Alejandro Albon (Williams)
As always, the most important statements can be found here on the ticker.
Special helmets
This weekend special helmets will appear again on the field. Honestly, I don’t know if a driver will ever drive with the normal design of it… In any case, here is a small selection: