McLaren face surprise rival as “dirty track champions” stumble on car’s sweet spot · RaceFans

When the teams and drivers envisioned racing in the desert oasis that is Las Vegas city, they probably did not have parka coats and woolly hats in mind as their attire of choice.

But the paddock is learning Nevada in November is barely different from Silverstone in spring.

It’s too early to say whether Formula 1 has succeeded in its efforts to make the Las Vegas Grand Prix the coolest event on the calendar. But it’s certainly the coldest.

The opening Friday – sorry, Thursday – of the second event around the six-kilometre Las Vegas Strip Circuit was supposed to be another demonstration of the unparalleled performance of Formula 1 and its cars as they shot down the straight at huge speeds before flying around the track’s modest collection of twists and turns. But by the end of the two practice sessions, the drivers’ assessments of the circuit were unlikely to be quoted on any promotional material for next year’s race:

“It’s like driving on ice,” one shivered. “Really slippery, really dirty,” remarked another. “I feel like I could drive a road car quicker than we drive at the minute,” said a third.

If drivers were hoping that this year’s second race in Vegas would be grippier than the last year’s, that hope died halfway around their first laps out of the pits. But despite the low surface temperature and a coating of dust along most of the track surface, all 20 drivers avoided any major mistakes over the first two hours of running.

In their pursuit of Max Verstappen since the summer break, street circuits have been McLaren’s strength. Oscar Piastri took a brilliant victory in Baku before Lando Norris defeated Red Bull comprehensively at the next round in Singapore.

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Therefore it was fair to expect they would arrive in the USA for the final time this season as the favourites once again – even if they had lost out on a grand prix victory last time in COTA and even in the most recent round in Brazil. But Norris was just one-hundredth of a second off the best time of the day, with Lewis Hamilton claiming that honour for Mercedes after having been fastest in the opening session earlier in the night.

There were some caveats to Hamilton’s performance, however. Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, two drivers many would have expected to be able to offer a challenge to Hamilton’s position at the top of the times, were forced to abandon laps that would potentially have improved their position by the end of the session.

Despite his eighth place at the end of second practice probably not reflecting the potential of his McLaren, Piastri had to admit that he had been impressed by Mercedes and Hamilton on Thursday. “Mercedes have looked very quick today – very, very quick,” he said.

“Ferrari have been pretty strong as well. But I think we’re definitely in the mix. So I think Mercedes have had a pretty strong day, but let’s see what happens.”

Hamilton was happy with the W15’s single-lap pace but was more cautious about Mercedes’ long-run performance. And as Mercedes tend to start a weekend showing more promise then they tend to realise when it matters most, their team principal was not getting too excited.

“I think we are dirty track champions,” Toto Wolff observed between the two sessions. “FP1 is always great and then the moment the grip kicks in, we’ve seen that the performances deteriorate.

“I don’t believe this kind of advantage to the other teams is going to last. I would very much hope that we’re not falling behind like we did in the past on some of the tracks, but remain competitive, fight in the front.”

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As George Russell admitted on Wednesday, Mercedes’ approach to setting up the W15 can be a hit-and-hope affair. “It has just such a narrow window and when we can set the car up in a way that we exploit that window, we have a race-winning car,” he said. “But when you go to different circuits and you have to change where you position the set-up, we totally fall outside of our working window.”

At Red Bull, the times did not look good. Verstappen was only down in 17th place, with team mate Sergio Perez 19th. But with Verstappen’s attempt at a true flying lap on softs interrupted by a red flag and the team clearly focusing on longer runs once the session resumed, it would be foolish to think Red Bull are not going to be right with their rivals when it matters most in Friday qualifying.

The world champions have taken a curious set-up choice this weekend. They are not running their original ‘cannons’ rear bodywork as seen at other low-downforce tracks such as Monza and Baku. Instead they are running the revised, more conventional bodywork introduced at the Hungaroring.

Verstappen regularly reached over 340kph at the end of the Strip approaching turn 14 and matched both McLarens through the official speed trap, so it doesn’t seem to have caused too great a drag penalty. As Red Bull usually shy away from running high-power modes on their power units until qualifying, there’s little reason to suspect Verstappen will simply be swamped by the opposition down the many straights around the circuit. Perhaps the decision has been taken with an eye on the anticipated low track temperatures and need to generate heat in their tyres quickly.

Unlike Norris and Hamilton, happier in their single-lap pace than longer runs, the opposite was the case for Charles Leclerc The Ferrari driver was half a second away from Hamilton’s best, two tenths slower than team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr as the pair were fourth and fifth at the end of second practice. But he seemed far happier than his rivals about their high fuel potential.

“We are struggling a little bit with the tyres and temperatures,” Leclerc explained. “We’ve got to find something to try and turn the situation around.

“All in all, I think we are very strong in race pace and a bit less strong in qualifying. Which has been the story of our season, but better that than the opposite.”

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Heading into Friday night, temperatures are expected to be even lower than Thursday. That will only make it more critical for drivers to find enough space in qualifying to prepare their tyres – even if that means running an extra warm up lap before pushing. With the extra time it will take to get their tyres into the optimal window, the margins for error when drivers eventually attack their flying laps will be slimmer than ever.

Will Hamilton and Mercedes deliver on their early promise, or will they fade when it matters most again? The weather will stay cold, but the competition for pole will be red hot.

Combined practice times

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Teams’ progress vs 2023

2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix

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