Formula One drivers prepare for first practice session, cold weather

Yuki Tsunoda understands the Las Vegas track, in theory.

The Japanese driver for team AlphaTauri has done the simulator work. He’s studied the turns and knows the straights.

But the 23-year-old doesn’t know Las Vegas particularly well. He arrived Monday night and admitted he hasn’t explored the city much.

“Free practice one will be the first time I get to experience properly Las Vegas from the car,” Tsunoda said Tuesday after an AlphaTauri special product launch at Nordstrom in Fashion Show mall.

Formula One cars will run on the Las Vegas street circuit for the first time Thursday as teams go through their first two free practice sessions. Teams will have a total of two hours on the track, ending at 1 a.m. Friday.

They will return at 8:30 p.m. Friday for the final practice session before qualifying begins at midnight to set the starting grid. The Las Vegas Grand Prix will start at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Practice time is always valuable, but it’s even more important for the Las Vegas Grand Prix since none of the drivers have driven on the new track.

Matt Gallagher is a co-host of the F1 podcast “P1 with Matt &Tommy,” which has 423,000 subscribers on YouTube. He said practice sessions offer teams a chance to learn tons of information about the innumerable variables that can impact their race decisions.

He said teams need to simulate low-fuel and high-fuel scenarios, practice for qualifying and get baseline understandings of the three tire compounds, especially on the freshly paved track. Drivers who miss out on practice time this week because of technical issues or crashes early in the session will face a massive disadvantage in this race, Gallagher said.

“There’s so much to learn,” he said.

Perhaps most importantly, free practice one will be the drivers’ first chance to experience how the cold weather impacts the cars. The Las Vegas Grand Prix could be one of the coldest races in F1 history.

Cold temperatures can impact the car in numerous ways, most notably in tire performance. F1 tires are designed to function at high temperatures, 80 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.

Saturday has an expected low forecast of 49 degrees, and the Las Vegas track’s lack of high-speed corners and long straights will make it difficult to keep temperature in the tires. Less tire temperature means less grip — and less control of the car.

Gallagher said temperatures will possibly open larger undercut windows — when a driver makes a pit stop before a rival, sacrificing track position for better tires — depending on which cars can heat their tires up quicker.

Tsunoda said the first lap of the race will be tricky, especially entering the first turn, and safety car (caution) situations will be challenging because the cars won’t be able to drive at a high enough speed to keep their tires warm.

He also said drivers will likely need more warm-up laps during qualifying.

“It’s a bit unusual, things we’ll maybe see,” Tsunoda said. “I think how much we can warm the tires will be key.”

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on X.