After the day’s practice in Las Vegas, it’s time for teams to take stock and figure out how to improve the setup of their cars. An unexpected situation, with Mercedes being extremely competitive, with Lewis Hamilton leading Lando Norris by just 11 thousandths. Lando Norris, at the end of the day, did not appear very happy with the race simulation he did in FP2 with McLaren at Las Vegas.
The conditions at the Las Vegas track are extremely tricky, with little grip and a lot of cold on the asphalt. Little confidence from the drivers and many errors led to two difficult sessions that complicated the optimization of the setup. The presence of a supporting event like the Ferrari Challenge helped further rubber in the Las Vegas street circuit.
The lack of rubber increased the graining problems for the teams, which especially emerged during the race simulation. Several teams were affected by tire sliding, with McLaren being extremely surprised by the problem. The MCL38 quickly put a lot of energy into the tires, but with high fuel, the tire bulk didn’t warm up properly, triggering sliding.
Lando Norris spoke about it at the end of the free practices, commenting shockingly on the race simulation. “I think with low fuel we did pretty well, but with high fuel, it was shocking,” Lando Norris said to Sky. “There are obviously a lot of things still to look into, we need to understand why we’re suffering so much and have so much graining. Things didn’t go very well, I struggled a lot, but we have time to work on it.” – the British driver pointed out at the end of the second free practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
A half-positive assessment, with a race simulation that wasn’t perfect but still fairly in line with the others. Lando Norris’ reference was probably to the difference that emerged with the low-fuel simulation. Aspects to examine and improve during the American night and morning to chase after the constructors’ and drivers’ titles.
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