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Lewis Hamilton will turn to Las Vegas’ iconic landmarks to help him learn F1’s latest street circuit as quickly as possible.
For the first time in 41 years, since F1 raced around the parking lot of Caesars Palace, the sport returns to Sin City for a much-hyped event it is self-promoting for the first time in its history.
Owners Liberty Media have spent almost US$500 million over the past year, most notably building a bespoke pit and paddock complex, as well as on the 6.201-kilometre, 17-turn circuit that takes in the Strip and winds its way around the Sphere.
For all the team and drivers, they are faced with a rare moment in F1 as they go into it on a level playing field, with no past data to rely on, and no experience, other than what they have managed to glean from simulator sessions.
Highlighting the difficulties of taking on an unknown venue, Hamilton said: “When you go to a new circuit, nowadays we have a simulator to practice to at least figure out where turn one is, the combination of corners and how they flow into each other.
“But when you get to the real track, then the element of risk comes into it, so you really need to learn as fast as you can how to walk quickly and get on it.
“When you’re in the cockpit you’re looking for reference points. On the simulator, we don’t have the Vegas background.
“So that’s going to be something we learn, about where the lights are, where the buildings are, certain marks on the walls, on the gantries, and all those sorts of things.
“So you’re just trying to soak everything up like a sponge with every 100 metres you do, and the streets are so long, so it’s going to be interesting to see.”
Team-mate George Russell highlighted the vagaries of this event the drivers will face compared to other races on the calendar.
Most notable is the fact qualifying starts at midnight local time on Friday night, whilst the race commences at 10pm on Saturday.
The temperatures drop considerably around that time, although for this weekend, the expectation now is that it will not be as cold as originally predicted – with the sessions now facing temperatures of around 11 to 12 degrees Celsius compared to the initial likelihood of single digits.
There will still be a crucial element as to how the Pirelli tyres will react under such circumstances, especially given the amount of heat that will be lost in the rubber down the long straights that lead into heavy braking zones.
“We’ve obviously driven a lot on the simulator,” said Russell. “But equally, the simulator doesn’t know what to expect as to how the cars and the tyres are going to react to the cold temperatures.
“It will be much colder than for any race we’ve experienced this whole season, and then the Tarmac, how grippy it’s going to be, and then the bumps we will be facing down the Strip, for example.
“So you’ve got to go in with a really open mind, be ready to be adaptable to react to any limitations that you find, and you’ve got to do it quickly because we’ve only got three hours of practice before the real stuff happens.”
Hamilton is at least impressed with the growth of F1 in the United States, which now stages three races, with Las Vegas joining Miami and Austin.
For the seven-time F1 champion, it is a far cry from when he first raced in the United States in 2007, the last event of an eight-year run in Indianapolis, before Austin revived the race in 2012.
“I’ve been here (in F1) now 16 years, and it’s been really impressive to see the growth of our sport,” said Hamilton.
“I remember coming to America for my first grand prix in 2007 at Indianapolis, and over the years, just always feeling when I come here, just having to educate people with what this sport is about, and knowing how big a sporting audience they have here.
“I just couldn’t understand why they weren’t drawn to the sport as we were growing up and living with it.
“So it’s been amazing to see the shift over the last couple of years, that the country is really embracing the sport and seems to now love it just as much as we do.”
Hamilton and Russell were speaking at a Mercedes/IWC Schaffhausen event at the Speed Vegas racetrack on the outskirts of the city.
