F1 drivers and team bosses reflect on Las Vegas GP in terms of the show factor along with the biggest point of jet leg, travel and scheduling.
The lead-up to Las Vegas GP was the discussion about the grand prix just being there for showbiz and not actual racing. The investments made by Liberty Media was mostly to rope in new fans, eyeballs and sponsors to the sport rather than improve racing.
There were varied reasons and opinions from the start of the weekend to the end on various topics. The grand prix eventually turned out to be smooth post the FP1 mishap. While the track itself wasn’t praised as much, but the racing was.
It was opposite where F1 drivers didn’t like as much the qualifying aspect, but enjoyed the race side. The debate around tradition and street races in different parts of the world also continued on where drivers and team bosses had their own views.
The common ground where most came to a rather unanimous conclusion was the jet lag factor along with travel and scheduling. The long American travel and doubling it with Abu Dhabi as the finale is certainly a big ask plus the late night racing isn’t fancied either.
Here’s what the F1 drivers and team bosses stated about different topics –
Show factor –
Carlos Sainz: “Let’s say there are some things that you are looking forward to more than others. That is always the case. I do believe, looking forward and looking into the future, sure we’re going to need to reconsider, a bit, the way we go racing at the weekends, because our schedules are getting busier and busier every year that goes by. The weekend are almost starting earlier, rather than starting later. We are adding races to the calendar and it’s getting to a point where I think, sometimes, everything feels a bit repetitive and everything feels a bit overpacked and we’re trying maybe to overdo it a bit. So yeah, being constructive or trying to be critically constructive. There are things that I actually think they do a lot for the sport and it’s good to put on a show and to make the sport better. Then, on the other hand, there are other things that feel very repetitive and almost they don’t add any more for the weekend. And we need to reconsider the way we just shape the whole weekend. Because yeah, we are at the risk of being too repetitive and too out there, also. I’ll keep the details obviously to myself and my team and F1, but I think that’s my overall opinion.”
Lando Norris: “I don’t have a lot more to add, to be honest. I think Carlos said it pretty well. I mean, it’s definitely more of a show now than what it was a few years ago. To be honest, I just want to come here and drive and come here and race. Never been the biggest fan of doing these types of things like we did earlier. It’s not what I enjoy doing. I know a lot of this stuff is just part of it and I’m not saying anything against it, but yeah, I do this job because I want to come and drive and race cars and things like that. And I don’t simply enjoy… I’ve never been the biggest fan of doing these types of big events and shows and things like that. So yeah, but I guess it’s part of the job and it’s a business and all those things. And that’s how it has to run in the end of the day. So yeah, that’s it.”
Fernando Alonso: “Yeah, more or less the same thing. I have to say that I think places like this one and with the investment that has been done and the place that we are racing, I think it deserves a little bit different treatment and a little bit of extra show of what we did today. The weekend is going to be I think… I’m OK to do extra for these type of events. But maybe yeah, it could be balanced somehow and reduced maybe, our schedule, somewhere else. We’ve been saying that, yeah especially the media commitments that we have – and it’s nothing against you guys – but it seems like they will repetitive what we have to go through especially on Thursdays. I think you are all very curious to see how the track is and what is our feeling tomorrow when we go in the car. And you will not get that. You will get, today, a lot of hours and interviews and one-to-ones and TV sessions and TV pen and things like that of something that we don’t know what to answer, because we’ve never run on this track. Maybe tomorrow after the free practice we don’t have any time with you guys. And so maybe on Thursday, we can use the time a little bit more wisely and try to help the promoters or whatever in a different way and maybe give you something extra on Fridays after we run.”
Jet lag, travel –
Nico Hulkenberg: “I mean, yeah, it’s a fact. It is going to be big time difference, and we’ll probably face jetlag. Some suffer more than others. It’s going to be a challenge, you know, and maybe you’re not going to feel super sharp on Friday or Saturday, but I think it’s same for all of us and we have to manage and cope the best we can.”
Zhou Guanyu: “Yeah, I mean, not much to add on Nico, to be honest. I think. Definitely. Jet lag is there, especially after you’ve just been through a triple-header, you go home for a week, going back in the factory for the simulator and you’re back here again. I tried to be as early as possible, but it’s the same for everyone. But that’s the whole thing with the busy schedule. I think everybody has to live this way at the moment.”
Fernando Alonso: “No, it’s not OK, it’s not OK. But it’s the way it is. It’s a tough sport. This is not football.”
Lando Norris: “I think it’s always been in f1. Of course, it’s a big shift and stuff like that. But I’m alright. I’m still young, thankfully. I’m a bit older now but compared to this guy right here [Fernando]…. Maybe he struggles a little bit more than I do with not getting eight hours in. But yeah, we all have to do the same things.”
Carlos Ssainz: “Yeah, I think once comes Friday, Saturday, Sunday, caffeine shots, espressos or adrenaline that is needed to drive an F1 car normally removes the jetlag. I struggle more these days, on long Thursdays. This is where I start to struggle a bit more.”
Sergio Perez: “I think we all try to. Obviously it’s demanding as it is for all the drivers but not just for the drivers, for our teams, our engineers, our mechanics. It’s an intense part of the season. We try to prepare our best to do this sort of demanding schedule with the travelling, with a lack of training. It’s obviously very hard to keep up with the training, with the training time. So just a little bit harder, and yeah, it’s just a very busy part of the of the year. I will ask Lewis for some of his pills. He seems to be the only one not suffering with it. But no, for me, I’m also used to it. I come from Mexico so I spend so much time on the jetlag. So I’m used to it. For me, I think it was a great first event but I would change, just to think about that we have to go now to Abu Dhabi, probably the longest distance that we have to travel in the whole year. So yeah, probably look at it and probably make Vegas the final race. That will be also very nice for me; I’m only two hours away from Guadalajara so that would be a nice end.”
Lewis Hamilton: “I personally have not found it a problem: still managed to keep the training up and I feel great at this point in the year. Saw the drivers in there before, all complaining about the jet lag. Jet lag is something that’s probably can get all of us but I’ve not found it a problem since I’ve been here. It is demanding but we know that, entering the sport. We know what a season entails and those three back-to-backs were definitely tough but if it was easy, everyone would do it. I think I’ve always just tried to be conscious of the mechanics and all the people that work… everyone in this room and everyone in the teams that are moving around and away from their families a lot. That’s probably the hardest thing from their perspective but they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, I’m pretty sure they love what they do, as do I.”
Pierre Gasly: “Well, I didn’t have any problem with jetlag, I fell asleep at 6am last night and woke up at two on the first day, I mean 2pm, so that was fine. But I think this week is going to be a big challenge. So try to follow my jetlag plan as much as we can. We’re supported by doctors, performance coach etc. So everyone’s trying their best to give us the best preparation and you don’t tackle the jetlag the day you’re moving here. It’s a work that already… last week when I was in Paris, I was already setting myself up for this week. So this week is fine. I’ve never… yeah, in my life it’s going to be the first time I’m moving from one side of the globe to the complete opposite side within a few days, so I don’t really know how I’m going to be feeling, but I know I’ve got my strategy in place and I’ll try to stick to it as much as I can. It’s the last run of the year, so I know what’s the personal target for me. I know I’ll enjoy the last bit of racing in Abu Dhabi and I’ll miss it for the next two months. So I’m sure with the adrenaline, I’ll be fine.”
Yuki Tsunoda: “Yeah, I was quite sleepy during media day. So, for me it hit a little bit. But yeah, I mean, jetlag… from the last three years for me, you get used to it. The last three grands prix were definitely tough for me. And Abu Dhabi, I don’t know how much difference, but yeah, should get used to it. I mean, as soon as I drive, it should be OK.”
Alexander Albon: “Generally, I would say the same as Pierre and Yuki. It’s not easy, it’s also not easy, just because it’s America, it’s a lot of interest so you tend to be a little bit busier than most race weekends and you get pulled around a fair bit. So yeah, we do the work. We’re not as gifted as Lewis with the sleep. I do struggle a little bit. It’ll be interesting, I think, next year though. Next year is going to be really tough because I think we got Vegas, Qatar, Abu Dhabi. We already saw how difficult Qatar was physically this year and we’re going to be jumping the time zone and driving around there. So yeah, it’ll be tough.”
Charles Leclerc: “I think mostly that’s the fact that we have been driving so late. I can see the point, obviously with the audience in Europe. I don’t know if that’s even the point or why we have been racing so late, but I felt like it was a bit on the limit. And also for the temperatures, it was very, very tricky so this is definitely one thing I would like to change for next year. On the other hand, as I’ve said, since the beginning of the weekend I’ve really enjoyed it. And I am especially happy to see that we finished this weekend on a high note because it was hurting me to see the sport that I love so much starting from the wrong foot on Thursday. But the fact that we had an amazing race, I think, makes it all up and I’m happy with that. So yeah, not much more to change apart from the timing.”
Max Verstappen: “Yeah, maybe the timing for sure. But I think the other thing, for sure, for next year, maybe that is not possible but to maybe make it a bit better travelling also to Abu Dhabi, because at the moment it’s such a big time shift that, especially at the end of the season when everyone is already a bit tired, I think it’s a little bit much. So maybe it would be ideal to find a different kind of date because I find that maybe we need to do more of an American tour. I know, of course, maybe for ticket sales, I don’t know if that’s ideal. So maybe we can find a bit of a solution there. I think the 12 hour time zone shifts and also completely different timings for racing also is… I find that a bit much.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “After Thursday, that late session, I feel like I’ve been or probably all of us have been a little bit delirious. It’s kind of felt like a bit of a whirlwind since then. [Next year it is triple-header start with Qatar and Abu Dhabi] What!? No way! “Yeah, that does not have my vote. And now, knowing that, they need to bring it forward, because we will be wrecked, especially end of the season. I’ve done like six races, and I already feel it, so hopefully they can make something work.”
Zhou Guanyu: “I think in general, my feeling every weekend, especially when we come here, is that there’s quite a lot of activity going on. Maybe a little bit quite extreme, especially after the day we had on Thursday or Friday, whatever day you call it. So it’s not the easiest weekend for everyone, for the whole paddock here, because we never get much sleep. But it is the first race in Vegas. I think next year they are looking to maybe reduce a little bit Thursday so we can have a bit more time with the engineers and all these other things, more racing than other things.”
Zak Brown: “Well, I think it’s the same challenge for all the drivers. It’s a big sport. It’s a huge event. There’s a lot of excitement. And a lot of fans want to meet the drivers, a lot of sponsors want to do activations. So it’s kind of a luxury challenge if you’d like. So, yeah, it’s going to be a lot, a lot of work for all of us. But it’s a big event. And, you know, they’re all tremendous athletes, so I’m sure they will be just fine.”
Frederic Vasseur: “My two guys stayed on the US side, so for them there was no jet lag. And it’s not the first time that they will go to bed after midnight, I think that I’m not too scared about this. And in terms of activation, for sure, we have a lot, but we have to enjoy it. I remember that before the COVID we were looking for this and we were looking for events and we were looking for fans, and we were looking for activations. We have to enjoy this momentum. And as Zak said, that is the same for everybody and I’m sure that at 24 you can go back to the hotel at 2am. It’s not an issue.”
Toto Wolff: “Yeah, I think like Fred said, you know, we are suffering on a high level here, OK. I think if you talk about jet lag and stress, you speak about 80% of the team people that fly economy class, that have Monday to Friday jobs in the factory, that work on the cars here overnight. We have 190 people here, most of them deployed on marketing. They’ve been, some of them. since four weeks in Las Vegas, preparing everything. So that’s the contribution that everybody needs to give to the sport. And I’m sure that the majority of the drivers will see it that way. The mechanics don’t have anybody, physios, cuddling them before they go to bed and preparing their granola in the morning. So I think there’s many that really suffer more and drink an espresso too.”
James Vowles: “I think it’s been well said. It’s a first world problem in as much as we’re in a good state, the sport is in a really healthy state. That’s why we have sponsors, partners and a show here fundamentally, exactly as Zak said. Our drivers are being pulled left, right and centre. But it’s a good thing. If you compared to where we were in 2020 we were worried if Formula 1 would even continue. It’s an absolute pleasure now to at least see that we’re in a good financial state. It’s just an optimisation problem. And there’s two things in there. So jet lag. First and foremost, I think what perhaps we didn’t fully realise until we got here is this isn’t really eastern coast time, we’re now more into Tokyo time to a certain extent with the hours we’re running. But that’s just an optimisation. They’re incredibly good at working with their trainers, re-orientating their food patterns and nutrition in order to get themselves back into the rhythm, and I think by tonight and by tomorrow that there’ll be completely on the time. As Toto said, the problem impacts 100 people really, not just the two that are there. The second of those is that constantly, for probably the last 10 years, we’ve been trying to balance the requirements for partners against the requirements for performance on track. And I think we’re in a fairly good place at the moment.”
Christian Horner: “First off, of course, there’s going to be many lessons to learn. And I think that one of the things we [need to] look at is the running schedule, because it’s been brutal for the team and all the men and women behind the scenes. I think everybody is leaving Vegas slightly fucked, one way or another. It’s been a brutal weekend for everyone behind the scenes and I think we need to look at how we can improve that for the future. During the day, we’re running so late at night, maybe to run it a little earlier in the evening because you’re never going to keep every television audience totally happy. If you ran at eight o’clock in the evening or something like that, it would just be a bit more comfortable for men and women working behind the scenes.”
Overall show in Las Vegas –
Charles Leclerc: “First of all, I was sad yesterday to see how much criticism there was around the track. Of course, it wasn’t good enough and that is clear to everybody. But obviously, we must not forget also how much work there has been for many, many people in order to make this event work, and I think it looks amazing. I really hope we have an exciting race tomorrow, in order to really show what Formula 1 is and yesterday was obviously a pretty bad start. But I think it’s an amazing venue for Formula 1. As I said, we are a sport for sure and we need to keep the DNA of the sport which is the most important thing for everybody. At the same time, I believe that opportunities like this need to be taken and a little bit of show around the track to attract people that maybe wouldn’t have come to a Formula 1 race is needed. So you always need to find the right balance between show and sports and that’s why I’m not so happy about the show just before the race because I think this is a time where we need to focus on what really matters which is racing. On the other hand, I think the venue and the event looks amazing and there’s been a lot of hard work in order to get there which has to be appreciated. And then at the end of the weekend, we’ll obviously look back at all the things that didn’t go well in order for these things to not happen because it is clear that it’s not acceptable what happened in FP1.”
Carlos Sainz: “I think we need to learn to separate things. I think there is the sport and there’s the show and I think you can have both in a good combination and harmony, with the opening ceremony with all the show around the Grand Prix, in all the hotels, all the VIP access. I see the race as a very good opportunity for F1, and I think it’s a good thing that F1 is coming to Vegas and I’m enjoying the experience of coming to Vegas to do a Formula 1 race there. Then there’s the sport and I feel like a sport we cannot fail, knowing these important events and I felt like we started on the very bad foot yesterday and I think it was a very good opportunity to make a statement as a sport and to open Vegas with a very good image and with a very good attraction to everyone and in my opinion… I have people that have never come to a race that are still asking me why I’m getting a penalty for what happened and they’ve never been to an F1 race. And people… very influential people, people that are important but also all the fans that couldn’t attend yesterday, honestly I think separating the two things… I’m all for the show, all for growing the sport but the sport has to be there. And I feel like yesterday, we didn’t start on the right foot. I paid the price, by far the most of it. And I hope that tomorrow we have an exciting race as Charles said, that F1 shows the whole world what we’re made of, what kind of racing we can produce, what kind of spectacle and what kind of sport we are. And if this goes well tomorrow, hopefully FP1 will be forgotten. My penalty, not, but FP1 will be forgotten and we will enjoy a good weekend and I think overall, it will be positive, a positive weekend for F1.”
Max Verstappen: “I can go on for a long time. But I feel like… of course, a kind of show element is important but I like emotion and for me, when I was a little kid, it was about the emotion of the sport, what I fell in love with and not the show of the sport around it because, as a real racer, that shouldn’t really matter. I mean, a car, first of all, a racing car, a Formula 1 anyway, on a street circuit, I think doesn’t really come alive. It’s not that exciting. I think it’s more about just the proper racetracks. When you go to Spa, Monza, these kind of places, they have a lot of emotion and passion. And for me, seeing the fans there is incredible. And for us, as well, when I jump in the car there, I’m fired up and I love driving around these kinds of places. And, of course, I understand that fans, they need maybe something to do as well around the track. But I think it’s more important that you actually make them understand what we do as a sport because most of them just come to have a party, drink, see a DJ play or a performance act. I can do that all over the world. I can go to Ibiza and get completely shitfaced and have a good time. But that’s what happens and actually people… they come and they become fan of what? They want to see maybe their favourite artists and have a few drinks with their mates and then go out and have a crazy night out. But they don’t actually understand what we’re doing or what we’re putting on the line to perform and I think if you would actually invest more time into the actual sport, what we’re actually trying to achieve here to… As a little kid, we grew up wanting to be a World Champion. If the sport put more focus on to these kinds of things and also explain more what the team is doing, try to see them, what they are achieving, what they’re working for. These kinds of things I find way more important to look at than just having all these random shows all over the place. For me it’s not what I’m very passionate about and I like passion and emotion with these kinds of places. I love Vegas but not to drive an F1 car. I love to go out have a few drinks, throw everything on red or whatever, to be a bit crazy, have nice food. But like I said: emotion, passion. So there compared to some old school tracks.”
Lewis Hamilton: “There’s been a lot of negativity about having three grands prix in the States and people talking about bringing back the old classic races from Europe. And this has provided a better race than most of the tracks we go to. So I think really hats off to the people that run the show and I can’t wait to come back and hopefully have a better race here next year. I think Vegas put on a great event. Next year’s going to be even bit better. Now we’ve gone through it once there’ll be loads of learnings and really grateful for Vegas for having us.”
