The FIA shared details of F1 Las Vegas GP in terms of track limits, DRS, circuit changes and more, as drivers added on potential wet conditions.
The track limits remained white lines as per FIA Race Directors’ note for F1 Las Vegas GP. But an additional info was shared about tackling the apex of Turn 17, where any driver who misses or cuts it, will have his lap invalidated as per the said rules and regulations.
The note also listed good amount of circuit changes from last year, they are:
- Turn 3: adjust right-hand side Inside painted kerb and white line (the wall is in the same position).
- Turn 4: Exit Left-Hand side adjust left track edge. The painted kerb was removed.
- Two patches of Asphalt: one 50m before MP4.8 and the second one 20m after over whole track width.
- Patch of Asphalt 40m before Turn 5 over whole track width Turn 5 and Turn 6 left-hand side adjustment of painted kerb and white line (the wall is in the same position).
- Turn 8: widening Run Off on the left-hand side for better access for vehicles and pedestrians during track build.
- Two patches of Asphalt: one at MP12.9 and the second one at 30 meters after the MP over the whole track width.
- MP 12.9 changed location.
- 1 moved to opposite track site for better line sight and MP16.0 move closer to T15.
- Distance boards updated to new size and 100 m boards printed in blue.
- Reprofiling the manhole between Turn 16 and Turn 17 under the bridge.
- Reprofiling of the concrete barrier before pit entry (after the speed limit board) at the righthand side.
In terms of the DRS zones for this weekend’s F1 Las Vegas GP, the first detection zone will be 10m after Turn 2, with activation being 20m after Turn 4. In the same way, the second detection will be 710m after Turn 12, with activation 870m before Turn 14.
The FIA stewards panel will be led by Garry Connelly, with the support of Loic Bacquelaine, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Steve Pence. The F1 drivers, meanwhile, threw light on potential rain this weekend, with the weather predicted to be rainy especially on Friday.
Lewis Hamilton: “Oh, it’s going to be really hard if it’s wet. I mean, this is probably the slipperiest track that we go to, in terms of the grip we had in the last couple of years. Getting the tyres working here was very, very tough in these cold conditions. Obviously, these tyres have a very narrow working window, and that would be even worse, obviously, when it’s on inters or extreme wets. But I’m down for the challenge, if we’re faced with it. I’m constantly learning about how to get this car into a bit of a better, happier spot, in terms of driving. It doesn’t necessarily love the rain. It will be a challenge for everyone, but hopefully we’ll get some dry sessions.”
Isack Hadjar: “Yeah, I talked to a few drivers about the track, and they say it’s very, very hard to drive. I mean, you’re running Monza downforce on a low grip track, with tyres that takes a while to come into temperature, so it’s going to be very, very difficult.”
Nico Hulkenberg: “All of them, everywhere, it is quite low grip as it in the dry or at least the sensation, obviously we have never done a lap on inters and full wets, I imagine that it will be quite slippery. I wouldn’t necessarily say more dangerous because when you have less grip, you drive slower, you drive towards available. And the speeds will be a lot slower. Yeah, it is going to be sketchy. To be honest, it is Thursday and we can sit here and talk, I mean we will hit the track tomorrow and you see the Sun’s out again now. I didn’t much into the forecast and see what it is when we get there.”
Carlos Sainz: “I think it will be very interesting if we see a step too cold, if we see pockets of rain like you say. Another interesting thing will be to see how long it would take to dry, we will see rain maybe out of the sessions but given that the sessions are almost at night time, without Sun heating the track, there would be any kind of dry going on, so yeah, it is going to be very interesting if it is going to be like that and one other thing to consider will be visibility. For some reason, all drivers feel like around this track, there’s parts of the track that are quite dark – darker than Singapore and all the night races that we go into. And we don’t really understand why, because the lighting should be the same. But there’s parts of the track that are darker than others. And with rain, that could be particularly tricky.”
Charles Leclerc: “I mean, surprise is probably not the right word because we get the forecast quite a bit in advance. And so, we kind of knew what was the situation going to be like. But yeah, I mean, it’s not something I expected. I expected personally before speaking with the team, I was expecting a bit of a nicer weather here. But it’s what it is. Yeah, I’m looking forward to that. And I think it’s already a weekend where it’s just a little bit like a casino for the performance of the different cars. And having the rain playing a role into that as well, will probably be even more like that.”
Pierre Gasly: “I think [I would prefer] rainy. It gives more chance for the others to actually f**k-up. I am quite confident in both but I just feel some cars are kind of out of reach and the best way for to finish ahead is for them to f**k it up, yeah…..mess it up, sorry for my English. I just feel like that would be a type of race which…it will be extremely hard on wets, just from the nature of the track, very low grip, very low drag. It will make it very tricky for us and I think that’s what would bring obviously most chances for any driver and these are conditions I quite like as well. Unfortunately, I am not too sure if it will happen but yeah you never know.”
Lando Norris: “Yeah. I just – I mean, it’s cold. I think that’s the biggest thing. It’s cold, same as previous years. So just like I said before – graining and things on tyres is not going to be an easy thing to understand. From what I’m aware of, everything is just going to rain on Friday – maybe a bit into Saturday… oh, crap, Thursday. I get so confused. Thursday and a bit into Friday for maybe FP3. But I think Saturday in qualifying should be fine. So I don’t think it’ll affect us too much. I think it’ll be an incredibly difficult track in the rain – yeah, pretty nasty, I think.
“It’s going to be a hell of a challenge. Obviously not a lot of room for error – quite tricky and quite quick in terms of being a street circuit. You’ve got the white lines, all the paint and stuff, which is never – it’s pretty horrible at times when you’re in the car feeling these kinds of things. So yeah. It will be a pretty insane challenge, I think, if it stays wet – especially if it doesn’t dry very quickly either because of the temperature. So excited for both, but I prefer if it’s dry.”
George Russell: “Yeah. I think every time it rains, it offers an opportunity. And I think, ordinarily speaking, you’re ready for that opportunity. Of course, for us, if we were to pinpoint one race on the calendar where we thought we could fight for victory, this would be the race. So out of all of the races, I would choose for this one not to be wet. But nevertheless, I still feel good, and I think — yeah, it’s going to be very cold. The tyres will be difficult to switch on. Street track, white lines, a bit bumpy in sections. So it’ll catch people out, and you’ve just got to make sure you’re not one of them.”
Max Verstappen: “Yeah. I mean, if it rains, the tarmac is wet. So it’s a bit slippery. I’m not looking forward to that potentially. I prefer to just have a dry race. It’s already hard enough to get everything working here — or understanding at least something. So yeah, I prefer a bit more straightforward. But, I mean, if the track floods, maybe less practice is also not a bad thing.”
Fernando Alonso: “Not fun. Not fun at all. Yeah. It’s fast. Visibility is going to be a challenge, I think, under the lights. And also, the grip level is very low already on dry tyres. Temperature is low. So it could be fun to watch, but not to drive.”
Yuki Tsunoda: “It’ll be a very spicy session for sure. All the drivers have never driven here yet [in the wet], so I think it’ll be interesting who’s going to adapt quickly to that condition. Also, in these very cold conditions with intermediate, the [tyre] blankets are not as warm as before, so I think it’ll be very tricky even to generate temperature.”
Here’s full FIA Race Directors’ note: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_las_vegas_grand_prix_-_race_directors_event_notes_.pdf
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