The Formula 1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas got off to a slow and dusty start during the first practice session on Thursday evening. Because the circuit was set on the busy streets of Las Vegas, the dust that built up on the surface during the day led to drivers during FP1 slowly winding around the track, struggling to find grip and recording slower times.
Dust was slowly cleared from the track as twenty F1 cars made their way through the streets, and conditions improved. While some drivers still struggled to find better times and efficient braking points, others saw their lap times plummet during FP1 and into the later FP2 session.
Yuki Tsunoda was one of the drivers in this last category.
After finishing FP1 in P19, Tsunoda shaved more than three seconds off his best lap time in FP2 to finish in tenth place.
“Overall it was a positive first day here in Las Vegas. We struggled a bit in FP1, but we managed to turn it around later in FP2,” said Tsunoda in the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team post-training report. “It’s a positive sign, as it’s usually not easy to do, and I think we found the direction to follow for the rest of the weekend. We need some more fine-tuning tomorrow to find a few tenths that will allow us to reach Q3. The long runs also seemed positive, although I think it depends a lot on how we can deal with them [tires]Given the difficult and unusual conditions we have here, it will be important to find the right balance between short and long runs in terms of car setup.”
Liam Lawson also improved from FP1 to FP2, jumping from P20 in the first session to P15 in the second.
“To be honest, a challenging day today. We started the day very slowly and then we stepped up and learned a lot. It’s obviously extremely cold and the track before was very slippery and dirty, so you’re just waiting for it to build up,” said Lawson. “In FP2 the track was colder but better, and we learned things that will help us tomorrow. We have the knowledge to improve from today, so hopefully we can finish at the back end of the top 10, but it also depends on how everyone else does.”
VCARB Racing Director Alan Permane classified Thursday as a “tough” day for the team, despite the improvements made by both drivers from FP1 to FP2.
“Honestly, this was a pretty tough day for us. We didn’t get the best out of the cars in FP1, but we learned a lot and made several changes between sessions,” said Permane. “Both drivers were much happier in the second session, although not completely satisfied. This has given us a clear indication of the direction we need to take overnight and I believe we can make a similar move from FP2 to FP3 as we did between today’s sessions. That should give us a much more competitive car.”