One pit stop, few overtaking maneuvers, and a track in poor condition—races in Las Vegas often can’t keep up with the glitz and glamour of the city.
The real excitement in Las Vegas in 2025 seems to happen after the race. McLaren’s disqualification not only shook up the race results once again, but also turned the World Championship battle in a completely different direction. In the race itself, however, there was little spectacular action.
After the cold practice sessions and rainy qualifying for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, Pirelli was a little in the dark when it came to making clear statements about race strategy. However, the Formula 1 teams seemed to be in agreement: Las Vegas needs a one-stop race. Watching on TV, some viewers may have found their eyes closing in the early hours of the morning.
So between laps 16 and 34, drivers either switched from medium to hard tires or vice versa. Apart from that, there were few overtaking maneuvers to be seen, except for the start phase. And when there were, they mostly took place at the end of the long Las Vegas Strip with the help of DRS. That is, if the drivers weren’t stuck in a DRS train.
Boredom on and off the track
McLaren boss Zak Brown saw boredom above all else: “I hate to say it, but it wasn’t a particularly exciting race.” Nico Hülkenberg, who now takes home six points instead of two thanks to McLaren’s disqualification, also experienced a “typical static one-stop race where not much happens.”
The lack of graining, which was a major unknown factor last year with its coarse grain and heavy tire wear, also contributed to the lack of alternative strategies. “Compared to last year, the graining was maybe about one percent of what we had back then,” Oliver Bearman reported after the race. “I didn’t expect that. None of us did.“
Fernando Alonso is even harsher in his assessment of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, which saw ”a long race without much to do.“ ”To be honest, the asphalt doesn’t meet Formula 1 standards,“ said the Spaniard. ”It’s far too slippery, we can’t get the tires into the window and there’s just no grip.”
Between track safety and Cirque du Soleil
However, the Aston Martin driver mentions another factor that even caused Hülkenberg back pain. “It’s also extremely bumpy, already pushing the limits of what is considered safe.” For the future, Alonso says, “we need to talk to the FIA about whether this is acceptable,” even though he enjoys the track “because it’s very fast.” The solution for him: simply repave it.
Overall, however, the drivers seem to have come to terms with the entire event in Las Vegas. “I didn’t enjoy it in the first year,” reports Carlos Sainz, who has bad memories of the third US Grand Prix, and not just because of the loose manhole cover.
The Spaniard was never really able to enjoy the weekend, “because Formula 1 tried too hard to look like Vegas.” Since then, Formula 1 has toned down the pomp a little, and so Sainz says “since last year, to be honest, it’s been really fun.” Or as Lando Norris comments on the early days: “We might as well have been performing in Cirque du Soleil, given what we had to do there. Now we’re all much happier.”
The timing, the triple-header format, and the cool temperatures are still a problem that many drivers criticize, including Norris. “If you could change something there, a lot of people would like that.” In the end, Max Verstappen sums it up aptly for all of us: “I like some weekends more than others.”
