F1 drivers want Las Vegas track surface to match “gold standard” Jeddah

The new surface has been made trickier by the fact that there are no support events laying rubber down in Las Vegas, and because the public street section is reopened to normal traffic for most of the day, leaving it dirty for the start of F1 action.

Daniel Ricciardo suggested that greater efforts could have been made to create a grippy surface that more closely resembled that of the Saudi Arabian GP venue.

“I think the surface is one thing us drivers haven’t loved,” said the Australian. “It’s hard when obviously it’s a street track, it’s public roads.

“Obviously, they’ve got machines that they could use to kind of like blast the circuit, get the stone out a little more I guess, and make it a little more abrasive.

“On our wish list, maybe we wish it was like a little bit more of a Saudi level of grip, because that’s really good for kind of a street circuit. So that’s probably the only thing that I haven’t loved is that kind of slippery feeling. Otherwise, it’s been alright.”

Russell stressed that the Jeddah track allowed drivers to use multiple lines, which improves the racing.

“Jeddah is the gold standard of track surfaces,” said the Mercedes driver. “We’ve been saying this for many years now. We’ve been to a number of tracks where they’ve resurfaced it, or new tracks, and the grip has been really poor, and there’s only been one racing line.

“Whereas in Jeddah the whole width of a circuit is very good grip. They’ve done an exceptional job there. That’s what we want.

“I think it was in Miami in the first year at least you couldn’t go off the racing line, there was no grip, and that doesn’t offer any racing. I think it’s been a challenge here in Vegas, because we’ve been the only cars on track too.”

Fernando Alonso also highlighted the role that the surface could play in the quality of the racing.

“I don’t know why they don’t copy the asphalt that we know works, like in Saudi or some other circuits,” said the Spaniard.

“Because that could maybe change the fun that we have behind the wheel and maybe the overtaking tomorrow. We will not be able to go offline and this kind of thing. So it’s sad.”

Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola acknowledged the drivers’ concerns, but downplayed the comparisons with Jeddah as the sort of treatment used there is not practical for Las Vegas.

“That’s a consideration that I share with them,” he said. “In Jeddah, they…