Fernando Alonso has criticised the circuit at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, considering the layout to be dangerous, too fast, frustratingly slow and with little visibility and links it to his Lap 1 mistake.
The third race of the season in the USA was a challenge to manage based on the low grip offered by the cold temperatures, but also the speed demands of the track that saw cars hit speeds as high as those recorded at Monza.
“We need balance as we [drivers] said this week,” Alonso said to media. “There is not much fun to drive this kind of circuit at speeds of 360 kilometres an hour with no grip, no visibility, bouncing and those kinds of things.
“I know the show from the outside maybe looks good but these cars are not made to go through corners at 80kph. These cars are made to go in Suzuka, to go in Barcelona, to go and Silverstone and maximise F1 potential.
“I think we need to balance the championship and balance the calendar, I think it’s what we are doing, but I don’t think that this is the only way to go. I think we need to have to keep some traditional races as well, where the F1 car can shine.”
Alonso links grip to Lap 1 mistake
As the lights went out and the cars thundered down the start-finish straight to Turn 1, Alonso got his braking all wrong and sailed across the track dropping to last and got away with slight damage after spinning.
“I lost the car. I don’t know if I was in a sandwich between two cars or if I was alone, I don’t know yet,” Alonso said. “I thought it was over when I saw the Alfa Romeo and I was facing the wrong way so I’m happy with the final result and scoring some points.
“The only thing is the level of grip as we touched on yesterday. I think it’s extremely low. I know it’s the same for everybody, but on a street circuit sometimes there is a danger factor that we need to weigh as well, I think Lando crashed quite hard into Turn 12.
“The level of grip and the temperature put the tyres under a lot of stress, a lot of graining. Maybe we can improve things into next year because we will learn from this season, but I think the race was good.”
Alonso drops down in the drivers’ championship
Following the result in Nevada, Alonso becomes the second highest ranked Spanish driver after losing his drivers’ championship position to the Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Sainz, who won the Singapore GP, is above fourth overall via the count-back tie-breaker method as both share 200 points with one round to go in Abu Dhabi from November 24-26.
