In the round-up: The new circuit in Las Vegas which Formula 1 will race on for the first time in November has been named after the famous Strip which the cars will race along.
In brief
Las Vegas circuit name confirmed
The organisers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix have confirmed their application to trademark the Las Vegas Strip Circuit title for their new track has been approved.
The name reflects the famous strip renowned for its many hotels and casino which F1 cars will race along at speed of up to 340kph. The new event, which will be the first for 38 years to take place on a Saturday, is the penultimate round of the championship.
Starting well the best way for Alfa Romeo to score points – Pujolar
Alfa Romeo’s head of trackside engineering, Xevi Pujolar, says the work the team has done addressing the poor starts it made last year is the best thing the team can do to help score points.Valtteri Bottas took four points in the opening round in Bahrain in eighth place after gaining four positions on the opening lap. Last year Bottas lost more combined places on lap one than any other driver over the 22 rounds.
“It’s something that we have been working on over the winter,” Pujolar said, “trying to improve the starts and lap one. That’s what we want to have for both cars moving forward.
“If we can start in the top ten, but then keep or gain positions like this, getting out of the traffic is the best way to be able to reach points.”
Vips replaces injured Harvey at test test
Juri Vips stepped into Jack Harvey’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan car for a private team test at Barber Motorsports Park yesterday. Harvey was not cleared by IndyCar’s medical team following the injuries he sustained in the season-opening race at St Petersburg.
Harvey was involved in a multi-car crash when he was unable to avoid Rinus VeeKay’s car which had hit the tyre wall and was hit from behind by Kyle Kirkwood, who flew over the rear of Harvey’s car.
Harvey was supposed to participate in the three-car test for the team but former Formula 2 driver Vips was drafted in to replace him. Harvey will be evaluated again by IndyCar’s medical team ahead of the next round at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2nd.
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Links
Motor racing links of interest:
Andretti F1 makes first significant hire (Speedcafe)
"Andretti Autosport is understood to have secured the services of former Renault technical director Nick Chester as it ramps up its operations ahead of its hoped-for F1 entry."
"Fans with American Express cards will get first access starting at 10am March 20, with the general public getting their shot at 10am March 24. Fans who signed up for the race’s priority interest list, paying the $7.77 donation fee, will get access March 22, with varying assigned access times."
A life well lived - Jody Scheckter (Ferrari)
"Enzo Ferrari was smart, very tough and everyone was scared around him. I remember being in the office – a dark environment, the light furniture – and being asked 'how much money do you want?'. I said I was too young to think about money, and I think Enzo was testing me, seeing what my motivation was."
"In racing, it was Harry Stiller; he was the first person to put me in a Formula 1 car in 1974 in a Formula Atlantic. On the broadcasting front, when I came back from overseas, I got asked by the local Australian Formula 1 broadcaster at the time if I’d like to do some commentary and I said yes."
Calado: From go karts to the Ferrari Hypercar to keep on dreaming (Ferrari)
"Endurance isn’t about speed alone, but also strategy, management and patience. For my first Le Mans I stayed awake for 40 hours, I felt agitated and tense, but the tiredness had a negative effect on my performance in the long run. It became a lesson for me. I learnt that a 24 Hours is a real marathon during which, as well as not committing errors, you have to find time to rest."
Another step forward: Formula 2’s switch to electric wheel guns (Formula 2)
"The number one reason behind this change is to get the pit lane much cleaner than it was before and, by doing that, much safer. If you looked at all the equipment teams used to have in the pit lane, there was so much with the bottles of air, the gantries and everything needed for those old wheel guns. Now, we’ve made it things much more simple and much safer."
Formula E's centurions: Which drivers have hit the 100-race mark? (Formula E)
"There are now a handful of drivers who have now passed that 100-race milestone in the all-electric championship as we work our way through season nine."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link relating to single-seater motorsport to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it to us via the contact form.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Remembering 'The Voice of F1', Murray Walker, who sadly passed away two years ago today.
It warmed our hearts to watch this film again when in 2018, Murray lent his iconic voice to us as we reimagined Ayrton Senna's incredible 1988 Monaco pole lap.
Rest in peace, Murray. 🧡 pic.twitter.com/zlc0SKMfzM
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 13, 2023
Valtteri Bottas will be at the 2023 Adelaide Motorsport Festival on Sunday March 26! The Finnish Formula 1 race winner will take part in on-track demonstrations and meet fans in the event's ‘Grand Marquee’ and in the corporate villas: https://t.co/SNA84uWaC5 #AMF #F1 #Adelaide pic.twitter.com/VPuav0CFLK
— Adelaide Motorsport Festival (@AdelMotorsFest) March 3, 2023
Have to say……jelous of everyone getting to drive Jeddah this weekend. What a track that was last year 🤩 #SaudiArabianGP
— Jake Hughes (@JakeHughesRace) March 13, 2023
Huge Congratulations Michelle Yeoh on your Best Actress #Oscar Hurray! 🎉Thank you for being Everything, Everywhere for road traffic danger and so many social issues. It’s always been a privilege and a pleasure to campaign with you! pic.twitter.com/DD7fs3QIfG
— FIA Foundation (@FIAFdn) March 13, 2023
Jump-start your @F1 2023 season with exclusive access to @alfaromeof1 in F1 Mobile Racing 🏆
From the 17th of March, access this time-limited event where you can drive the C43 for yourself! 🏁
🖥️ more details: https://t.co/GBYsC9axrc pic.twitter.com/lziHNSJUvJ
— F1® Mobile Racing (@F1MobileRacing) March 13, 2023
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- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
With Jenson Button expressing he’d love to see F1 cars get lighter in future, @niefer envisions their ideal image of how they wish Formula 1 could be…
Oh, I’ll give Button props for this, as I also see F1 as about lighter, powerful and slender cars. I almost can’t stand those truck-ish monsters that has lost good chunks of their visual appeal and speed feel.
I remember not long ago cars alone were what drew attention for any newbie, let alone building hype for a fresh season, this without even hitting the Tarmac yet. Instead, now we apparently count on fakish-flix shows to do it.
Since a man can only hope, amongst thousands of things that could produce a better product, I just wish cars went to synthfuel powering at least a flat or straight-six, ground effected, with DAS no DRS, lighter and smaller rims, a clear canopy in lieu of halo, maybe even an active suspension to deal with porpoising, and absolutely no eco-harmful batteries. And with one of the few straight regs being about narrowing front wings.
Yeah, dream on kid, but I still want it on the record. Maybe it echoes through somewhere or someone someday.
Niefer
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Patrickl and Chapmankillie!
On this day in motorsport
Djangles LeVaughn (@royal-spark)
14th March 2023, 0:34
New Vegas is more than a city – it’s the remedy to mankind’s derailment.
GeeMac (@geemac)
14th March 2023, 4:27
Interesting choice of name for the Veas Circuit, I thought they’d call it the “Cash Dollar Money Investment Banker Poser Car Go Fast Vrrooom More Money International Circuit”.
On a more serious note, anyone who hasn’t watched the first 20 or so laps of the 1993 South African GP needs to get to YouTube asap to look it up, it was a fabulous race to kick off the season.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th March 2023, 6:24
Yes, I think I watched them a few years ago, was interesting and one of the very few battles between schumacher, senna and prost.
MacLeod (@macleod)
14th March 2023, 7:46
So they went with the Strippers part of Las Vegas ….. very bad name indeed.
SteveR (@stever)
14th March 2023, 4:41
‘Donation fee’? A ‘donation’ to what exactly? What a scam.
MichaelN
14th March 2023, 15:17
The best part is that paying this ‘donation’ doesn’t even guarantee a person will be able to buy a ticket. As per their own FAQ:
This whole circus is beyond caricature. But I suppose that’s Las Vegas’ main selling point, so it kinda fits.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
14th March 2023, 19:27
How do I get on the Las Vegas Grand Prix Priority Disinterest List?
MichaelN
14th March 2023, 20:13
@bullfrog You could buy tickets to Disney World for the weekend; it seems November 18th is regarded as Mickey Mouse Day. Come to think of it, perhaps they scheduled the Las Vegas race on that date on purpose.
Red Pill (@redpill)
14th March 2023, 5:17
Las Vegas – It’s a strip circuit
MacLeod (@macleod)
14th March 2023, 7:47
Yes promoting the Strippers which is a big bussiness in Las Vegas ….
Jere (@jerejj)
14th March 2023, 5:29
Switching to electric wheel guns was a good move by F2 & hopefully, F1 will follow suit sooner than later.
Good thing C43 got added to consoles earlier, so I’ve already driven that car.
I wonder what circuit is in its building phase in the FIA Foundation’s upper right image if that is a circuit nowadays.
Qeki (@qeki)
14th March 2023, 5:54
Grid girls back to strip (gp)? ;)
Qeki (@qeki)
14th March 2023, 5:59
On more serious note LVGP could be one where they would suit but I get we are well past that time but I bet there will be some dressed as grid girl as it goes with the city flow. I would be quite dissapointed if Vegas doesn’t provide the most glamorous, most over the top, most shiniest, most sexiest (don’t know if I can use that word), most neon GP of the histroy of any sport. They have marketed it so I hope they do as they say.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
14th March 2023, 6:20
That’s a shame, I was hoping they’d name it the Autodromo Sigfried y Roy.
JezH79
14th March 2023, 6:55
Hah! That would get my vote! Would give plenty of room for taglines “a circuit with a bite!”
drmouse (@drmouse)
14th March 2023, 7:58
WRT COTD: while I can understand this to some extent, I think this would lose most car manufacturers from the sport. It may keep Ferrari, but Mercedes, Renault, Honda…
Car manufacturers use F1 as marketing, but it’s only effective while there is an apparent similarity between the F1 cars and their road-going counterparts. When all manufacturers are moving away from pure ICEs into hybrids and EVs, I doubt many would want to take part without some element of this. Without them, a lot of money is lost from the sport, a lot of prestige, and F1 begins a decline from “the Pinnacle of Motorsport” towards “ancient technology”.
Now, they do need to work to reduce the weight of the cars. I just don’t see how ditching an advanced power unit in favour of a big lump of iron will be beneficial in the long run. Sure, it may appeal to the older generation whose idea of the best cars involved noise, smoke, oil… But it will alienate a younger generation who see the best cars as something quite different.
IMHO, they may as well dictate using steam engines.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
14th March 2023, 10:06
Re: the name of the Las Vegas circuit, apparently it was a toss up between that and the ‘Style Over Content Circuit’…
PeterG
14th March 2023, 11:39
Should have called it.
The Liberty Media vanity project show over sport cringe spectacle Las Vegas GP because thats what it is.
tielemst
14th March 2023, 14:34
The best, most original and unique name couldn’t save this race.
And they didn’t even come up with it.
Dale
16th March 2023, 20:01
“The organisers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix have confirmed their application to trademark the Las Vegas Strip Circuit title for their new track has been approved.”
I was expecting “Tiffani – with an ‘I’ … “, so not a million miles off.