How Las Vegas thriller exposed the real enemy of racing in Formula 1

Las Vegas’s delivery of a thriller of a race – perhaps the most exciting of the Formula 1 season so far – blew away any remaining dark clouds of criticism that had hung over the event.

The backlash from world champion Max Verstappen describing it as being ‘99% show, 1% sport’, the drain cover problems, the removal of fans from grandstands before FP2 and then the non-apology from F1 with a T-shirt voucher as compensation, were all unsavoury elements that quickly faded into the background.

Ultimately, if races should be judged not by the sideshow elements but rather the entertainment factor on Sunday, then Vegas whipping up that great throughout the field on Saturday night was just the tonic needed. Rather than it turning into a follow-my-leader procession where everyone got stuck in DRS trains, the race proved to have all the elements that were needed to make things exciting.

PLUS: What F1 could do to make 2023's best race even better

There was a bit of jeopardy caused by a low-grip surface, an effective DRS that made moves possible but not automatic, and an on-the-edge tyre strategy element that meant there were varying performances of the different cars throughout the grand prix. But there was one critical element that perhaps stood above all those factors when it came to ensuring that the Vegas race delivered: it is that, for once, thermal degradation was not the defining factor in the performance of individual cars.

It is this phenomenon – where tyres overheat and therefore lose performance when drivers push too hard, or cars slide when following others – that one unnamed figure recently singled out to this writer as the real ‘enemy’ of racing these days. After all, if drivers have to manage their pace to not overheat tyres, and then find themselves needing to stay away from being too close to cars ahead of them to avoid sliding, then that is a death knell to close competition. It becomes a fight for survival rather than a fight for position.

The Brazilian Grand Prix was the perfect example of this. There seemed so little to separate Lando Norris and Verstappen in ultimate performance terms that the pair should have been nose-to-tail throughout. But, after one attempt from Norris to wrest the lead didn’t come off, he felt better to call off the fight than risk pushing his tyres too much that they fall off the cliff later on.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Tyres were a talking point for a very different reason in Vegas

Speaking after that race, Norris said: "I didn't want to compromise my own race by having one more attempt. At the same time, I was low on battery and if you overheat the tyres too much, too early, you can pay the price quite heavily. I tried; it wasn't worth a second attempt as much as I would have loved to.”

That back-of-the-mind fear of thermal degradation is something that wasn’t a factor at all in Las Vegas. The super-low temperatures, the coldest of the season, meant that drivers had to worry more about keeping heat in their rubber rather than them getting too hot. And that opened up a completely different way of going racing.

Sure, graining (which is the tearing of the tyre surface – like those balls of rubber from an eraser when rubbing out a mistake on paper) was a factor, and did hurt some drivers, but it was something that was more about dealing with than it preventing racing. And afterwards, winner Verstappen talked about the way the tyre situation played out as being one where drivers could actually attack – rather than sitting back and being in full-on pace conservation mode.

If cars can battle more without tipping their tyres over the edge in thermal terms, then it opens up the possibility for drivers to go on the attack more – which is exactly what is needed for better races

“I think the low degradation with the Tarmac, you could really push on the tyres, which I think was good,” he said.

Reducing thermal degradation needs to become a priority for F1, as this is ultimately deciding the way the spectacle plays out these days. Efforts by F1 and the FIA to improve the ability of cars to follow each other – so that they don’t slide and therefore overheat the tyres – are all ultimately about achieving that aim but are sticking plasters to the central problem at play here.

Far more needs to be done in addressing the construction issues that trigger overheating. If cars can battle more without tipping their tyres over the edge in thermal terms, then it opens up the possibility for drivers to go on the attack more – which is exactly what is needed for better races.

Pirelli’s head of car racing and F1 Mario Isola reckoned that there were some interesting lessons to be taken onboard from what happened in Vegas – particularly that maybe it is better to have a tyre that takes longer to warm up if the trade-off is then that it doesn’t overheat.

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

At other venues, tyre management takes precedent instead of overtaking as the penalties of pushing can be high

“The hard compound was a conservative choice and obviously you had to push harder to generate the heat into the tyre,” he said. “What is interesting for me was a comment from Max was, ‘we had the possibility to push on the tyres.’ So now the point is that we can probably, for the future, work in a direction that we sacrifice a little bit the warm-up phase, but then we protect the tyres more from the overheating that drivers don't like.

“We have to accept a compromise. In general [when] we don't hear about negative comments on the warm-up, then drivers are complaining about overheating. [In Las Vegas] the hard was showing the opposite results.

“The warm-up was a bit difficult due to the asphalt, due to the layout, but then they can push on the tyre and they had to push over the tyre to keep the temperature. So we should consider that.”

As F1 ponders changes to the cars and tyres for 2025, it is getting on top of this thermal degradation that is really the key to ensuring any changes are successful. Allow drivers to follow each other better, allow them to push, and allow them to take risks in trying multiple times for an overtake, and the racing will take care of itself. Las Vegas proved that.

Photo by: Erik Junius

Cars could run close together in Vegas and this should provide clues to F1's future direction