Steiner: With two races to go before the end of the season we have nothing to lose

Guenther Steiner, head of Haas F1, spoke about the preparations for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where the American team’s drivers will compete in two different versions of the VF-23 car.

Question: Formula 1 goes to the first Grand Prix of Las Vegas, the penultimate stage of the season. Apart from the racing side, what are your expectations for this weekend and what impact will this race have on the development of our sport?
Günther Steiner: I think we all have certain expectations, but we know what Las Vegas is. It’s still hard to imagine how exactly everything will go, but it will be a very nice event, and it will be very different from anything that has happened before in Formula 1.

Organizing a race in a city like Las Vegas is a difficult undertaking to say the least, and even seemed impossible to accomplish in just a few years. We will see what awaits us, but we can say with confidence that this Grand Prix will set new standards in many respects, and all this will be taken into account in the future.

Question: The team has decided that the VF-23 vehicles will appear at the start line in Las Vegas in two configurations, old and new. Nico Hulkenberg will drive the original version and Kevin Magnussen will drive the modernized car, which was presented in Austin. Can you tell us why this is being done now when there are only two races left until the end of the season?
Günther Steiner: Niko thinks the old configuration suits him better, and Kevin is of the opposite opinion – that’s the point. We decided to give them the cars they want to drive because with two races before the end of the season we have nothing to lose.

We could talk about getting useful information, but we have already collected enough data and our decision mainly has to do with the riders’ preferences.

Q: Temperatures in Las Vegas can drop as low as five degrees. How does this affect the work on the circuit? Can the rate of rubber degradation be reduced, since there were problems in this regard with both versions of the VF-23?
Günther Steiner: Low temperatures create their own problems, because everyone understands that rubber requires heating to higher temperatures, but much also depends on the characteristics of the asphalt surface. The behavior of the tires will be affected by a combination of factors: temperature and abrasiveness of the asphalt, but I don’t think the degradation of the rubber will be much worse than in Brazil.

As the training progresses, we will find out what kind of surface the new track is, we will study the configuration of the ring, we will understand what the temperatures are there, and then things will become much clearer.

Q: This is the last of the three American legs of the season. Can you summarize some preliminary results regarding the home race performance for the Haas F1 team? And how do these Grand Prix differ from others?
Günther Steiner: I think three races in the US is great, especially for the US team. Who would have thought five or ten years ago that there would be more than one Grand Prix in the US, but now there are three, and they are so different.

I think this is good for both Formula 1 and the American fans, of which there are more and more. For me personally it is important that all three races are very different from each other. Austin has a more traditional race and a lot of real Formula 1 fans come. Miami is becoming more and more of a party club, but now let’s see what awaits us in Las Vegas. We know that this city never sleeps and that we will be racing there at night, and this is another serious difference.