Riccardo: Vegas will be like being on a movie set

In the last races, AlphaTauri rose to eighth place in the individual rankings and hopes to consolidate its success in Las Vegas…

Daniel Ricciardo: “In Brazil I was upset when I was penalized for losing a lap, otherwise I could have earned more points. But I was happy with the speed. I felt good in the car, which is always important, there was speed.

We returned to the UK the Sunday evening after the race, I spent the day in the simulator and then flew to California last Wednesday. I have my own house there, a training room, and the rest of the time I rested and prepared for Vegas.

I’ve been to Vegas many times. Nice place. I’ve been there before on summer holidays with Australian friends, it will be interesting to come with a slightly different mentality. A surreal city, especially at night with all the lights. I think we get the feeling that we are on a movie set.

From what I could understand in the simulator, the circuit consists of many long straights and short 90 degree turns, with lots of cornering and braking. The route configuration is very interesting. I hope the race will go like this.

On the long straights it is possible to overtake, but in some places the track is narrow and winding, so we have a difficult task ahead of us. We know it will be cold. The most important factors are tire performance and downforce. The situation was about the same in Baku in the first year, when the asphalt had not yet gained the necessary grip and we had to attack seriously before starting a fast lap to make the tires work.

Besides the track itself there will be a lot of interesting things this weekend, but I’m trying to stay focused because now we have come to race. We have closed the gap with Williams, it is very important to score points, that is what we will focus on.”

Yuki Tsunoda: “The last three races have gone very well, we have earned points in every race – we must continue in the same spirit. It’s great that we have seriously closed the gap with Williams. This is largely due to the new products the team has brought to Austin – they have allowed us to increase speed and confidence.

To be honest, I didn’t expect such a level of performance as in Brazil. Now I have to consolidate this progress in the next two races, actively attack and earn enough points to reach seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship by the end of the race. season.

I tried the Vegas circuit on a simulator and because of the many straights it is quite fast, but most of the corners are slow, which will increase the load on the brakes. In the past we have usually struggled on circuits with long straights, but this circuit is very similar to Baku, where we achieved good results. I’m optimistic, but the Williams cars are also fast on these tracks, so the battle will be close. We will do everything possible.

The main reason for conversation will be the weather: at night, when the cars take to the track, it can be very cold. Of course, our engineers have studied this problem and the temperature will be the same for everyone. But it will affect the warming of the tires, especially during qualifying.

Even though I did a lot of laps in the simulator and the team did a lot of modeling work, it is still difficult to judge what the grip will be like. However, I think we are well prepared. I hope I don’t freeze in the car!

Another interesting factor could be advertising on the Strip. At other night races the lighting outside the track is not as bright, so we’ll see.”