Pirelli foresees problems with heating and tire wear

This weekend, Las Vegas will host a Formula 1 race for the fourth time, but it will be only the second Grand Prix on the new circuit, built through the most attractive areas of the world’s entertainment capital. And in the early 1980s, the World Cup stage was held in this city for the first time.

The peculiarity of this phase of the season is that it takes place in late autumn and almost at night under artificial lighting, so that the air and asphalt temperatures are about 10 degrees.

Pirelli tire companies usually bring the softest rubber compounds to city circuits – this was the case a year ago in Las Vegas, and it will be the same this time. C3 is used as hard, C4 as medium and C5 as soft. Obviously the biggest problems will be related to the heating of the tires, especially during qualifying, and this applies especially to the front tires.

Riders should ensure that the tires reach the correct operating temperature without overloading them and avoid lock-ups, especially at the end of long straights, as the tires lose heat on straights.

In addition, at low temperatures, adhesion to asphalt is lower, and this in turn is associated with increased granulation intensity. All these factors can accelerate the wear and tear process, which calls for tactical plans with two pit stops. This was the most popular tactic last year.

However, if the driver manages to warm up the tires normally and gradually increase the temperature, the single pit stop option can be quite competitive. But for this it is necessary to extend the first segment of the distance.

Furthermore, due to problems with tire warming, the option of an early pit stop in an attempt to get ahead of an opponent through tactics does not seem very effective – including calculations showing that it would be more correct to extend the first segment.

The teams and Pirelli will benefit from the experience gained in Las Vegas a year ago. Italian tire manufacturers then collected a large amount of information on the degree of adhesion and abrasiveness of the asphalt surface and shared all this data with the teams. In turn, the championship participants submitted their calculations on simulators.

At the start of the weekend it will be important to measure initial levels of aggressiveness and grip and compare this data to last year. It is important that the training sessions scheduled for Thursday go smoothly and without too much difficulty, so that everyone collects additional information that allows a more accurate prediction of the degree of wear and degradation.