2023 WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS STAYS IN VEGAS SIN CITY GP

[Everso Biggyballies]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Yet more Elvis Presleys spotted.

And Yuki Tsunoda seems to have Ganja leaves on his crash helmet

[Aty]

Verstappen's scathing response to Las Vegas: 'You look like a clown'

RN365

I am with you, Max.

[DoubleFart]

Local time for the race is 6am here, so I plan to get up at 5.50, remove and take on fluids, then get on my rower for 6am and totally ignore all of the pre-race bullshit.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Las Vegas Grand Prix Opening Ceremony


This is just the highlights, or they have apparently cut the first 40 minutes from the live stream as from reports nothing happened. (I didnt watch it live but just tried to watch this 30 minute cut. The first 28 minutes is just some musicall thing of which I only recognised 2 names.

If you want to see the drivers being introduced that only happens in the final two minutes. They all looked bemused at best. And the crowd noise all sounded very fake and added. Oh and if you expected to see an F1 car as part og the official opening of a GP you might be disappointed.

I was a bit embarrassed for F1 but then again it is nothing I wasnt expecting. Very American and different is perhaps the kindest way to describe it.

Clearly I am not the target type of fan this might have been aimed at. Thank heaven for the 5 second advance / fast forward until 2 minutes from the end. button. My finger was permanently on it.

I didnt click the "Like" button.

Oh but dont let me put you off it. Maybe its me that has got it wrong.
In the words of Avicii.... Wake me up when its all over!

Oh this is the video description

It's Vegas, baby! We're kicking off the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend with a star-studded Opening Ceremony from the Las Vegas Strip!

Its F1.com so you will have to click Watch on Youtube.

[Everso Biggyballies]

A new livery for Alpha Tauri for this weekend and Abu Dhabi.

[Michael Ferner]

Good thing the teams and drivers don't waste their time anymore with testing between races, so they have ample time to devise fancy new liveries for their cars and helmets! I recall the dreadful times when we had to endure racing drivers with the same helmet design for a whole year (!!), even whole careers (!!!), and cars carrying the same colours for several seasons, so you had to watch for construction details like bodywork or number of wheels to see any difference!

For example, Tyrrell...



... looked absolutely identical year after year, for a full decade!!! How did we ever manage to cope with that???

[XcraigX]

I understand plans are afoot to have the piggest pre race ceremony we have ever seen.

Yes. It will be the piggest my friend! The PIGGEST!!!
(That was so very slyly placed in there, you get a gold star for it!)

[XcraigX]

Ferrari have gone red and white.

A new livery for Alpha Tauri for this weekend and Abu Dhabi.

These two are my favorites. I like the Ferrari one as a regular livery they should just run for the season.
I like the AT livery, but it feels more "special edition" rather than something they should run full time.

The worst is the McLaren. They change almost nothing and then submit headshots like it's a new car? We don't need a press release if you added 2 new stickers. Thanks!

[Star]

Max is right, it is 99% about the show and only 1% about the racing isn't it?

Don't get me wrong, I like some of the glitz and the new colour schemes etc. but it's not that I tune in for. Give me a race where you get proper duels like we had in the last few laps last time with Alonso and Perez and I'd be happier than a pig in muck

Oh and I showed my daughter the outline of the track and she immediately said it looks like an upside down pig. She's smart my daughter, gets it from her mother you know

[John]

I don't usually say this, but fucking well done, Max. Speak up!

[Everso Biggyballies]

Great opening post @Everso Biggyballies! I like the blinking Vegas sign.
The circuit itself looks interesting. However I will forever refer to this configuration as the "Fette Sau" layout.

The piggest pigfest continues..... Homer never disappoints
(I saw this elsewhere and had to steal it)

[MonteCristo]

We don't need a press release if you added 2 new stickers. Thanks!

Marketing manager: "Wait, two stickers? We need TWO press releases!"

[Michkov]

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1725242836017394152

[Everso Biggyballies]

Thanks for the link. (I embedded it to show what it was of as its the first real time look of the surface)

It could just be the lighting but the reflections off the track make it look very slick and slippery, and not particularly grippy.. The track looks like its coated with oil. Given its a public traffic route the roads are still open for much of the non F1 using weekend, the lack of any support categories, plus the forecast of rain during the non F1 periods the track might not get that rubbered up. I believe a lot of the tarmac is fairly new which also increases the slick surface effect as oil in the tarmac mixx sweats out.

One thing is for sure and that is that each session will I believe gets markedly faster by the minute as it rubbers up with cars running.. Being the last car on track will be like being last on a rapidly drying track I would think.

Re the rain I read of a 40% chance on qualifying day. Not forecast to actually be wet in the evening/night the rainfall is scheduled more early morning than late night when the track is being used for F1, but it might not be good for any build up of rubber being washed away.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Im struggling to get used to the idea it is 3pm and we have P1 half an hour away. Formula 1 in daylight for uss downunder rarely happens.

To celebrate it I am in the middle of a power cut. Apparently it will be back in 5-10 minutes. So no TV, no modem, no surround sound, and more to the point no coffee machine or kettle. Shock Horror.

Thank goodness for technology. I doing this on my laptop with the help of my mobile phone as a hotspot internet and watching it via Foxtel Now streaming. The problem I might have is if if continues on with no power for much longer my laptop is only half charged!

[Everso Biggyballies]

No chance of rain in FP1. Im still in the middle of a power cut but online thanks to my phone. Should have plenty of data in the bank!

Time for all the flashing lights, support bands and music stuff to be replaced by the sight of an actual F1 car at last.

A lot of questions will be answered in the next hour and we might learn something. I reckon lots of lock ups but I imagine the first session will be all about learning the track and grip levels.