Ross Brawn discloses shocking oversight while planning for F1 Las Vegas GP

Former F1 Managing Director Ross Brawn recently revealed that they did not factor in the cold temperatures when they announced that the sport would host a race in Las Vegas.

The pinnacle of motorsport returns to Las Vegas after a hiatus of over four decades, hosting a race next weekend. There is a lot of buzz around the track and premises, which have been widely reported about ahead of the race.

However, one of the most worrying aspects of the weekend is likely to be the cold temperatures, which would make it difficult for cars and tires to operate at optimum performance.

Speaking to TalkSport, former Ferrari team boss Ross Brawn said:

“The one thing we hadn’t considered initially but the tire company has dealt with is it gets very, very cold at night. So when the race is happening, which is Saturday night, it has been known to drop down to three or four degrees. So, it can be really quite cold and of course, getting the cars to work in those temperatures can be a challenge.

“The tire companies have done some work to make sure the tires can cope with that. We’re definitely facing some new challenges which we’ve never had before, but I think it’ll be spectacular.”

Mercedes F1 director on the challenges of cold temperatures in Las Vegas

Mercedes F1 trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin recently stated that the predicted temperatures for Las Vegas GP were closer to winter testing.

As per PlanetF1, Shovlin said:

“It’ll just depend on exactly how cold it is. Because if the track is down in single figures, that’s often a region where you go winter testing. You do a run, it’s very difficult for the tires to either get them switched on, or there may be graining and things.

"And then sometimes you just wait until it warms up a bit. So actually having to race and qualify in those conditions, will be interesting. You just try and identify the risks with the new circuit, work out what your contingencies will be, and whether you need any sort of specific car spec to deal with that. And we’re going through that at the moment."

It will be fascinating to see how quickly the F1 teams can adjust to the cold temperatures at night next weekend, and which team will struggle the most over the course of the race.