© Getty Images2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix - Free Practice ReportBulls struggle to find grip on day one
MaxandChecowereunabletoperformtotheirbestinFreePracticeastheycouldn’tfindgripontheLasVegasStrip,finishingFreePracticeOneinP5andP10,respectively.ThedayfailedtoimproveasthepairwereunabletocompleteasofttyreruninFreePracticeTwoduetoaredflagcourtesyofAlexAlbon’sWilliams.
What A Welcome© Getty Images
On the long runs we started off a bit more competitively, but we still need to fine tune a few things. It is very cold and the conditions are quite unique around here. 
First Practice Session: 1.36.038, Position: 5, Laps: 25
Second Practice Session: 1.35.834, Position: 17, Laps: 25
“It was really slippery on track today: I think we struggled to make the tyres work, especially over one lap, and we were quite far off with the pace. On the long runs we started off a bit more competitively, but we still need to fine tune a few things. It is very cold and the conditions are quite unique around here. However, at the end of the day this is the same for everyone, so we need to understand what we are doing wrong. The issue for us is definitely tyre related as we have no grip and it feels like driving on ice. We will look into what we can do to fix this and hopefully improve for tomorrow.”
First Practice Session: 1.36.535, Position: 10, Laps: 25
Second Practice Session: 1.36.055, Position: 19, Laps: 25
“I think we have some work to do over one lap, I think the long run looked a little bit more promising, but we have got to focus overnight to really try to exploit everything because we are not where we want. We were mainly struggling with balance in the low speed today, the rear is stepping out a lot, we came down a lot on downforce with the rear wing and it made it quite tricky. Especially over a single lap we need to improve and hopefully we can do that, make another step and go in the right direction. We know that here, Sunday is the most important day, and you can overtake and so on, so it will be very critical to be able to have some good pace.”
With temperatures in the desert known to plummet in the evening, the Las Vegas GP kicked off the weekend with a track temp of just 16 degrees Celsius, pushing the Team to start FP1 with the soft tyre. With an eye on warming up the tyres as quickly as possible, there was also focus on the circuit-specific rear wing—an addition to the car that the Team is hoping will improve the chances of winning in these cool conditions.
Checo’s opening push lap was 1:48.841, placing him in P2 behind Kevin Magnussen. Max’s first flyer sent him to the top at that point with a time of 1:44.239, 3.417s faster than Magnussen’s opener.
After his opening run, Max radioed in saying that the track was like, “driving on ice.” Despite this, both drivers persevered, and as the track began to rubber in, lap times began to tumble. Neither could break into the podium spots, with Checo’s fastest time of 1:38.113 placed him P5 at that point, and Max’s time of 1:38.356 placed him P6, over a second and a half off of the top spot. After every team’s opening run, Hamilton was top, with his teammate George Russell in P2 and Pierre Gasly in third.
With a quarter of FP1 remaining, the Bulls rejoined the action on fresh soft tyres but Max quickly discovered an issue with his steering wheel as it was seemingly connecting and disconnecting to the radio. During this time, he managed to complete two push laps with his fastest time of 1:36.038, placing him in fifth, where he remained until the chequered flag. Checo’s fastest lap was 1:26.536, which saw him in P8, but he dropped to P10 by the end of the session.
At the chequered flag, the Mercedes’ duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were P1 and P2, respectively. Hamilton’s time of 1:35.001 was 1.037s quicker than Max’s best time and 1.535s quicker than Checo's. Lando Norris was third on the timesheet.
Back In Vegas© Getty Images
Medium tyres were the rubber of choice for both drivers at the beginning of FP2, but this didn’t allow them to escape the issues they had in the earlier session with the lack of grip being the main complaint. Over three push laps, Max’s quickest time was 1:35.834, placing him in P7, 1.358s behind Charles Leclerc, who was top of the timesheet at that point.
Checo’s opening stint saw him also complete three push laps and abort one due to going into the run-off area. His quickest lap was 1:36.055, placing him P8 at that point.
At the halfway stage of the session, Max and Checo returned to the action for their qualifying run on the soft tyre, but they were halted on their opening lap due to the red flags being waved as Alex Albon had stopped his Williams on track owing to a fuel system issue. The session was only stopped for a few minutes, but when the Bulls returned, they chose to stick with their run programme and returned on track with used medium tyres to complete their high-fuel laps.
At the chequered flag, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet with a time of 1:33.825, with Lando Norris 0.011s behind in P2 and George Russell was third. Max had to settle for P17, more than two seconds behind the leader, and Checo finished FP2 in P19.
At the end of the session, Christian Horner explained the lack of pace was due to the temperature and the tyres. “They’re the critical elements,” he said. “On the short run we weren’t in the right temperature, so never got it working. In the long run, the cars were working ok, but the short run we just couldn’t get tyre in the correct window.”
