The Las Vegas Grand Prix promises to become one of Formula 1’s hottest properties. Too bad the race itself is forecast to be almost ice cold.
The race will be one of six Grand Prixs on the calendar run at night, but Vegas will set new ground as the latest race start in Formula 1 history, with lights out scheduled for 10:00pm Saturday local time.
Qualifying gets underway at the even more outlandish midnight on Friday night.
Watch the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix SUN 19th NOV 5PM AEDT. Join Kayo now and start streaming instantly >
But not only will that make it the latest race in history, it’ll surely also make it one of the coldest.
Las Vegas is in southern Nevada, which sits inside the Mojave Desert. You might therefore think of Vegas as having sweltering days and balmy nights, and you’d be right — for some of the year.
Unfortunately November is not that time of year.
Timed with the start of Las Vegas’s relative short winter, temperatures in November reach an average maximum of around 19 degrees during the day — not bad — but plunge to around 8 degrees at night.
This weekend’s race forecast is pretty much bang on the average.
Formula 1 is nominally a summer sport. It’s why each season starts and ends with trips to the Middle East and the Southern Hemisphere, with Europe reserved for the middle months of summer — and even then it can’t always find a nice weekend for the British Grand Prix.
Cars and tyres are designed for far warmer weather than Vegas. But like it or not, sub-10 degrees is what they’re going to get.
It’s not totally ...
[Short citation of 8% of the original article]