The organizers of the Las Vegas Grand Prix last season received immense criticism because of the odd timings of the race weekend. Since most of the sessions of the race weekend took place around midnight, several F1 drivers complained about fatigue and jet lag. Despite these criticisms, the organizers haven’t changed the timings for the main race.
As per the schedule F1 has released, the 2024 Las Vegas GP will also take place at 10:00 PM local time. Meanwhile, similarly to the other sprint race weekends, F1 is yet to release the timings of the practice and qualifying sessions for the Las Vegas GP.
The concern for most of the drivers indeed came during the practice sessions. Although the second practice session was scheduled to begin at midnight, it started at 2:30 AM local time. This was the case because the organizers needed to carry out repair work after Carlos Sainz had an incident during the first practice session.
Another major concern that drivers had during the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend was jet lag. Several drivers such as George Russell, Kevin Magnussen, and Max Verstappen complained about the same.
As quoted by wtf1.com, Russell said, “My heart rate during a night sleep is on average about 25% higher than it would be when I’m in a consistent location“. Meanwhile, Magnussen joked that he felt as though he had been jetlagged for a “month and a half“. Last but not least, Verstappen also expressed his unhappiness with the timings of the weekend.
The Dutchman stated that he doesn’t understand why F1 has made such a schedule as the race weekend in Las Vegas was very “tiring” for all the drivers and their teams. However, it’s pertinent to note that drivers just didn’t complain about the race weekend in Sin City.
F1 also faced criticism for the race weekend in Qatar
The 2023 Qatar Grand Prix weekend was arguably one of the most difficult races in F1 history because of the brutal weather conditions. Since the race took place during the summer, drivers were challenged by the scorching heat.
Since several drivers complained about falling sick because of the sweltering conditions, F1 has decided to make modifications for the 2024 Qatar GP. Instead of the race taking place in October, F1 has decided to schedule it for December in 2024. Thus the 8:00 PM local time race start will have much cooler conditions for this season’s race relative to last year.
Meanwhile, the only other race where there is a slight change in timing in 2024 is the Miami GP. The 2024 Miami GP will begin at 4:00 PM local time instead of 3:30 PM.
