RaceFans Round-up: Las Vegas residents support F1 race

In brief

Las Vegas residents support Grand Prix – poll

Over half of Las Vegas residents surveyed say they support Formula 1’s grand prix remaining there for the next nine years.

F1’s newest race along the city’s famous Strip was held for the first time towards the end of last season. The event has proven controversial locally, with businesses and commuters critical of the disruption to business and traffic caused by setting up the event.

However, a survey of 6,000 local residents by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority revealed 52.8% were in favour of the Las Vegas Grand Prix running until 2032, Fox5 reported

Lower back the “most injured area” for drivers

Max Verstappen’s former trainer, Bradley Scanes, says that drivers are most susceptible to suffering problems with their lower back than other areas of their bodies.

Speaking on the Red Flag podcast, Scanes – who has been Verstappen’s trainer for all of his world championship victories – explained the most troublesome areas for drivers on a physical level.

“The lower back – it’s the most injured area in drivers,” Scanes explained.

“So a lot of people think they injure their neck, but they don’t – unless they’re having a crash. They’re well trained athletes. The neck strength builds up as you drive, so after testing and pre-season, you’re pretty much ready to go. But the lower back is dependent on the track, the track surface, whether it’s a street circuit or a normal circuit, how they run in the car – are they running a bit stiffer or not. And that’s the most injured or kind of sore, niggly area for a driver.”

Rowland tops first Diriyah practice

Nissan driver Oliver Rowland set the quickest time in the opening practice session for the Diriyah Eprix in Saudi Arabia ahead of two Formula E races this weekend.

Rowland was a tenth faster than the Penske pair Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne, with world champion Jake Dennis fourth for Porsche. The session was halted when Sebastien Buemi’s Envision stopped on track with a suspected battery fault.

The first of two races in Diriyah takes place today, with the second race in the double-header on Saturday.

Links

Motor racing links of interest:

Aston Martin achieves ISO 50001 certification (Aston Martin)

‘Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team has become the first F1 team to comply with ISO standard 50001 – a globally recognised certification that outlines the requirements for implementing an energy management system. It offers organisations a framework to enhance energy performance. In order to satisfy the standard, Aston Martin Aramco completed three audits over the course of 2023 with the final audit taking place in December 2023. The certificate was issued to the team in January 2024.’

Flying start to Season 10 for Formula E on TV and social media (Formula E)

‘The biggest growth in TV audiences came in the US and UK. An all-time high for the US market of 3.4m viewers watched the as-live full race broadcast by long-standing partner CBS on its main network channel, beating the previous high on the same channel for the New York City E-Prix in 2021. In the UK, TV audiences saw a 29% increase on the Mexico race last season as viewers tuned in to the first race broadcast by new TV partner, TNT Sports, with coverage led by new Formula E presenter, Jermaine Jenas.’

Formula 1 and the Rolex 24 At Daytona (IMSA)

‘In all, nearly 200 drivers who have started a Formula 1 Grand Prix have also competed in the Rolex 24. As of this coming weekend, the list will include 36 F1 race winners and six world champions – Alonso, Jenson Button, Jack Brabham, Phil Hill, Denis Hulme and Mario Andretti. Button, the 2009 F1 top gun, will compete for the overall win in this year’s Rolex 24 as part of the line-up in Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s No. 40 Acura ARX-06 in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class. Ten other drivers who have raced in F1 are also entered in this year’s Rolex 24: Jack Aitken, Sebastien Bourdais, Gianmaria Bruni, Paul di Resta, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Brendon Hartley, Felipe Massa, Felipe Nasr and Alexander Rossi.’

Pro cycling needs to learn from Formula 1: Let’s see bikes designed just for pros (Cycling News)

‘While I doubt that this is a proposal that the UCI will countenance for a second, I think there’s a lot we could gain, both as a sport and as consumers, if the world tour peloton raced on a class of bikes that don’t have to be commercially available. A Formula 1 style, top tier of machines, with rules governing their form changing every few years.’

Update Details (1.42) (Gran Turismo)

A new update for Gran Turismo 7 brings three new cars and fixes a long-running bug to split screen mode.

Joseph Kosinski talks ‘Go Like Hell’ which almost starred Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt and his upcoming F1 racing movie (The PlayList)

”It’s definitely taking everything I learned on ‘Top Gun’ and now applying it to the world of Formula 1, which has been an enormous, enormous challenge, but again, I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve been able to capture shooting at the grand prix, developing a whole new camera system, the next generation of what we did here (on ‘Maverick’) and having actors driving real cars on the track.”

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