Inside Alpine F1 Team’s Nocturnal Preparations For The Las Vegas Grand Prix

The Las Vegas Grand Prix was a Formula 1 race like no other. The spectacle in the middle of the casino oasis put an extra burden on the drivers and teams for several reasons: the bizarre late-night schedules, the extensive media obligations and the bombastic nature of racing on the Strip. The unique Saturday night race required an unusual effort from the BWT Alpine F1 Team to prepare, including blackout curtains and greyscale casino towers.

Full disclosure: Alpine invited me to join its F1 team for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, including staying at the Venetian Resort alongside the team.

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I would later discover that it was early in the day for the drivers despite only being 5:00 p.m. local time. Vegas’ pomp and promotional activations couldn’t distract from the sporting competition at the core of this half-billion-dollar event. Gasly said to me, “As an F1 driver, you need to be on top of your game every single time you jump in the car.” Both Gasly and Ocon worked with their trainers to be well-rested and at their cognitive peak for the track sessions regardless of the local time.

F1 races typically start at 3:00 p.m. However, the start time in Vegas was at 10:00 p.m. under floodlights and neon signs. Every F1 driver had to acclimate to a time zone shift as if they were racing in Japan, not Nevada. The days on-site would start in the afternoon and end in the early hours of the following morning.

Pierre Gasly (right) competed with other drivers and PGA Tour pros on Netflix

Alpine’s drivers got a headstart on acclimating. Gasly had a session in the team’s simulator on Friday before race week and shifted his sleep schedule on Saturday. He emphasized, “You don’t tackle jetlag the day you arrive.” He hoped to get into a steady rhythm by Tuesday when he competed in the Netflix Cup, a made-for-streaming pro-am golf tournament at the Wynn Golf Club.

Mentioning the simulator, it’s a tool that F1 teams heavily rely on to prepare for race weekends. The sim was even more crucial for Las Vegas because it’s an entirely new circuit that no one has raced on before. The drivers must learn the track, and engineers also need to prepare their cars. Alpine’s technical director Matt Harman stated the team always aims to have a track-specific setup ready before either Alpine A523 even rolls out for practice.

Gasly (left) and Ocon (right) have had run-ins on and off track this season