(Reuters) – Formula One statistics for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the 22-round championship:
Lap distance: 6.201km. Total distance: 310.050km (50 laps)
No previous race on this circuit
Start time: 0600GMT Sunday/2200 local Saturday
LAS VEGAS
Las Vegas has previously held two championship races, in 1981 and 1982 as the Caesars Palace Grand Prix. Both were season-enders and title-deciders.
Australian Alan Jones won in 1981 with Williams and Italian Michele Alboreto in 1982 with Tyrrell.
The new 6.2km track is the second longest on the current calendar and includes the famed Strip and central landmarks. Mercedes say their simulations suggest top speeds will be second only to Monza.
The race is the third this year in the United States, but the first night race there.
It will be the first time since South Africa in 1985 that a grand prix has been held on a Saturday.
Qualifying starts at midnight on Friday, making it the first grand prix since Japan 2019 where pole is decided on the same day as the race. The start will be the latest in F1 history.
The new Las Vegas circuit will be the 12th to host a U.S. round of the championship.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Red Bull and Verstappen have won both championships already, Verstappen his third and Red Bull their sixth.
WINS
Verstappen has won 17 of 20 races and has 52 wins from 182 starts, putting him fourth on the all-time list. One more win will put him joint third with Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull have won 19 races, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz winning in Singapore. Red Bull have also had a team record six one-two finishes in 2023.
Hamilton has a record 103 victories from 330 starts but has not won since Saudi Arabia in December 2021. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso has 32 wins, most recently in Spain in 2013 with Ferrari, from a record 375 starts.
POLE POSITION
Hamilton has a record 104 poles.
Red Bull have been on pole 13 times this season. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took the top slot in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Austin and Mexico, Hamilton in Hungary and Sainz in Italy and Singapore.
Verstappen has 11 poles for 2023.
PODIUM
Six teams and 11 drivers have made a podium appearance this season: Red Bull, Alpine, Aston Martin, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.
Verstappen has been off the podium only once since Brazil last November.
Verstappen holds the record for most podiums in a season — 19 this year.
POINTS
Verstappen leads team mate Sergio Perez by 266 points and is set to end the season with a record margin.
FASTEST LAPS
Nine different drivers have taken fastest laps this season – Alonso, Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou, Verstappen (8), Perez (2), Hamilton (4), Russell, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
MILESTONE
Sergio Perez can seal second place overall for Red Bull, which would be the first time the team have finished a season with their drivers first and second.
Verstappen can take a record-extending 18th win of the season and record 20th podium.
Red Bull are chasing a record 20th win of the season, one more than Mercedes managed in 2016.
McLaren’s Lando Norris can take an unwanted record of 14 top-three finishes without a win.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
