Sainz describes 'snowball' risk as drivers battle cold Las Vegas

Carlos Sainz has described how F1 drivers are risking a "snowball" in the cold temperatures of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Air and track temperatures in Nevada are low, meaning drivers were struggling to generate tyre and brake heat throughout Friday practice, with both sessions topped by Lewis Hamilton.

Some drivers completed multiple warm-up laps through FP2 before committing to fast laps, with Sainz comparing the conditions to the infamous 2020 Turkish Grand Prix for a lack of grip as he finished fourth in FP2.

"Those first laps in FP1 were the lowest grip, it felt like Turkey 2020 when we had those crazy low grip conditions," he said.

"Through the day, the track ramped up and picked up some grip, but with that, the temperatures came down as we got further into the night and everything seemed more complicated.

"Everyone is in the same boat, it is a very fine line between having the tyres ready or not in Sector 1, and from then on, it can snowball into a very good or very bad lap."

Ferrari "in the mix"

Looking ahead to the remainder of the weekend, Sainz felt Ferrari had "homework" to do after the pre-event expectation of Ferrari dominating did not pan out.

"I think we are in the mix, but Mercedes has been very strong all day," he observed. 

"Lando and McLaren also, but maybe we were not performing as strongly as everyone was thinking we were. 

"We have some homework to do tonight to maybe try and find some lap-time, especially from qualifying into the race. 

"We seem to be okay once everything gets up to temperature,  but over one lap, we still have some work to do."