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F1 drivers take on sci-fi hovercraft challenge in Las Vegas
Watch Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda race hovercrafts deep in the Nevada desert ahead of the F1 Las Vegas GP.
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It’s a week of firsts in Las Vegas for the drivers of Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri. This weekend, Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen, Sergio “Checo” Perez, Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda will take part in the first F1 race on the iconic Las Vegas strip, battling in front the city’s iconic casinos and the massive Sphere. But before their maiden race in the heart of Vegas, the four drivers traveled into the Nevada desert south of Las Vegas to compete in vehicles they’d never driven (and hardly seen) before — high-powered, out-of-this-world racing hovercrafts — in the latest episode of the (Un)serious Race Series.
Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri with their team hovercrafts
© Chris Tedesco
The four drivers found themselves in a scene straight out of a sci-fi movie, complete with the cracked dirt of the Nevada wasteland, a pair of two-seater Renegade Hovercrafts decked out in team livery and even a crashed UFO lodged in the dry lakebed. Verstappen, Perez, Ricciardo and Tsunoda dove straight into three space-inspired challenges and continued the lighthearted rivalry of the series.
While it was a friendly competition, the competitive nature of the drivers shone through, leading to strategy discussions between teammates and on-track game faces appearing between the near-constant laughter. The 13-foot long, 26.5 horsepower hovercrafts tested the drivers’ skills as they provided little traction. The drivers relied on counter steering to glide through the course at a top speed of 30 mph/48 kph as they worked their way through each round of the contest. Dry desert wind and ample dust only added to the skill needed to tackle the unique challenge.
Max Verstappen navigates his hovercraft through the dusty Nevada lakebed
© Christian Pondella
Daniel and Yuki, who were pitted against each other in mini jet boats in Miami, proved to be a formidable hovercraft team. And while Max and Checo won the first challenge and put up a solid fight to the end, the Scuderia AlphaTauri drivers were able to eke out the overall win by a 2-1 challenge tally.
"It's fun to be out here in the desert ahead of the Las Vegas GP. I think the hovercrafts look really cool and they were really fun to drive. They were slower than I thought they would be, but I suppose you're floating over the ground. The challenges are fun, especially when you get to do it together as a team with Checo, also with Scuderia AlphaTauri. This series has been fun this year, we’ve driven lots of different vehicles all over the world, I think that makes it beautiful,” said Verstappen.
Verstappen and Perez team up to steer their hovercraft
© Chris Tedesco
Regarding the hovercrafts, Perez commented, “I’ve seen them, but I’ve never driven a hovercraft before, so it’s my first time...and I ended up eating a lot of sand, so I don’t need lunch for today. They collapse and go into the floor when you unbalance them, so it was quite challenging – you have to think a lot while driving them.” Of the upcoming Las Vegas race, he said, “I think Las Vegas is a unique venue - with the fans, the racing at night for the first time here – I think people are really going to enjoy it.”
Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri race head-to-head
© Chris Tedesco
“I definitely enjoy doing these things,” said Ricciardo. “On a race week we have the race and that’s our primary focus, and on track everything's so competitive, so to spend some time with not only Yuki, but Max and Checo and to be out here in the desert in an environment where we’re all just having a laugh – these are probably the best workdays we can get.”
Tsunoda and Ricciardo get hyped during a run on their hovercrafts
© Chris Tedesco
“I didn’t know how the vehicles behave,” said Tsunoda. “It’s actually a lot of fun, lots of drifting, but at the same time you have to control the throttle precisely to make it turn quickly. If you release too much throttle and touch too much ground, you stop. So there’s fine tuning and that makes it difficult, but overall, it’s really, really fun.”
Watch the full (Un)serious Race Series episode now, catch up on the rest of the series so far and stay tuned for more updates from the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
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