Oliver Bearman was shocked by his first impression of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

The Haas driver said he was surprised by how little grip the track surface offers.

“Honestly, those first few laps I did in FP1 – of course this is a new track for me – I was shocked by how low the grip was,” he told the official Formula 1 channel. “It’s sketchy out there.”

The low grip conditions on Thursday were exacerbated by light rain which fell between the two practice sessions.

“I don’t know even how to describe the low level of grip that we experienced,” said Bearman, “but in turn that means that the [track evolution] is incredibly high.

“So even in that session we were quite early to get onto the soft tyre. I didn’t manage to do a lap on the soft but that meant that when I boxed I was in a good position and by the time I went to go out again I suddenly was five or six tenths further away from the front. So definitely big evo.

“It was a tricky session with the rain, with the traffic and with the interruptions but I think we learnt a lot.”

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Bearman said he is still “finding my rhythm around here” but admitted he didn’t find it a satisfying track to drive.

“This is the least enjoyable street track I’ve driven,” he said. “Normally they’re really fun and great.

“This one: really, really low grip, which is not a great combination when you have the walls very close. It’s incredibly high speed, which is dangerous.

“The track itself, it’s cool to be racing down this Strip in Las Vegas, but aside from that there’s not much good stuff.”

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