Formula One racing resumed this weekend, returning to America for the third and final time this season. This time we were under the lights in the city that never sleeps for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
George Russell had an excellent start from pole position, maintaining a comfortable lead into the first corner. Carlos Sainz took a wide line into the first corner, allowing his teammate to slither into P2. Charles Leclerc piled the pressure on the leading Mercedes, with his best overtaking attempt coming on the fourth lap. The two were side-by-side in the final sector, but Leclerc couldn’t get by.
Pushing hard put a lot of stress on Leclerc’s tyres, causing him to lose pace to Russell quickly. After only a few laps, the Mercedes had created a big gap out front. Leclerc lost position to his teammate on lap eight, becoming the first driver to pit for hard tyres on lap ten. Max Verstappen overtook Sainz on the following lap before the Ferrari driver dove into the pit lane, ensuring the Dutchman would rejoin ahead of Sainz when he pitted a lap later.
If Russell’s huge lead early in the race was not enough to showcase the steller speed of the Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was charging his way through the field in the opening laps. He had climbed up to a net P7 before pitting on lap 14.
Pierre Gasly, who had impressed in qualifying with a P3 grid position, was having a slightly disappointing day. He was overtaken in the opening laps of the race by Verstappen, dropping down to P5. But his day hit another snag when he suffered an engine failure on lap 16. He limped back to the pit lane but had to retire the car.
As the laps ticked on, Sainz began asking the Ferrari pit wall if they were switching to “Plan C”, likely the two-stop strategy. His team initially told him to stay with “Plan A”, despite the two-stop appearing to be the optimal strategy in the early stages.
By the halfway point of the race, Sainz started to beg his team for a pitstop, with Leclerc and Hamilton now right on his tail. Instead, the team told him to swap positions with his teammate. He did an excellent job of doing so without allowing Hamilton to sneak through. Both Sainz and Hamilton dove into the pit entry, but Sainz bailed out at the last second because his team wasn’t ready. He pitted the following lap, but that team mistake had cost him time.
After the second round of pit stops, Hamilton continued his charge through the field, finally getting by Verstappen for P2 on lap 32. The race transformed into a Mercedes 1-2, with ten seconds separating the two teammates. In the closing stint, Hamilton managed to reduce the gap to seven seconds but was nowhere near challenging for the lead.
Verstappen, who was well on his way to securing his World Championship title by this point in the race, fell into the clutches of both Ferraris. Sainz climbed into P3 on lap 42, but Leclerc struggled to fight the leading Red Bull. It wasn’t until lap 47 that Leclerc would demote Verstappen to P5 with a lunge into turn 14.
Running in P6 with no chance of keeping his World Drivers’ Championship hopes alive, Lando Norris’ focus switched to the World Constructors’ Championship, which is still very much up for grabs. The McLaren team called him into the pits on the penultimate lap to claim the fastest lap from Hamilton and gain a point towards their championship. There was no risk of him losing a position to his teammate, who was more than 20 seconds behind after getting a five-second penalty for a minor starting position violation at the start of the race.
Despite his efforts, Ferrari still managed to gain points on McLaren, crossing the line third and fourth. It was Mercedes on top at the end of the race, earning their first 1-2 finish since the 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
But all eyes were on Max Verstappen, who secured his fourth consecutive World Drivers’ Championship title with Red Bull. It was not the easy title that was originally predicted at the start of the season, but he managed to claim his title with two races remaining in the season.
Next on the calendar is the Qatar Grand Prix. It’s a sprint weekend, with the sprint race on November 30 and the main event on December 1.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 1:22:05.969 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 50 | +7.313 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 50 | +11.906 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 50 | +14.283 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 50 | +16.582 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 50 | +43.385 | 9 |  | |
| 7 | 50 | +51.365 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 50 | +59.808 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 50 | +62.808 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 50 | +63.114 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 50 | +69.195 | |||
| 12 | 50 | +69.803 | |||
| 13 | 50 | +74.085 | |||
| 14 | 50 | +75.172 | |||
| 15 | 50 | +84.102 | |||
| 16 | 50 | +91.005 | |||
| 17 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| DNF | 25 | ||||
| DNF | 15 |
| 1 | M. Verstappen | 403 |  | |
| 2 | L. Norris | 340 | -63 |  |
| 3 | C. Leclerc | 319 | -84 | |
| 4 | O. Piastri | 268 | -135 | |
| 5 | C. Sainz | 259 | -144 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 608 | | |
| 2 | Ferrari | 584 | -24 | |
| 3 | Red Bull | 555 | -53 | |
| 4 | Mercedes | 425 | -183 | |
| 5 | Aston Martin | 86 | -522 | |
