Introduction
Max Verstappen became a four-time world champion with an assured drive to fifth place during Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, while pole-sitter George Russell and the charging Lewis Hamilton earned a one-two finish for Mercedes.
Click here to subscribe to our print edition!
Verstappen entered the 50-lap encounter knowing that he needed to keep title rival Lando Norris behind him to secure another crown, which the Dutchman achieved by holding position into the first corner and gradually pulling away from the McLaren driver.
Having held a podium spot after the second round of pit stops, Verstappen opted against a fight when the Ferraris arrived at the rear of his Red Bull in the closing laps – both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finding a way past before the chequered flag.
At the front, Russell expertly managed a tricky race in cool, slippery conditions, keeping a fast-starting Leclerc at bay in the early laps – the latter running into tyre troubles due to that aggression – and controlling proceedings thereafter.
Hamilton bounced back from a challenging conclusion to qualifying, which left him 10th on the grid, to work his way through the field and back up teammate Russell, whose win marked the first Mercedes triumph since July’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Norris made a successful bid for the fastest lap in the dying moments as he took sixth and mathematically dropped out of championship contention, with teammate Oscar Piastri crossing the line seventh after a time penalty for a false start.
Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg cleared RB’s Yuki Tsunoda late in what could be crucial for the tight constructors’ battle over P6, especially after second-row starter Pierre Gasly suffered an agonising retirement due to technical trouble aboard his Alpine.
Sergio Perez added a point to Red Bull’s tally in 10th, denying Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, with one-stopping Haas racer Kevin Magnussen 12th from Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and the Williams of Franco Colapinto, who started in the pit lane following his scary qualifying crash.
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Liam Lawson (RB), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber) were the final finishers after Alex Albon became the second retirement from the race for Williams due to technical gremlins of his own.
All the attention, though, was on Verstappen when he returned to Parc Ferme, the 27-year-old lapping up the celebrations with the Red Bull team thanks to him joining a group of F1 greats on four world titles – all achieved one after the other.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
First of all, congratulations to Max Verstappen on his fourth world title, an incredible achievement for a youngster who has only recently turned 27. Well done, too, to Red Bull, as this is the eighth time one of their drivers has been crowned champion. After the start of this season, it seemed to follow the same pattern as last year’s. Max had a tough time but fought hard race after race, even though he did not have the most competitive package, proving to be an extraordinary champion.
Congratulations must also go to Formula 1 for having put on a fantastic event here in Las Vegas, full of sights and sounds and, above all, a great show on track, which definitely proved popular with the crowd of over 300,000 spectators who came to the track over the weekend and the millions watching on television and on-line.
As for tyre performance, it could have been a more precise cut Grand Prix, starting with the strategy choices. Before the race, the one-stop was the quickest option, but in the end, almost all the drivers pitted twice; if we leave out Norris, who made an additional stop to go for the point for setting the fastest race lap and Ocon, who preferred not to take any risks at the end. From an initial analysis of the data, this was due mainly to the fact that several drivers chose to push hard right from the start without giving too much thought to tyre management. As a consequence, some of them, therefore, suffered more than expected with graining and were forced to make their first pit stop earlier than planned, which triggered a chain reaction which, bit by bit, pushed everyone towards a two-stop, especially as they knew they could count on two sets of Hard tyres, which was without a doubt the most competitive compound for the race.
On average, the level of performance degradation was relatively low on both the Medium and the Hard, and so was wear. Some drivers suffered from deformation more than others, especially on the C4, but a one-stop was still doable if the tyres were managed carefully. The result was an action-packed Grand Prix with plenty of overtaking and wheel-to-wheel battles, which was great for all the fans of this wonderful sport.”
The day on the track:
Temperatures were slightly higher for the race, both ambient and track, compared to the previous days at 18/17 °C. On the grid, the vast majority of drivers opted to start on the Medium. There were four who chose otherwise: Alonso on Softs, Perez, Bottas and Colapinto, the latter starting from pit lane, on Hards. Almost all drivers made two stops, preferring to get the most out of the tyres, especially the two sets of Hards they had kept for the race, rather than trying to manage them, especially in the first stint.
As is so often the case, the laurels for the longest stints went to three specialists in this discipline, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon both completing 33 laps on the Hard, while Valtteri Bottas did 18 with the Medium.
2024 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix Race Results
| Pos | No | Driver | Country | Team | Time | Points | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 63 | George Russell | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 1:22:05.969 | 25 | 217 |
| 2. | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Great Britain | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | +7.313s | 18 | 208 |
| 3. | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Spain | Scuderia Ferrari | +11.906s | 15 | 259 |
| 4. | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Monaco | Scuderia Ferrari | +14.283s | 12 | 319 |
| 5. | 1 | Max Verstappen | Netherlands | Red Bull Racing | +16.582s | 10 | 403 |
| 6. | 4 | Lando Norris | Great Britain | Mclaren Racing | +43.385s | 9 | 340 |
| 7. | 81 | Oscar Piastri | Australia | McLaren Racing | +51.365s | 6 | 268 |
| 8. | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Germany | Haas F1 Team | +59.808s | 4 | 35 |
| 9. | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Japan | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +62.808s | 2 | 30 |
| 10. | 11 | Sergio Perez | Mexico | Red Bull Racing | +63.114s | 1 | 152 |
| 11. | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Spain | Aston Martin F1 Team | +69.195s | 0 | 62 |
| 12. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Denmark | Haas F1 Team | +69.803s | 0 | 14 |
| 13. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | China | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +74.085s | 0 | 0 |
| 14. | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Argentina | Williams Racing | +75.172s | 0 | 5 |
| 15. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Canada | Aston Martin F1 Team | +84.102s | 0 | 24 |
| 16. | 30 | Liam Lawson | New Zealand | Visa Cash App F1 Team | +91.005s | 0 | 4 |
| 17. | 31 | Esteban Ocon | France | Alpine F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 23 |
| 18. | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | Kick Sauber F1 Team | +1 lap | 0 | 0 |
| 19. | 23 | Alexander Albon | Thailand | Williams Racing | DNF | 0 | 12 |
| 20. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | France | Alpine F1 Team | DNF | 0 | 26 |
2024 Constructor Standings
| Pos | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | McLaren Racing | 608 |
| 2. | Scuderia Ferrari | 584 |
| 3. | Red Bull Racing | 555 |
| 4. | Mercedes-AMG Petronas | 425 |
| 5. | Aston Martin F1 Team | 86 |
| 6. | Haas F1 Team | 50 |
| 6. | Alpine F1 Team | 49 |
| 7. | Visa Cash App F1 Team | 46 |
| 8. | Williams Racing | 17 |
| 10. | Kick Sauber F1 Team | 0 |
Here are the team-by-team highlights:
The post 2024 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix Highlights appeared first on Paddock Magazine.