Official F1 Journal Saturday Round Up - Las Vegas Grand Prix

20/11/2024

George Russell wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton in second and Carlos Sainz in third.

Max Verstappen wins his fourth consecutive Drivers World Championship finishing ahead of Lando Norris in fifth place.

In a race filled with overtakes, two pit stops and two cars retiring with power unit issues, the Las Vegas Grand Prix had a bit of everything.

Race Facts

George Russell wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz.
Max Verstappen wins his fourth consecutive World Drivers' Championship.
Oscar Piastri received a five-second penalty after a starting a little outside his start box.
Lewis Hamilton started tenth and finished second.
Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly both retire due to a mechanical issue.
Franco Colapinto started from the pit lane after his crash at the end of Q2 on Friday.

George Russell started on Pole for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

At the start of the race, all the drivers started on medium tyres, except Alonso, who started on soft tyres, and Perez, Bottas, and Colapinto, who started on hard tyres.

George Russell managed to hold the race lead into Turn 1 after a very short run up to the first corner, as Leclerc got past Sainz and moved into second place, dropping Sainz to third.

On the first lap, Lawson and Magnussen battled side by side for the majority of the lap. Verstappen used DRS to pass Gasly and put a car between him and Lando Norris.

Leclerc and Russell battle for the race lead on lap five, almost coming together, but Russell held onto the lead.

Alonso pitted first on lap five, switching from his soft tyres to hard tyres, a bold choice of tyre for the start from Aston Martin. Maybe they hoped for an early safety car.

Oscar Piastri was noted for a false start, then investigated and given a five-second time penalty.

Leclerc battled Russell for the race lead, but by lap nine, he had been overtaken by his teammate Sainz and Verstappen. Leclerc dropped to fourth, perhaps overcooking his tyres battling Russell. Norris overtakes Gasly and moves into fifth.

Leclerc pits on lap nine and returns as Norris, Stroll, and Albon pit for hard tyres. Leclerc comes back out in 16th, with Norris in 17th.

Piastri, Sainz, Gssly, and Tsunoda also pitted on lap 11. Piastri served his five-second time penalty. Verstappen came into the pits on lap 11 and came back out in sixth, in front of Sainz, Leclerc, and Norris.

Russell was still in the lead of the Grand Prix, followed by Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Perez, and Magnussen. Russell had a 15-second gap over the rest of the field as he pitted on lap 13. Coming back out in second, Russell gave Hamilton the race lead by over five seconds.

Ocon pitted but missed his pit box. He had to leave the pit lane and do another racing lap before pitting again, as Tsunoda hit a bollard at the end of the pit lane.

After all the pit stops, on lap 15, Russell was leading the race with a 5.6-second gap to Perez, who hadn't pitted but started on hard tyres. Verstappen was racing in fourth, followed by Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Gasly, Alonso, Piastri, Albon, Hulkenberg, Zhou, Lawson, Ocon, and Stroll.

On lap 16, Gasly's car started smoking after he reported no power. He managed to get back to the pit lane but had to retire his car.

Verstappen and Sainz overtook Perez, just as Hamilton set the fastest lap and overtook Norris for sixth. Perez pitted from his hard tyres to medium tyres, not giving good signs for the rest of the field after not even 20 laps on his hard tyres.

On lap 22, Russell held the lap from Verstappen by almost ten seconds, with Sainz two seconds behind Verstappen and Leclerc two seconds behind him. Hamilton was all over the back of Leclerc's gearbox, waiting for an opportunity as Hamilton continued to set the fastest laps.

Norris and Piastri were both struggling, with Norris sitting in six and Piastri in eight, both complaining about lack of speed and wanting to pit again.

Further behind, Hulkenberg overtook Albon on lap 23 for ninth place, with Zhou overtaking Alonso and moving up into 11th. Perez and Lawson meet again on track, but this time, Perez has the upper hand and easily overtakes Lawson, moving up into 12th place.

Piastri pitted again on lap 26 for another set of hard tyres, as Albon is called into the pits to retire his car due to a power unit issue.

Russell was still out in front leading but over 11 seconds, with Leclerc, Sainz and Hamilton further behind only covered by just two seconds.

Verstappen was called to pit on lap 27, but called it off at the last moment leaving the Championship leader out in second.

Verstappen and Hamilton both pit on lap 28, coming back out in fifth and sixth, with Sainz going over the solid white line of the pit entry before Ferrari made a very late call and he stayed out. Sainz pits on lap 29 and this time his team were ready, he returned to the track three seconds behind Hamilton.

Russell was leading by over 15 seconds on lap 30, with Leclerc in second, Norris in third, 12 seconds behind them, and Verstappen having to defend from Hamilton behind in fourth.

Ocon came over the radio and said he got hit by Lawson. Norris pits for a second time on lap 31 and rejoins the track in seventh, over six seconds behind Hulkenberg.

Lewis Hamilton overtook Verstappen on the back straight moving into second for a Mercedes 1-2, as Leclerc pitted for a second time, coming back out in fifth place.

George Russell with a 32 second gap, pitted on lap 33 and stays in the lead of the race over his teammate by 12 seconds. Perez pitted for the third time and rejoins the track in 15th place.

Franco Colapinto passes Bottas for 16th place after his 50G crash in qualifying. Hulkenberg pitted on lap 34 from sixth place on the grid with a great tyre offset from the cars around him, rejoining in 12th.

Hamilton took a second out of George Russell's lead on one lap closing the gap to nine seconds. With Verstappen in third, Sainz in fourth, Leclerc in fifth, Norris in sixth, Piastri in seventh, Tsunoda in eight, Ocon in ninth and Lawson in tenth.

Perez moved up into 12th place, overtaking Lawson and Magnussen on the corner of Turn 14, somehow they all got through cleanly.

With ten laps to go Russell was leading the race with Hamilton just over seven seconds behind him. Verstappen was running in third, but was under pressure from not one but two Ferraris behind him, with Sainz being within DRS range of Verstappen.

Norris was running thirteen seconds behind Leclerc and Piastri fourteen seconds behind him in seventh.

Sainz overtook Verstappen on lap 42 but Verstappen was quickly under pressure from Leclerc. Hamilton was down to 5.8 seconds behind Russell, taking out a good chunk of time from his team mate.

With five laps to go Russell was in the lead of the race, with Hamilton 5.2 seconds behind, Sainz nine seconds behind them, Verstappen with DRS range of Sainz. Leclerc within DRS range of him, Norris was ten seconds behind them in sixth, with Piastri a further 19 seconds behind him.

Followed by Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Alonso rounding out the top ten and the points places. Perez was running in eleventh, with Magnussen, Colapinto, Ocon, Zhou, Lawson and Bottas rounding out the drivers still running in the race.

Hulkenberg overtook Tsunoda for eight at Turn 14, crucial for the Constructors Championship fight.

Leclerc overtook Verstappen for fourth place on lap 47, with Norris ten seconds behind him in sixth.

Hamilton cuts the corner and drops to six seconds behind Russell, as he complains his tyres have gone.

With Verstappen just three seconds away from becoming a four-time world champion, Norris pits for fastest lap moving onto soft tyres.

George Russell wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton making it a Mercedes 1-2. Carlos Sainz finishes in third and Lando Norris takes the point for the fastest lap.

Max Verstappen wins his fourth Drivers Championship in row with Red Bull!

Race Results

1) George Russell
2) Lewis Hamilton +7.313
3) Carlos Sainz +11.906
4) Charles Leclerc +14.283
5) Max Verstappen +16.582
6) Lando Norris +43.385
7) Oscar Piastri +51.365
8) Nico Hulkenberg +59.808
9) Yuki Tsunoda +62.808
10) Sergio Perez +63.114
11) Fernando Alonso +69.195
12) Kevin Magnussen +69.803
13) Zhou Guanyu +74.085
14) Franco Colapinto +75.172
15) Lance Stroll +84.102
16) Liam Lawson +91.005
17) Esteban Ocon + 1 Lap
18) Valtteri Bottas
DNF - Alex Albon
DNF - Pierre Gasly

Mercedes’ George Russell wins his third race of his career, he said: “It’s going to be a good party, I was planning on flying in a couple of hours but I’m definitely not getting on that flight. I’m going to enjoy this evening with all my team.

“It’s been a dream of a weekend I don’t know how we’ve been so quick but I’m just riding this wave right now.”

On driving at night in Las Vegas: “Vegas is just crazy place and when you’re driving and you see all of this in the background, I can’t describe this place and to get victory here, pole position and a dominant weekend, one-two with Lewis as well, we couldn’t have chosen a better place to make this happen.”

On the race itself: “I was just waiting for something to happen, the two races I’ve been on pole before it’s always been chaos, rain, dry, always something happening, last race in Brazil with the red flag there is always something happening. “I was feeling confident and I had a good gap but I was just waiting for something to happen and it didn’t, so I guess luck has turned and I’m so happy right now.”

Max Verstappen on winning his fourth consecutive world championship: "It’s been a long season, we start off amazing and we were cruising but then we had a tough run as a team but we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and I couldn’t be more proud of everyone what they have done for me.

"To stand here as a four-time world champion is something I never thought was possible. At the moment I’m feeling relieved but also very proud.”

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

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