LAS VEGAS GP – George Russell takes a dominant Mercedes one-two, as Max Verstappen clinches fourth championship
George Russell finished a dominant weekend for Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix by seven seconds. Russell at the start held off the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and then Hamilton after the Mercedes charged from tenth to finish behind his teammate.
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen finished fifth twenty-six seconds ahead of championship rival Lando Norris, thus securing his fourth championship. Mercedes have looked strong all weekend as Russell sailed off Hamilton used the pace of the car to fight through the top ten to finish second four and a half seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz. Demonstrating the pace of the Mercedes Hamilton’s long first stint brought him into sixth before passing Verstappen, the Ferrari’s and Norris.
The seven-time champion eventually got past Verstappen and attempted to close the gap after both Ferrari’s began to struggle on the tyre. Despite the progress early on, Hamilton was lacking the straight-line speed to pass his teammate.
This had initially flummoxed Hamilton who, having looked at the alternate-strategy midfielders around him on the circuit, initially believed he’d lost a handful of positions – but he became aware of his surroundings and soon put a move on Norris to start ladling the pressure on the Ferraris. Sainz gifted him second thanks to the undercut given to Hamilton.
This pathed the way for Hamilton to pass Verstappen for second before the Dutchman yielded positions to both Ferrari’s given his championship was secure, though Norris did collect the fastest lap of the race with a late stop for soft tyres, having maintained a big enough gap over team-mate Oscar Piastri to make the stop without losing position.
The race leader did not put a foot wrong across the 50 laps and claimed his second win of the year and Mercedes’ first since July’s Belgian GP, when his teammate inherited the victory after he was disqualified on technical grounds. Sainz was third as he finished two seconds ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc.
Mercedes’ 2024 car has proved wildly inconsistent all season yet, when placed in the narrow operating window in which it thrives, it can be particularly impressive. Las Vegas proved one of those rare and, from the team’s perspective, mystifying weekends from the start where the order was ripped up.
The two Ferrari’s were locked in a battle for most of the race, Leclerc at the start past the Alpine of Pierre Gasly and Leclerc before tyre wear began to bite allowing both the Mercedes to pull away. But at the second restart, Sainz held of Leclerc and they both worked together during the closing ten laps to pass Verstappen.
Leclerc’s early pace along with Norris, forced them into early pit stops and released Verstappen into what became a race-long battle between the three drivers.
Russell 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.”
Hamilton who finished second, “Firstly congrats to Max wining the champ, still with several races to go. If I’d done my job yesterday it would have been a breeze today. But it’s okay, I had fun coming from tenth and the team did a fantastic job. We don’t know why we were quick this weekend but that’s the best the car has ever felt. So I’m grateful to be a part of getting to that point.”
Sainz said “It was a bit of a shock, I was expecting to be strong on the medium tyres but I think it lasted eight, nine laps on me and then from there onwards it was a damage limitation race. I was not comfortable with the car, not strong today, I was a bit quicker and go for the win but we simply didn’t have it in ourselves today.”
Verstappen sealed the championship by at least three points with two rounds to go, it was an uneventful night for the now four-time champion as he kept himself ahead of Norris. It was a performance he needed in order to secure the title at the first chance he had, and he did so with the calmness and aplomb with which he has driven for the vast majority of the year.
Norris was twenty-seven seconds behind Verstappen as he beat his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by almost eight and a half seconds. But they were effectively powerless to try and stop the Red Bull driver from claiming the championship as they struggled with graining on the tyres, with Piastri finishing three seconds ahead of Nico Hulkenberg.
Verstappen said his fourth championship in a row: “It feels great, of course I mean it’s been a very long season. Many races, many good races but also many tough races. It was all about optimising, trying, sometimes, to limit the damage. But at the end of the day, just very proud of what we have achieved.”
Norris told Sky Sports, “didn’t even expect to be in the title fight. I was happy with how calm I was and how focused I was, there’s definitely more pressure and more eyes, nerves and demands on me making sure I go out and don’t mess qualifying up or make a mistake in the race, stay in the race, don’t get taken out.”
McLaren’s lead over Ferrari has been reduced to twenty-four points with two race weekends to go in the Middle East, meaning if they outscore Ferrari by ten points in Qatar they will secure the constructors.
Yuki Tsunoda was ninth the RB driver holding of Sergio Perez finishing three-tenths behind the sister car completing the top ten. Perez driving from fifteenth to finish six seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso. Kevin Magnussen used a one stop strategy to finish twelfth ahead of Guanyu Zhou.
Franco Colapinto’s crash in qualifying saw the Argentine start from the pit lane to finish fourteenth ahead of Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas completing the field.
Pierre Gasly was the first retirement with a suspected engine failure, leaving the Frenchman unable to convert the strong qualifying into points. Alex Albon became the second retirement from the race for Williams due to technical gremlins of his own.
Related
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