George Russell will take the lead in the streets of Las Vegas this Sunday (Saturday in the United States). The Mercedes driver will be ahead of Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly! The Frenchman returns to the top 3 on the grid for the first time since 2021, and confirms Alpine's good performance on this urban track. Just behind, Max Verstappen will start from fifth place, the Dutchman has once again worked miracles at the wheel of his RB20, completely in trouble at the start of the weekend.
Further back on the grid, we find the McLarens of Lando Norris, sixth, and Oscar Piastri, eighth. The two papaya orange drivers were unable to extract the potential of their car on a flying lap, which seemed very difficult to maneuver according to Norris.
Lewis Hamilton was also one of the qualifying losers. Dominant in EL1 and EL2, two fatal errors relegated him to tenth place on the grid. Sergio Pérez for his part was unable to go further than Q1 and will start from 16th place. Valtteri Bottas will inherit last position after receiving an engine penalty. Franco Colapinto, finally allowed to take part in the race after his big accident in qualifying, will start from the pit lane.
Conditions are cold at the start of the evening in Nevada although warmer than in recent days, temperatures are around 18°C in the air. The wind picked up and brought a lot of dust to the track.
Most of the drivers chose medium tires to start the race, with the exception of Pérez, Bottas and Colapinto, on hard tires and Fernando Alonso on soft tires. The behavior of the tires and the degree of degradation thereof still remain partly unknown and will be one of the major factors to observe in this Grand Prix.
Russell keeps the lead and flies away
VIDEO – The start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix
The lights go out and the cars speed off. Russell got off to a good start and kept his first place. Starting fourth, Charles Leclerc has already gained two positions and now finds himself second. Behind, Kevin Magnussen and Liam Lawson are fighting for thirteenth place. Verstappen is in Gasly's exhausts and puts a lot of pressure on the Frenchman. Nico Hülkenberg takes the advantage over Piastri in front of him and takes eighth position.
Russell tries to create a gap with Leclerc, but the Monegasque remains less than a second behind the Mercedes driver, he is the fastest on the track currently. Sainz is already slightly behind, more than a second behind the two leaders. On the fourth lap, Verstappen overtook Gasly without much difficulty. At the same time, Leclerc takes big risks and tries the outside on Russell, the Briton defends well and maintains his first position.
Oscar Piastri is noted for a potential false start. Leclerc is relegated to more than two seconds behind the leader, his attack a few laps earlier seems to have cost him dearly and it is his teammate who is now threatening. The Spaniard finally took second place on the eighth lap.
Hamilton, now ninth, overtakes Piastri to gain eighth place. After Sainz, it is Verstappen who takes the advantage over Leclerc, the Monegasque no longer has any rhythm. He returned to the pits only on the ninth lap. Just behind, Lando Norris passes Pierre Gasly. The McLaren driver, followed by Alexander Albon and Lance Stroll, goes to put on new tires, the graining seems to be really important.
By the 11th lap, Russell was already eight seconds ahead of Verstappen, who took the lead over Sainz. Piastri receives five seconds of penalties for a false start. When he went to the pits, he took the opportunity to serve his sanction. The two Mercedes are in the first two positions, while Russell pits and comes out just behind his teammate.
Big disappointment for Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly, Alpine A524
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
After this first round of pit stops, the top 10 consists of Hamilton, Russell, Hülkenberg, Pérez, Verstappen, Magnussen, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris and Bottas. At the same time, Mercedes called Hamilton to the pits, the seven-time world champion emerged in a distant ninth place. Hülkenberg enters the pit lane, Pérez and Verstappen provisionally take the podium.
On the 16th lap, Gasly complained of a loss of power, the Frenchman unfortunately had to retire. Pérez is passed successively by Sainz, Hamilton then Norris, the Mexican still had not stopped and finally puts on mediums. He drops to 14th position.
In the lead, Russell is more than nine seconds behind Verstappen, himself more than two seconds ahead of Sainz. Most of the drivers came out on hard tires, only Pérez, Colapinto and Bottas are on mediums at the back of the grid. After a few laps full of overtaking, the top 10 consists of Russell, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, Tsunoda, Piastri, Hülkenberg and Albon.
Hamilton puts a lot of pressure on Leclerc, but the Monegasque resists the seven-time world champion, thanks to the good top speed of his SF-24. The McLarens, sixth and eighth, are not in the running. Norris complains about his right front tire, he is currently more than six seconds behind Hamilton.
On lap 26, Williams announced on the radio that Albon had retired due to a possible engine problem. While there are still 24 laps to complete in this Grand Prix, Piastri once again enters the pit lane, he still emerges on hard tires in 15th place. Sainz begs Ferrari to stop him, his tires are completely destroyed. While he seemed to want to return to the pits, followed by Hamilton, Sainz crossed the white line and ultimately remained on the track. While the Spaniard demands accountability from his team, Ferrari admits that its mechanics were not ready to welcome the car.
A Mercedes double looming
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo from: Mercedes AMG
Meanwhile, Verstappen also pitted, emerging in fourth place just behind Norris. The Briton in turn changes tires and returns to the track in seventh place. Then it's the turn of Leclerc and Russell to put on a new set of whitewall tires, the Mercedes driver keeps his first place, the Monegasque settles just behind his teammate in fifth place.
On lap 35, both Mercedes were in the lead with Russell leading. Hamilton, still the fastest in the race, is on a very fast pace, he rushes towards his teammate. The gap between the two drivers is nine seconds. The Ferraris regain some color and exchange the best lap in the race. The two red cars are getting closer and closer to Max Verstappen, third.
Followed very closely by his teammate, Sainz now has DRS on the Red Bull driver. The Spaniard finally overtakes the Dutchman at turn 14. There are only seven laps left in this Grand Prix and there are only five seconds left between Russell and Hamilton. Leclerc is still unable to pass Verstappen, while the reigning champion has just lost the DRS advantage, won by Sainz.
The Monegasque finally manages to take the advantage over Verstappen, in the same place as his teammate. With two laps to go, Norris returned to the pits to put on soft tires in an attempt to regain the point for the fastest lap in the race, which he finally managed to snatch from Hamilton.
At the checkered flag, it was ultimately George Russell who won the Las Vegas Grand Prix, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz. With his fifth position, Max Verstappen is crowned 2024 Formula 1 world champion, his fourth consecutive title.
Las Vegas Grand Prix – Race
