Welcome to this live, if you are up early, you too, this Sunday morning to follow the Gand Prix in Las Vegas. George Russell starts on the front row this Sunday, but Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly are in ambush. Let’s remember the stakes of this race: Max Verstappen has a good chance of being crowned world champion in Las Vegas. He starts for his part in fifth position.
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Most of the cars are on medium tyres, while temperatures are cool this weekend in the “capital of sin”. Only Bottas and Perez are on hard, like Colapinto, who starts from the pit lane. Note the strange bet of Alonso, who opted for the soft ones. We will soon know if he made the right decision…
George Russell sets off as soon as the lights go out, followed by the rest of the peloton. Charles Leclerc made a very good start, immediately overtaking Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz to find himself in second place. The Monegasque is hungry for victory this Sunday. Lando Norris also has his teeth and is already attempting an attack on this first lap, sixth behind Max Verstappen. He seems to want to prevent the Dutchman from leaving Las Vegas with the title as much as possible…
(Far) behind, Sergio Perez takes the advantage over Alex Albon to try to make up for the painful delay caused by a poor qualifying session. Meanwhile, we pass the first lap, which means that DRS is now authorized. Ahead, George Russell tries to widen the gap at all costs.
Charles Leclerc storms for 1st place at the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Max Verstappen attacks Gasly on lap 4… and overtakes him without incident, thus taking 4th place. Meanwhile, it’s another spectacle that Leclerc offers us, trying to take first place from Russell with audacity, from the outside. For the moment, the Briton remains in place. But Sainz is closing in behind. At the same time, we learned that a false start was noted by the commissioners for Oscar Piastri.
We are entitled to a replay of the start and we realize that there was tension between Magnussen and Lawson from the first moments of this Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The race took a bad turn for Leclerc on lap 8 when Sainz and Verstappen passed him. He finds himself relegated to 4th place, just ahead of Norris. The Monegasque fell 9 seconds behind George Russell… He pitted at the end of the 9th lap, at the same time as the Briton from McLaren.
Oscar Piastri receives a 5-second penalty for false start.
At the back, Lewis Hamilton gained a few places. Starting 10th, he found himself 4th with all these good people passing through the pits and with a few overtakes. Sainz also goes through the pits even though he no longer has any grip.
We arrive at lap 14 and George Russell is still in the lead in Las Vegas. He is followed by Perez and Hülkenberg, a trio which may seem surprising, but the reason is simple: they have not yet stopped in the pits. Behind, Verstappen seeks to be crowned at all costs, followed by Sainz and Leclerc. The Spaniard seems to have more pace than his teammate.
Pierre Gasly’s abandonment in Las Vegas
At the back, Gasly gets angry on the radio, affected by a loss of power on the 15th lap. The Frenchman fell to 15th place in the ranking and had to retire.A bitter disappointment for the one who started in 3rd place this Sunday…
We are slowly reaching the halfway point of this race, and Russell is still in the lead. Note the great comeback of Yuki Tsunoda, 7th, sandwiched between the two McLarens. Lewis Hamilton gets closer to Charles Leclerc. He tries to attack on turn 25, well placed. The Monegasque is also very close to his teammate, in front. There is also a fight with Sergio Perez, who passes Liam Lawson without much trouble. The Mexican is therefore 13th at this halfway point.
Bad news for Alex Albon, who also has to give updue to a turbo problem on his Williams. Meanwhile, Piastri pits and leaves with the tough guys. Sainz also wants to change tires, he says on the radio. But it was Verstappen who was called to the pits, just as Hamilton set the fastest lap. The Spaniard seems to have decided to return to the pits… but cuts the line at the last moment to stay on the track. Dramatic twist: Sainz asks his team for explanations… who tells him that they were not ready to change his tires! It remains to be seen whether Ferrari will be punished for this great failure…
Lewis Hamilton won against Verstappen on lap 32, on the strength of the good pace this weekend from the Mercedes. At the same time, Charles Leclerc passes into the pits and comes out just in front of his teammate, 4th, but the Spaniard quickly overtakes him. Verstappen is reminded on the radio to “don’t lose sight of your objective for the day”. Namely ensuring the drivers’ world title. For the moment, it is guaranteed to be crowned this Sunday.
Lewis Hamilton particularly fast in Las Vegas
At the rear, Franco Colapinto took the lead over Bottas’ Sauber. Remember that the Argentine driver had to undergo in-depth medical analyzes after his monstrous 50G crash in qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton continues to string together the best laps, now in 2nd place behind his teammate, on lap 35. Will Mercedes succeed in winning the double in Las Vegas? The seven-time world champion Briton could even gain the advantage over Russell… In any case, he comes back at him badly.
On lap 42, Carlos Sainz overtook Verstappen to (virtually) get on the podium. Note that these good performances put Ferrari at the advantage in the championship, to the detriment of McLaren, a little behind this weekend. Meanwhile, Hamilton continues to knock down the best times. He is a little more than 5 seconds behind his teammate, everything is still possible in Las Vegas.
Leclerc, for his part, is having difficulty with the rear axle of his car. But he managed to pass Verstappen on the 47th lap, taking 4th place, while we were getting closer to the end of this Las Vegas Grand Prix. It seems a little short for Hamilton to take victory. The fault of a poor qualification on Saturday…
At McLaren, we are looking to collect the point for the best lap by changing Norris’s tires, three laps from the end. It remains to be seen if he will manage to win it from the seven-time world champion.
It’s the last lap and Max Verstappen already has his fist raised, and he has every reason to do so: the Dutchman is crowned world champion for the fourth time! George Russell wins this Sunday, followed by Lewis Hamilton, a nice double for Mercedes. Carlos Sainz took third place on the podium while Lando Norris managed to take the point for the best lap.
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