Max Verstappen controlled after Lap 1 pass to win F1 Las Vegas GP ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell – both nursing issues.
It was dry to start the F1 Las Vegas GP under the floodlights, as McLaren’s Lando Norris aggressive move to retain the lead didn’t work out as he went wide into Turn 1 allowing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take the lead from the Brit, who dropped to third after move from Mercedes’ George Russell.
Russell picked up both Norris and Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who was fourth from Visa Cash App RB pair of Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson. They managed clear McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was seventh from Haas’ Oliver Bearman, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the Top 10.
Alonso got Leclerc at Turn 1 after a wide moment for the Monegasque, but he retook the place. Replays showed Lawson hitting Piastri to send him wide at Turn 1, which dropped the Australian to seventh. Further back, Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto on the inside hit Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
It caught Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who was spun around from 10th. The Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Stroll stopped on track, while Bortoleto pitted to retire. Some of the cars at the back decided to pit, as Lawson suffered damage from Lap 1 incident to drop back and pit to change the front wing.
He was cleared for the incident, while Bortoleto and Stroll’s incident was pushed to be investigated after the race. It was Verstappen in the lead from Russell and Norris, as Sainz maintained fourth from Hadjar, who had Piastri on his tail soon along with Leclerc, who passed Bearman early on.
The Haas driver led a train of covers with Alonso in ninth, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg 10th, Haas’ Esteban Ocon 11th, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton 12th and Williams’ Alexander Albon 13th. Behind them, Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was under investigation for a false start moment.
The Italian was handed 5s time penalty for that. In the top half, Piastri tried a move on Hadjar but locked-up which allowed Leclerc to get the Australian on the long straight. The Monegasque followed up with a pass on Hadjar to be fifth a lap later, leaving him under the clutches of the McLaren driver.
There was a moment between Hamilton and Albon which caused damaged to the Thai racer. The Brit tried a move on Ocon but locked-up which allowed the Williams driver through. The two made contact, which forced Albon into the pits with damage and need of front wing change.
The collision was put under investigation. At the front, Russell complained of the same steering issue as he found out in Q3 of F1 qualifying. He was the first front-runner to pit on Lap 18. A second round of Virtual Safety Car was deployed to clear the debris laid down by Albon on the straight.
He was handed 5s penalty for causing a collision, while reprimanded (driving) for starting procedure infringement. Hamilton, meanwhile, finally managed to clear Ocon for track position, as teammate Bearman lost track position to Alonso in the pit stop sequence.
Piastri pitted on Lap 22 as Leclerc caught the back of Sainz, but the Spaniard pitted on Lap 23 along with Norris. The Brit was still at the back of Russell after his stop, but Piastri managed to get a place on Sainz. Their fight against Leclerc, saw the Monegasque pit on Lap 25, and get ahead of Sainz.
The Ferrari driver lost to Piastri, though. Verstappen finally pitted on Lap 26 from the lead and maintained it against Russell and Norris in the Top 3. Just behind them, Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Antonelli and Ocon ran fourth till seventh without having stopped, ahead of Piastri, Leclerc and Sainz.
Post the pit stop, Hulkenberg kept track position over Hamilton, as both gained on Alonso, Bearman and Ocon in the pack. The Spaniard lost out eventually to both Bearman and Ocon in the fight for the final point. Haas invoked team orders seemingly after Ocon got ahead of Bearman.
The Brit came under pressure from Alonso. At the front, Norris caught Russell and passed him for second in the chase of Verstappen. The Mercedes driver resigned himself to save third against Piastri, who was behind Antonelli. The Italian stopped very early in the race and went long on one-stop.
Albon, meanwhile, served the penalty and retired. It was plain sailing for Verstappen at the front after Norris started to face issues in the car towards the end. The Dutchman took the F1 win in Las Vegas GP by 20.741s margin on the Brit, who picked more points on title rival Piastri.
The Australian finished fourth behind Russell, who secured the podium in third. Antonelli’s heroics earned him fifth from back of the grid as he was 0.190s ahead of Leclerc, who was sixth in the end. Sainz was seventh from Hadjar, Hulkenberg and Hamilton in the Top 10.
The Brit also came through to 10th ahead of Ocon, Bearman, Alonso outside the points. The Spaniard had Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda on his tail, with the Japanese finishing 14th from pitlane ahead of Gasly, Lawson and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, with Lawson and Colapinto finishing a lap down.
UPDATE: Bortoleto was handed 5-place grid drop for collision with Stroll and two penalty points. He was wholly blamed for the incident despite it being Lap 1 and Turn 1 situation. A 10s time penalty was converted to grid drop in Qatar. Here: https://x.com/fia/status/1992468440557232575?s=20
UPDATE 2: Both McLaren cars of Norris and Piastri has been summoned for skid wear where the measured thickness was less than 9mm than the minimum.
