Las Vegas has an electrifying atmosphere, and the celebrities hit the track as the drivers dive into the colourful city.
A few teams unveiled special Las Vegas liveries, with Racing Bull adding bright colours and Williams adopting a darker livery to offset the neon hues.
Las Vegas Grand Prix: We welcome the rain
It’s a wet and wild qualifying, cars slipping all over the place and the spray covering the driver’s vision. There might be some big opportunities for all the teams as many cars pit to put on full wet tyres.
Many yellow flags are appearing in Q1, as all cars are unable to stay on the racing line, nearly every vehicle is on edge, trying to keep on the track and get in some fast times.
The final minute to go, and Bearman goes into the barrier with a light touch; he manages to reverse and get back in one piece.
However, Albon, on his final flying lap, slips into the wall with a snap of oversteer, but he manages to go into the pit lane so the other drivers can finish their final lap.
A shocking performance for Hamilton, as he can’t get his tyres to work and aborts his final lap, leaving him last for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Huge disappointment for Ferrari
Red Bull will not be happy with Tsunoda’s 19th, Bortoleto’s 18th, and a rookie end to Antonelli’s 17th. Albon managed to hold onto 16th position even with his car being damaged.
Haas is desperately trying to fix Bearman’s car so he can continue to Q2. There’s a slight delay to the start while they fix the barrier damage, but we will start soon.
There are still yellow flags littered in Q2; it’s stopped raining, but the track is still wet, and big sprays are coming off the cars. Bearman has managed to get out into Q2 and is trying his best.
The Alpines and the Haas drivers are in danger with only 1 minute to go, and Colapinto nearly plummets into the wall but manages to avoid it swiftly.
Unfortunately, it is the end for both Haas drivers and Colapinto. Gasly manages to make it through, knocking out Hulkenberg and Stroll.
A superb start to Q3 for Sainz as he glides into the provisional top spot. There seems to be much more grip on the track now that the rain has passed and the water on it has lessened.
Norris Takes Pole in Vegas Thriller
Sainz and Verstappen are on fantastic flying laps, but Norris is not far behind, setting lots of purple sectors.
Lando Norris secures pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix! Verstappen into 2nd and a surprise 3rd place for Sainz in the Williams.
Russell finished 4th, while Piastri finished 5th. He was slowed down by a late yellow flag in Q3.
The Racing Bulls had a good qualifying with Lawson in 6th and Hadjar in 8th, with Alonso splitting the teammates.
An unfortunate qualifying for Ferrari as Leclerc could only manage 9th, his car had no grip and was slipping all over the track. Gasly snatches the final spot in the top 10.
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It’s Las Vegas, Baby!
The Las Vegas strip is lit up, and we have all the drivers lining up, desperate to become the winner of this track.
The 5 lights go out, and Norris is quick off the line with a very aggressive move to cover Verstappen, but on the first corner he goes wide.
As he does, Verstappen swoops ahead into 1st place, and Russel has managed to beat Sainz on the start, and he’s now fighting Norris down the track.
Russel manages to push ahead of Norris into 2nd place, and Norris slots in behind him.
There’s another collision lower down in the pack as Bortoleto dive bombed Stroll, desperate to get ahead, but ended up going into him, and it ended with a retirement from cars – such a shame.
Hamilton took advantage of this and managed to get past several cars that were caught up around this collision, and he’s up into 12th.
Piastri lost a couple of places on the start after banging into Lawson, which resulted in Lawson having to pit as his front wing took damage, and he’s now last.
We had a brief virtual safety car to remove debris from the track. A few cars near the bottom dived into the pits to change tyres.
Las Vegas Grand Prix: Strategy, Overtakes, and Setbacks
Antonelli started on a soft tyre and quickly changed to a hard tyre; it might work out well for Antonelli.
Russel is fighting hard to keep up with Verstappen as he soars away.
On lap 13, Leclerc pulls off a beautiful overtake on Piastri, who complains that his front tyres are starting to degrade. A lap later, Leclerc manages to lunge and overtake Hadjar, so he’s up into 5th.
Albon tries to overtake Hamilton, but as he pulls out to overtake Hamilton, his front wing gets caught, so he has to come into the pit and get a new wing.
Antonelli receives a 5-second penalty for a jump start. He slightly crept forward; such a shame from the young rookie.
We have another brief virtual safety car so the marshals can remove Albon’s wing plate, but it doesn’t leave enough time for pit stops as it’s only 1 lap long.
Piastri manages to overtake Hadjar after the safety car ended, and then a series of vehicles begin their first pit stops as Russell and Bearman pit.
Albon receives a 5-second penalty for his collision with Hamilton; unfortunately, he’s already running last.
Mid-Race Battles and Strategic Pit Stops
Hamilton swiftly overtook Ocon and is now up into 9th place, a great race for him so far. We have a tough fight between Leclerc and Sainz, the Ferrari vs the Ex-Ferrari.
A series of pit stops again at lap 23 as Piastri pits, Norris pits and Sainz pits.
A few laps later, Verstappen pits, and he comes out a second ahead of Russel, who’s all over the back of him and setting fast laps.
Bearman, Alonso and Hamilton are all fighting together after pitting, trying to get the 10th place and the final point up for grabs.
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We’re over halfway now, and it’s a 3-way fight in the top 3 spots with Norris, Russel and Verstappen still leading the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Norris is all over the back of Russel, his pace is unstoppable, and he quickly overtakes him, moving into 2nd place.
On lap 37, Albon retires his car, too much damage for him to continue after completing his penalty, so it doesn’t affect the next race.
Antonelli is defending hard against Piastri as he tries to overtake him, but he doesn’t make it. Leclerc is sniffing behind him, ready to pounce.
Las Vegas Grand Prix: Final Laps Drama and a Dominant Victory for Verstappen
10 laps to go, there’s 6 seconds between Norris and Verstappen, the fight is still on for the top spot.
Russel is struggling in 3rd position, slowly losing time, and is worried about holding on to 3rd place.
Piastri is trying to overtake Antonelli, but he’s still stuck behind him with only 3 laps to go. Antonelli still has a 5-second penalty, so he will most likely come out around 6th or 7th, but he has done a brilliant job.
Norris isn’t able to get close enough to Verstappen, as he has a fuel issue, so Verstappen is flying ahead with an 18-second gap between them.
Verstappen has won the Las Vegas Grand Prix, a brilliant, smooth drive from him after a fantastic start.
Norris finishes in 2nd, remains the championship leader, and Russell holds onto 3rd position, putting Mercedes on the podium.
Antonelli had a brilliant race, finishing 4th on track, completing 48 laps on the hard tyre, and in the last few laps he drove super quick, coming in 5th despite a 5-second penalty.
Piastri takes home a good amount of points in 4th, which still keeps him in the fight, and Leclerc takes 6th.
Sainz finished 7th, scoring valuable points, the only Williams driver left in the race.
Rookie Hadjar in 8th had a strong performance, holding off Hulkenberg and Hamilton, who snagged the final point up for grabs—a good effort from Hamilton, going from 19th up to 10th.
Final Notes: Near Misses, Retirements, and a Las Vegas Surprise
An honourable mention to Haas, who had both drivers so close to the top 10.
An unfortunate race for Albon, Stroll and Bortoleto, who all didn’t manage to finish the race. Hopefully, they’ll do better next week.
A humorous pink LEGO car driven by Terry Crews will take the 3 drivers to the podium, a feat that can only be done in Las Vegas.
A shocking twist as it comes out that Norris and Piastri have been disqualified; they haven’t kept within the regulations on the skid wear on their cars.
This isn’t very reassuring for McLaren, especially after both teammates showed some brilliant driving. Now, Verstappen and Piastri are on the same number of points, with Norris only 24 points ahead of them.
The first race of the triple header has been completed, two more races to go, and it’s tighter than ever in the driver championship.
We will see you next week in Qatar!
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A great review, a very exciting race. Looking forward to this weekend.
Brilliant amazing race. Shocked afterwards with disqualifications. Keep up the superb reviews.