Luke’s Weekend Review – Las Vegas GP 2024

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Las Vegas GP 2024: Russell Dominates as Verstappen Secures 4th Title

Las Vegas GP 2024 3

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but Round 22 has been quite the thrill of a race that we have to write about it. The race has been quite action packed from start to finish, strategic calls and great on track battles.

Franco Colapinto has been given the green light that he will be able to take part of the race after last night’s crash in Q2, however he will be starting from the pits as he had some setup changes during the rebuild of his Williams.

At the start for the formation lap we see that most drivers go for the medium tyres with some going long with the hards, this was all but Fernando Alonso who gambled for an early safety car and went for a set of softs. After the formation lap, we see all 19 drivers line up on the grid ready to go racing with Colapinto in the pitlane. At lights out we see George Russell get a very good star and immediately covers any threats from behind, Charles Leclerc from 4th had a very good start as well as we see him leapfrog to 2nd as he gest on the inside of both his teammate Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly.

In the opening lap we see Kevin Magnussen and Liam Lawson also driving side by side in the windy section as Lawson was overtaking Magnussen, this was quite impressive from both drivers as the walls are pretty darn close and both of them were able to get through without a scratch. We get news that Oscar Piastri was noted for a potential false start and after a replay we see that Piastri was slightly outside the grid box, however this was quite marginal, but it still landed Piastri a 5 second penalty which I feel was a bit harsh, but I guess rules are rules.

At the front we see Charles Leclerc really closing on Russell on Lap 4 as he is right on his gearbox and we do see Leclerc go for a move but Russell seen it coming and covers him off, Leclerc stayed on the back of Russell for a few laps and on Lap 7 we see Leclerc fall back a bit which I thought he was backing off to recharge a bit but this was a bit more than that as it seems that Leclerc pushed his tyres a bit too hard trying to overtake Russell and on Lap 7 we see Sainz get past Leclerc to get into 2nd and on Lap 8, Max Verstappen also does so. Leclerc at this stage was really struggling and he was on the radio saying that he probably needs to come in, but the team asks him to stay out longer despite his tyres being a bit damaged due to Ferrari not being sure how long the hards will last, however on Lap 10 Leclerc is called into the pits to get rid of his mediums and get on the hards.

Looking slightly behind of the front 3 we had some other action going on as we see that Max Verstappen who started in 5th was also making early moves as on Lap 4 we see him get past Gasly to get into 4th and then on Lap 8 he was past Leclerc to get in the podium positions, behind Verstappen, Lando Norris was also trying to make moves and potentially finish ahead of Verstappen to keep the championship alive while also trying to get ahead of the Ferraris so that they don’t close on more on the constructors championship. On Lap 8 we see Norris get past Gasly to get into 5th and back behind Verstappen where he started the race.

On Lap 10 Norris with Leclerc also came into the pits and the pair came out in 17th and 16th respectively. On Lap 11 we see Sainz visit the pits after we see Verstappen overtake him and so does Piastri, Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda as now the mediums were on their last legs for most of the drivers. On Lap 12 we look back at Lewis Hamilton who at this stage of the race is in 3rd place after starting in 10th, this was due to some overtakes  but mainly because everyone ahead had pitted and he was yet to pit, another one who pit ahead of Hamilton was Verstappen who came in on Lap 12 from 2nd and comes out in 7th but immediately goes past Valtteri Bottas and gets into 6th, the one good thing is that he was ahead of both Ferraris as Red Bull did a stellar job in the pits.

When Gasly and Tsunoda were coming back out form the pitstops, we see them very close to each other and we see Tsunoda so focused to not hitting Gasly that he ended up hitting the speed limit sign on the way out. At the front Russell was having a stress free race so far and on Lap 13 we see him come into the pits from the lead and comes back out in 2nd while his teammate takes the lead, however a lap later Hamilton also gets called in and comes back out in 9th from the lead. Hamilton questions this as to how they lost so many places, but Bono quickly told him that if they stayed out a few more laps they would have lost another 5 places.

Under the Lights: Mercedes Triumphs, Verstappen’s 4th Championship Crowned

On Lap 16 we see some heartbreak for Pierre Gasly as he comes on the radio reporting lack of power, the team immediately reported that everything looks good and they must have just hit the limiter, however not long after we see smoke coming from his car and had to come into the pits and retire. Ahead we see Sergio Perez running in 2nd at this stage of the race as he started on the hards but on Lap 18 he started moving backwards as he dropped all the way to 7th as his teammate, both Ferraris, Hamilton and Norris overtake him and he pits on the same lap and comes out in 14th.

On Lap 18 we see Hamilton on the back of Leclerc and he is now really pushing Leclerc and the Mercedes is looking mighty quick but Leclerc was able to hold him behind as we also hear Hamilton coming on the radio on Lap 23 saying how quick they are on the straight, alluding to the Ferraris.

Heartbreak continues on Lap 23 as we see Alex Albon get a radio message saying to come in to retire the car as he had suspected Power Unit issues. Oscar Piastri pits on the same lap from 8th who then comes out in 15th for his second set of hards. On Lap 27 we see Sainz drop off a bit and gets into the clutches of Leclerc and Hamilton and was asking the team to box, the team kept him out a bit and on Lap 28, Ferrari ask Sainz to swap positions with Leclerc and managed to do so without losing a place to Hamilton as well.

On Lap 28, Verstappen comes into the pits, Sainz and Hamilton come in to pit too but Sainz bails out last second and crosses the white line to get back on track, Hamilton was straight on the team radio to report him as that should be illegal and Sainz comes in to pit a lap later, after asking what happens the team said that they weren’t ready and he asked them to wake up. Hamilton after the pits we see that Hamilton’s race is coming alive as he started getting closer to Verstappen on lap 31 putting in fastest lap after fastest lap and on Lap 32, he does manage to clear Verstappen and moves into 3rd, but it is net 2nd as Leclerc is yet to pit.

Leclerc does pit on Lap 32 and from 2nd he comes out in 4th as Sainz overtakes him as soon as he comes out, so he drops to 5th. Norris also pitted on Lap 31 from 3rd and comes out in 7th. On Lap 33 we also Russell comes in as well from the lead and comes back out in 1st as he had a 32 second gap behind him which gave him a free stop. On Lap 38, we see Perez, Lawson and Magnussen go 3 wide into the corner as Perez makes 2 overtakes but all 3 managed to get through without crashing with each other.

On Lap 39 we see both Ferraris to start catching Verstappen and Max comes on the radio asking if he should try to keep them behind to which GP answers that he should. On Lap 42 however we see Sainz get past Verstappen but we don’t see him get away from Verstappen as he kept him in DRS which meant it was harder for Leclerc to get past Verstappen, Leclerc does manage to get past Verstappen but this wasn’t until Lap 47 which didn’t leave Leclerc enough time to get to Sainz.

In the final 6 laps Hamilton was really closing in on Russell and was only 5 seconds behind which considering Hamilton started in 10th this was a great effort which makes you wonder what he could have done if he qualified well, it would have been a completely different story for him. On Lap 49 we see Norris nip into the pits for a fresh set of softs to get the fastest lap to help with the constructors championship against Ferrari.

In the end we see George Russell taking the chequered flag after a faultless race from him followed by Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez form the Top 10. Lando Norris did manage to take the fastest lap on the last lap and Lewis Hamilton took driver of the day for his superb drive. Max Verstappen also clinched the World Drivers Championship given that he finished ahead of Lando Norris which made him the 2nd driver in history to win his first 4 consecutive championships alongside Sebastian Vettel who also done it at Red Bull.

Who do you think was the biggest winners and the biggest losers of the Las Vegas GP? Max Verstappen got his 4th Championship, Hamilton managed to get a great recovery drive up to 2nd giving Mercedes the 1-2, and Russell drove a brilliant race from start to finish. We now head to Qatar for the Qatar GP next week.

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