Las Vegas GP: Russell wins from Hamilton, Verstappen seals title
Mercedes pulled off an impressive one-two success in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with George Russell taking victory from pole position ahead of team mate Lewis Hamilton recovering from P10.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz took the remaining podium position with Charles Leclerc fourth. However fifth place was still more than enough for Red Bull's Max Verstappen to clinch the 2024 world championship.
Lando Norris was only sixth ahead of McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri, with the final points going to Nico Hulkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez. Saturday star Pierre Gasly was forced to retire his Alpine on lap 15.
It was time for a little less conversation and a lot more action as the cars headed to the grid in Vegas. George Russell was on pole ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, Alpine's Pierre Gasly a surprise third ahead of Charles Leclerc. But all eyes were on the third row where Max Verstappen lined up next to McLaren's Lando Norris for a race that could decide the 2024 season in the Red Bull driver's favour.
It was milder but gustier as the cars lined up on the grid, Franco Colapinto at the back in the rebuilt Williams after his big accident in qualifying. When the starting lights went out, Russell got a great start and leapt away in the lead while Leclerc took two places to grab second ahead of Sainz and Gasly. Verstappen and Norris fought over fifth but the Red Bull got the better exit out of turn 2.
Leclerc was able to stay within DRS range of Russell, who was being hampered by a plastic bag stuck to the front of the Mercedes. Further back, Verstappen made easy work of picking off Gasly down the straight for fourth. There was also the first pit stop of the evening, with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso in to drop his soft tyres after being one of the few not to start on mediums.
Verstappen was on the march: Ferrari swapped their cars but that just gave him an early opportunity on lap 9 to pass Leclerc who was struggling with heavy graining. Norris had finally found his way past Gasly but was losing ground to the Red Bull. Sainz was also struggling to keep up with Russell as pit stops started on lap 10 with Leclerc and Norris back out in P16 and P17 respectively.
After being picked off by Verstappen, Sainz was in on the next lap to switch to the hard tyre. The Red Bull following suit on lap 12 only to come out behind the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas , costing him time. Russell was in for hard tyres on lap 13, promoting team mate Lewis Hamilton into the lead for a brief spell. Russell came back out in second ahead of the yet-to-stop Kevin Magnussen in the Haas.
When Hamilton pitted on lap 14 it was Russell back in charge ahead of Sergio Perez at the front, who had started on hard tyres from 16th. Verstappen soon shot past his team mate, leaving Perez attempting to hold off Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris. However, Gasly was missing from the line-up after reporting no power on the Alpine which was leaking smoke out of the rear, forcing him to retire on lap 15.
Russell now held a nine second lead at the front and Verstappen had two seconds in hand over Sainz, but there were set-backs elsewhere. RB's Yuki Tsunoda had run over the pit speed limit sign on pit entry, while Lance Stroll suffered a slow stop with Aston Martin seemingly not ready for him. Esteban Ocon managed to miss his pit box and had to come in a second time, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri fell to tenth after serving a penalty for being out of position on the grid.
By contrast Hamilton was flying, pulling away from Norris and bearing down on Leclerc for fourth after Perez finally pitted on lap 17 meaning everyone had pitted once. Now Alonso and Piastri were in a second time on lap 26 - so much for predictions of this being a one-stopper. They weren't alone: soon other cars were taking to pit lane. One driver who didn't come back out again was Alex Albon, because of a suspected power unit issue on the Williams
Sainz was forced to abort his entry onto pit lane when Ferrari told him they weren't ready for him. Hamilton had been close behind and was caught out. When it was all resolved, Sainz found himself in sixth on a second set of hard tyres behind Hamilton.
Verstappen now found himself under pressure from Hamilton for P2 and decided that discretion was the better part of valour, allowing the Mercedes to fly past into P2. Russell pitted for a second time on lap 33 but still managed to hold on to the lead. Once the top ten had all made a second stop the order was Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz and Leclerc, then a drop back to Norris and Piastri, with Tsunoda, Ocon and Hulkenberg taking the final points positions. Ocon was soon passed by Hulkenberg and Alonso, dropping him out of the top ten ahead of a dramatic three-wide fight between Perez, Magnussen and Liam Lawson on lap 38.
Verstappen once again took a laid back approach when Sainz passed him for third with eight laps to go.Leclerc made the same pass on lap 47. None of that mattered to Verstappen: with Norris ten seconds behind, he still had the 2024 world championship within his grasp by the time they reached the chequered flag even when the Briton made a late pit stop to secure the fastest lap bonus point.
Russell had managed his tyre wear to perfection to claim victory as Hamilton's charge ran out of steam in the final laps. They were followed by Sainz and Leclerc and then Verstappen and Norris. Piastri overcame his early penalty to pick up seventh ahead of Hulkenberg and Tsunoda, with Perez battling his way into the points in tenth. Just missing out were Alonso, Magnussen and Colapinto.
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