Mercedes’ George Russell triumphed in an overtake-filled Las Vegas GP, claiming his second win of the season. Max Verstappen’s 5th place was enough to crown him a four-time Formula 1 World Champion.
Verstappen’s only title challenger Lando Norris finished a race in 6th place eliminating him from any formal title aspirations.
A successful weekend for the Mercedes was crowned with a 1-2 finish with Hamilton’s fantastic recovery drive from 10th to 2nd.
A rollercoaster of a race for Carlos Sainz amid multiple battles with Leclerc through Las Vegas GP concluded with 3rd for the Spanish driver.
The first stint was action-packed, with numerous overtakes and significant position changes, as Hamilton and Verstappen emerged as the biggest gainers.
Russell comfortably defended the lead after the first corner of the Las Vegas GP ahead of the biggest start winner, Charles Leclerc, who gained 2 positions after overtaking Gasly and Sainz on the first lap.
Initial laps saw an exciting tussle between Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and RB’s Liam Lawson who were even heading side by side into multiple corners without any damage.
On-track battles started to heat up starting with Lap 5, Verstappen finally dispatched Alpine’s Gasly for 4th while Leclerc managed to catch Russell in a fight for the lead.
The British driver successfully defended into turn 1 and then let the Monegasque driver back into Carlos Sainz’s clutches.
After Leclerc’s unsuccessful charge, Russell pulled a 2-second lead over him. Leclerc was then overtaken by his teammate, dropping to 3rd place.
Critically, for his championship aspirations, Max Verstappen overtook both Leclerc and Sainz in the span of just two laps. Meanwhile, Norris claimed Gasly’s 5th place, keeping his title hopes alive.
Leclerc was then instructed to pit for a one-stop strategy. At the same time, the cooling conditions suited Hamilton’s W15 perfectly, enabling him to leapfrog a couple of cars ahead during the pit stops.
The leaderboard was completely reshuffled as several medium-tire runners, including Verstappen and Norris, pitted for hard tires.
Meanwhile, the Mercedes cars, leading the race, were among the last to finalize their one and only stop, capitalizing on their extended stint strategy.
The hero of the qualifying session Pierre Gasly was unfortunate to suffer an engine failure on lap 15 ending any possibility of another points-grabbing weekend for the French team.
After an action-packed first stint, the race settled as Russell maintained a commanding 10-second lead over Verstappen and Sainz. Further back, Hamilton chased Leclerc for 4th, with championship contender Norris in 6th.
Halfway into the race, Alexander Albon is the 2nd retiree of the race as his team confirmed a ‘terminal issue’ to the car.
Oscar Piastri was the first one to ‘pull the trigger’ of a two-stop strategy and was quickly followed by Verstappen and Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz had less luck with the same strategy as Hamilton and Verstappen. He was instructed to ‘swap positions’ with teammate Charles Leclerc and later pitted, losing several positions in the process.
Mercedes’ dominance throughout the racing weekend concluded at lap 32 when Hamilton overtook Verstappen for a provisional 2nd place as the Brackley-based team finally got into 1-2 position. It is worth noting that Hamilton started a race in 10th place.
George Russell was the last driver to switch on new hard tires setting a comfortably 12-seconds lead for the last 15 laps.
The final 9 laps of the race focused on a ‘triple-threat battle’ between Verstappen and Ferrari drivers. Verstappen was unable to fend off Sainz who bravely overtook a new/old F1 champion into Turn 14.
A couple of laps later, Leclerc overtook Verstappen in the same spot for 4th.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton set a spree of fastest laps which helped reduce the gap to just 5 seconds shy of the race leader George Russell, however, Russell’s stunning race craft did not let Hamilton come any closer in the final laps of the race.