The Las Vegas grand prix is a new-ish edition to the Formula 1 calendar, having made its debut only three years ago. It didn’t start in the way promoters and F1 would have wanted. But amidst the gaudy neon lights and spectacular firework shows, it seems to be finding its way.
Whatever you might make of the tacky sequins and overblown pomp, it’s still a race with 25 points on the table. Drivers had to contend with a raft of challenges, making them earn their money. The fact that the Vegas Gp is a night race does not help track conditions and temperatures hover on the low end of the scale, making tyre warm-up especially difficult. Still, it could’ve been worse, and it was as rain came down before and during Saturday qualifying. Instead of the normal slippery conditions, one would expect, the Vegas track surpassed this, resembling more of an ice rink than anything else. The treacherous conditions put an end to several drivers’ challenges, not least of all Lewis Hamilton, who, for the first time in his career, qualified dead last on pure pace. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc fared slightly better, qualifying ninth despite a weird engine shutdown in the middle of the Q3 session. There were no such wobbles for Lando Norris, who clinched an impressive pole position ahead of Max Verstappen and Williams’ Carlos Sainz.
Of late, Norris’s starts from pole had gone well. He’d won from P1 in both the last two races in Brazil and Mexico. A dry track, too, would’ve inspired optimism. The McLaren seemed to get a good start, but running wide into turn one allowed the ever-present Verstappen to sweep into the lead of the race. It got worse for Norris as George Russell also passed the McLaren for P2. From there, it was fairly evident that Verstappen had the race under control with Norris in P2 and Russell in P3. Late in the race, with around 4 laps to go, a mysterious gremlin reared its head in Norris’s car, and the McLaren driver lost more than fifteen seconds to race leader Verstappen. A few more laps and he likely would’ve lost the place to Russell as well. This wasn’t by any means the end of the drama for Norris, though, as after the race, both McLarens were found with too much wear on the skid block. It meant that both Norris and Piastri, who were provisionally classified in fourth, were disqualified from the final results. It was later reported that Norris’s skid block was 0.18 mm below the legal limit, which is just above the thickness of a human hair. Regardless, rules are rules, and McLaren will have to take this one on the chin.
The post-race exclusion of the McLarens moves Kimi Antonelli onto the podium, and deservedly so. The Italian driver copped a five-second penalty for a minor jump start but recovered beautifully to run a final stint of 48 laps on one set of tyres. He held off not only Piastri but the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc as well. The final classification listed Leclerc in fourth, with Carlos Sainz rounding out the top five. The Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar was
sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, seventh, and Lewis Hamilton in eighth. It was a double points scoring day for Haas with Esteban Ocon in ninth and Ollie Bearman in tenth.
Verstappen’s win and the disqualification of the McLarens mean that he is still in mathematical contention to win the title. With 366 points, Verstappen is now level on points with Piastri, something that would have been impossible a handful of races ago. Norris remains at the top of the standings with 390 points ahead of the Qatar grand prix this weekend.
