VIVA LAS VEGAS – F1 RACE RECAP

A drama filled weekend suited to the aptly named Sin City saw Max Verstappen emerge victorious, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and fellow Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez, in a race marred by several incidents and Safety Car periods.

Thursday

A race weekend filled with expectations of grandeur hit a rocky start on Thursday evening when damage to Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine caused as a result of a dislodged drain cover meant FP1 was abandoned after only 8 minutes of running. FP2 as a result was delayed by 2 and a half hours due to track inspections to other drain coverings to ensure the problem wouldn’t occur again, although this time practice ran without an audience in the grandstands, giving viewers at home a glance back to when Formula 1 raced without spectators during the Covid Pandemic.

Information was scarcely handed to out to spectators at the track about when FP2 would start, with many heading home at the late hour disappointed, however some remained in the grandstands hopeful to see cars at the pinnacle of motorsport head out on track again, only to be met with security and Las Vegas police escorting them away from the track due to logistical problems of keeping the track open to ticket holders. What seems to really show a lack of sympathy from race organisers to fans affected by the closed doors to FP2 is that the only form of a refund option was a $200 gift card to the official F1 shop, which hardly seems like a genuine effort to remedy fans losses when tickets averaged $1,500 and the cheapest for one day of racing being around $250.

Friday

Charles Leclerc completed a clean sweep of Qualifying on Friday night, finishing P1 in all 3 qualifying sessions, to start Saturday night’s Grand Prix race on pole position. However, other big names failed to reach Q3, including Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perex, while both McLaren’s after having some strong performances the past couple of race weekends, failed to make it out of Q1.

In Q1, a last-minute improvement from Lance Stroll knocked out Lando Norris in 16th, ahead of fellow fallers Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu, Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

Stroll however, faced a post-qualifying investigation for possibly failing to slow under yellow flags brought out to cover Tsunoda’s Turn 5 incident in Q1, with the Canadian already set to drop five places for the race overtaking under yellows in FP3.

In Q2, late improvements for Albon and Gasly ultimately knocked out Hamilton and also eliminated Perez – the second Red Bull having been wheeled back into its garage with over two minutes of the session remaining. Also knocked out in Q2 were Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll and Daniel Ricciardo.

In Q3 Leclerc eventually found enough tyre temperature to complete a 1m32.726s. Sainz’s approach also paid off as he went faster and maintained the second place he had taken on the first Q3 attempts, but it was purely a race to get as high on the grid as possible as he was set to start lower than he qualified as a result of his controversial 10 place grid penalty for taking a new battery following his FP1 drain cover strike.

Behind Verstappen, efforts coming in during Q3’s dying seconds put Pierre Gasly fifth and Williams pair Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant into sixth and seventh – Gasly and Albon unable to dislodge George Russell from fourth after he had completed his final Q3 run just ahead of them. Valtteri Bottas took eighth ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Fernando Alonso.

Saturday Race Night

Promptly following lights out, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took the lead from Leclerc but was promptly handed a five-second time penalty for forcing his rival off the track and then got overtaken by the pole-sitter before serving it at the first round of pit stops.

Leclerc went longer into the race before changing tyres in an opening stint dominated by graining concerns, only for a Safety Car shortly afterwards to allow Verstappen and several other drivers to pit again under yellow flag conditions.

At the race restart, Leclerc initially controlled proceedings from Perez, who had benefited from an early stop after an incident on the first lap, though ageing tyres meant he came under severe pressure.

Verstappen ultimately finished ahead of both his team mate and the leading Ferrari for a landmark win in the City of Lights, while Perez had followed him through to form a one-two, only to be re-passed by a determined Leclerc on the final lap.

Esteban Ocon completed a remarkable drive from P16 to finish in fourth place for himself and Alpine, despite being narrowly beaten by Mercedes’ George Russell to the line. However, Russell had been carrying a five-second time penalty for a clash with Verstappen.

Russell’s penalty also meant the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll finished in fifth, while Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton – who clashed at Turn 1 – also benefited to take sixth and seventh position.

After the first lap clash at Turn 1 between Hamilton and Sainz which brought out a virtual safety car so debris could be cleared, a full safety car period would immediately follow as a result of a major crash from Lando Norris, who lost control of his through Turn 11 and came to stop after a heavy collision with the barrier. This crash saw the Briton taken to the tracks Medical Centre and later on to the University Hospital for precautionary checks, before he was cleared and released, later on in the evening.