Red Bull dominates roulette in Las Vegas. Ferrari’s one-stop bet didn’t work. Jubilee 1100. GP was won by Verstappen

The Las Vegas Grand Prix was accompanied by minor and major controversies. Apart from the flop in the first two practice sessions, there have been long voices of dissatisfaction with the exaggerated show that inherently belongs to Vegas. But the fears that the race itself would not match the surrounding show were not realized. The Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc put on an incredible show for the fans in the grandstands, battling for the podium positions until the last lap.

Verstappen had the better start from the front row, who was already on the brakes by the first corner to the inside of Leclerc. The Dutchman made his manoeuvre reminiscent of the 2021 Brazilian GP and dropped his monocoque into the corner, forcing not only the Ferrari driver off the track, but himself as well. The penalty for Verstappen came on lap eight.

The sports commissioners had their hands full after the first lap. The cold tyres of the Spaniard played a major role in the first corner. Alonso spun under braking and threw away his fantastic start. Sainz skidded from the inside of the corner to the outside, coming to rest on Hamilton’s rear tyre. But the contact only affected the Ferrari driver, who also found himself momentarily facing the opposite direction and dropped to last place.

As well as the spinning Spaniard, Bottas and Pérez also took damage from the opening lap. All four were therefore forced to make a quick trip to the mechanics to replace the front wing.

On lap four, Lando Norris lost control of his car in a slight corner on the Las Vegas strip. He hit the wall on the right side, lost a rear tire and slid all the way into the softened barriers in the escape lane in Turn 14.

Verstappen’s pace at the front lasted only 15 laps. Somewhat uncharacteristically, the Red Bull driver complained about tyre wear. Verstappen slowed down so much that Leclerc managed to close the two-second gap and even overtake him within two laps.

Plan of Red Bull not to give back track space for the incident on lap one, but rather to build a five-second lead that would nullify the penalty awarded, didn’t work. Verstappen also fell behind George Russell after the pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton’s race fell apart on lap 16. Piastri hit his rear tyre on the exit of Turn 14, the light contact enough to deflate Hamilton’s tyre. Unfortunately for him, he only noticed the puncture after crossing the finish straight, and so slowly circled the entire lap before reaching the coveted pit-stop.

10 laps later, the second Mercedes was involved in a crash. On the approach to the Las Vegas strip, he tried to close down the charging Verstappen on the inside. A lot of debris flew off both cars, requiring the safety car to go out onto the track to clear it.

The safety car was on call for Sergio Perez. On fresh tyres, he suddenly found himself in second place and attacking for the win. He and Leclerc had a nice duel for the top spot for a few laps until the pair were approached by Max Verstappen, who didn’t have long to fight with both drivers and took back the race lead.

Leclerc threw away his last hopes of victory with eight laps to go. He punctured his tyres at Turn 12, dropping Pérez to second place. He didn’t get back ahead of the Mexican until the last lap.

A perfect race for Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll. The drivers who are lagging behind their teammates in the Drivers’ Cup are taking more points from the weekend this time. Ocon finished the race fourth, Stroll fifth.

After starting from 12th place, Sainz also managed to fight his way through the field, taking home 8 points from Las Vegas for 6th place. Behind him were the Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell. Although Russell crossed the line fourth, a five-second penalty for a crash with Verstappen relegated him to eighth.

Two points for ninth place went to Fernando Alonso. Piastri scored the same number of points, one for 10th place and one for fastest lap of the race.

Source: F1TV, Twitter