US Edition
Max Verstappen gets penalty, hits George Russell and still wins Las Vegas GP
Forty-one years after it was laughed out of town, and at the end of another bruising weekend for the sport, one which has left it open to accusations of negligence and profiteering, Formula One finally put on a half-decent show in Las Vegas.
No prizes for guessing who won the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, and the first in the city since the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in 1982; Max Verstappen claiming his 18th victory in 21 races this season.
But the world champion had to do it the hard way, penalised for an opening lap incident with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, then fighting his way back from fifth after a couple of safety cars threw everyone’s strategies up in the air.
The Dutch driver, who has been so critical of this event all weekend, could not resist trolling Formula One, even in his moment of victory. “Viva Las Vegas! Viva Las Vegas!” the Dutchman sang over the radio.
Behind him, Leclerc and Sergio Perez – both of whom led the race at different points – fought an entertaining battle for second place which went all the way to the final lap, the Ferrari finally edging out the Red Bull thanks to DRS. Perez’s consolation was to tie up second place in the drivers’ championship, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the only man who could have beaten him, now too far back heading to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend. It is Red Bull’s first ever one-two in the drivers’ standings.
After all the controversy, the drama over the manhole cover and the fans who were thrown out before any meaningful action got underway on Thursday, the hope was for a decent race to change the narrative. And there was action from the very first corner, with Verstappen in P2 surging up the inside of pole-sitter Leclerc into Turn 1, but collecting a five-second penalty in the process.
Behind them, Fernando Alonso spun his Aston Martin, collecting Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton also had contact. They were all able to continue but McLaren’s Lando Norris was not so fortunate after a big crash on lap three, losing the rear and sliding along the barriers backwards at high speed and into the run-off area.
That heralded the first of two safety car periods, with Verstappen having to fight his way back from fifth spot, overtaking Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Leclerc and Perez to secure his victory.
Hamilton finished seventh but was unfortunate to pick up a puncture, without which he might have been on the podium, while Mercedes team-mate George Russell was eighth after being handed a five-second penalty of his own for causing a collision with Verstappen.
Hamilton was enthusiastic about the race. “For all those who said it was all about ‘show’, Vegas proved them wrong,” said the seven-time world champion.
That quip was aimed squarely at Verstappen, who had described the race as “99 per cent show, 1 per cent sporting event” after Wednesday’s opening ceremony.
After being ferried to the Bellagio in a limousine for the post-race interviews in front of the hotel’s famous fountains the world champion decided to play nice this time. “I think it created quite a good amount of racing here, so it was a lot of fun,” he said with a straight face when asked for his impressions of the track. “I hope everyone enjoyed it a bit. I’m already excited to come back here next year.”
Horner urges F1 to change Las Vegas GP timings: ‘Everyone is f-----‘
Formula One teams and drivers have urged the sport’s rulers to change the timings of the Las Vegas Grand Prix next year, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitting everyone in the paddock is now “f-----”.
A difficult week, which began in farce after fans were sent home at 2am on the opening night before the start of any meaningful track action, ended on a high with one of the most dramatic races of the season.
Horner admitted the race had lived up to the hype. “As a venue to go racing it has been fantastic,” he said. “It’s delivered on track, which is what it really needed to do.”
Red Bull’s team principal did, however, warn that the schedule needed to be changed, with second practice this week starting at 2.30am, qualifying at midnight and the race at 10pm, meaning F1 workers were effectively working through the night.
“It’s been brutal for the team, and all the men and women behind the scenes,” Horner said. “I think everybody’s leaving Vegas slightly f-----. We need to look at how we can improve that for the future. We’re running so late at night. Maybe run it a little earlier in the evening?”
The reason for the current schedule is to ensure the race is held under lights, but that it also works for a television audience in Europe. But Horner said that for once maybe F1’s heartland should not be prioritised.
“You’re never going to keep every television audience totally happy,” Horner argued. “This is an American race. If you ran at 8pm, or something like that, it would just be a bit more comfortable for the men and women working behind the scenes.”
Verstappen added that running Las Vegas race back-to-back with the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend – 12 timezones to the east – also needed looking at. “It’s such a big time shift, especially at the end of the season when everyone is already a bit tired,” he said. “I think it’s a little bit much.”
Verstappen suggested the three American races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas could be held as part of an “American tour”.
“I don’t know if that’s ideal for ticket sales,” he said. “But I think the 12-hour time zone shift and also completely different timings for the two races is... I find that a bit much. I have been living on a Japanese time zone almost.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who beat Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to second place after passing the Mexican on a dramatic final lap, said the complaints were not just F1 personnel being precious. There was a safety factor too.
“I can see the point [of the timings], obviously, with the audience in Europe,” he said. “But I felt like it was a bit on the limit. Also for the tyre temperatures, it was very, very tricky. So this is definitely one thing I would like to change for next year.”
Verstappen wins Vegas thriller: as it happened
The next race
The next race is the final race of the 2023 season. It is the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix which comes from the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates. That runs next week, from Friday November 24 until Sunday November 26. With track improvements made in recent years the race has been better than it once was. Can anyone else deny Red Bull a record-extending 21st grand prix win this season?
Christian Horner speaks to Sky Sports F1
“As a venue to go racing it has been fantastic,” he says. “It’s delivered on track which is what it’s really needed to do. The race today was fantastic,” he adds. I think the way that Vegas has embraced Formula One... is a great thing. Even Max has warmed up to the Vegas Grand Prix.”
Verstappen speaks after his 53rd Grand Prix win
“It was a tough one. I tried to go for it at the start... I think we both braked quite late and we ran out grip. I had to pass quite a few cars and then the safety car. I had to pass a few cars to get into the battle with then but you could clearly see that he DRS was quite powerful. It was definitely a lot of fun.”
He says the front wing damage didn’t really make much difference. It’s never ideal, there is always a bit of understeer in the car but luckily we could still win the race.
Charles Leclerc reacts to his second
“What a race, I am of course disappointed to only finish second but at the end it was all we could do. We were really strong overall, that was a really good race. We got a bit unlucky with the safety car, we didn’t pit because we didn’t know what the others would do. We went for track position. I really enjoyed it. I think we needed it... the weekend didn’t’ start the way it had to start but I am so happy it ended that way.”
A good race from him today. Was in contention for the win but just couldn’t quite manage it.
MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS THE 2023 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX
Deserved? Leclerc drove a superb race and probably was the driver of the day but was hampered by the SC. Nevertheless races on street circuits can be like this. And he did take a five-second penalty earlier on, too. Anyway, it’s 18 race wins for Verstappen but this was a brilliant race where Red Bull where challenged and perhaps their victory was even a little lucky. Not too many complaints.
“I wanted that win so bad. But honestly, what a race... just nothing left. Argh!” is what Leclerc says on the radio.
Lap 49 of 50 - Russell would drop down to ninth with his five-second penalty
Though that is not guaranteed. Will Leclerc get a go at Perez by the end of the lap? Or the race? Verstappen has been told, or rather it has been requested that he gives his team-mate in second a distant tow to help him in his defence against Leclerc.
Lap 46 of 50 - This has been a really good race
From lap one, in fact. The track is unusual and has very low grip in cold conditions which has made a difference. I am not sure the Red Bull was ultimately the fastest car here but they were fortunate with how the Safety Car panned out earlier on and that really took Leclerc out of the equation.
Lap 43 of 50 - Leclerc is unhappy
CL: “My tyres are f------ gone.”
Race engineer: “Understood. Overall, you are doing a good job, continue like this.”
CL: “I don’t care that I’m doing a good job.”
He’s about to become even more unhappy as he outbrakes himself, running wide and nearly clipping the wall and Sergio Perez gets second place as easy as you like.
Piastri pits from fourth, which he needed to do. Had forgotten about that necessary stop. He will now drop out of the points.
Lap 39 of 50 - Verstappen leads Leclerc by one second
Still quite tight up front with all three within or around DRS range of one another but you just feel that Verstappen is going to control the race now, though he has been told to work hard to break the tow of Leclerc behind.
That said, this is what happened early on in the race when Leclerc would not disappear from behind his rear wing and then took the lead. The difference then is that they had tyres of the same compound and age. Leclerc has hard tyres which are seven laps older...
Lap 35 of 50 - Leclerc has not let Perez get away
Verstappen is probably the man to beat here, though - he’s the fastest man on track currently and is nearly within DRS range of Leclerc. It’s a Ferrari sandwich with the Red Bull as the bread.
But Leclerc retakes the lead at the end of the lap! He went up the inside and was later on the brakes... was Perez asleep there?! I think so...
Lap 32 of 50 - Perez takes the lead!
It was only a matter of time really! He gets Leclerc at turn 14 with the aid of DRS. Decent move. Verstappen now has Gasly for fourth and is inching himself back into contention. Bad luck for Leclerc.
Who knows, though, that might not be the last SC period of the race.
Lap 30 of 50 - Will this be the lap Perez takes the lead?
He could really do with a win after a trying season. That SC came at a very good time for Perez and a very bad time for Leclerc. Has it cost him this race? Too early to say but it certainly hasn’t helped. Verstappen is all over the back of Gasly too as he tries to get the Alpine for fourth place and get himself back into contention for the race.
Lap 28 of 50 - Race restarts!
Confirmation that Russell gets a five-second penalty for that incident, which I think is fair.
Leclerc keeps the lead as Perez comes under pressure from the Alpine of Gasly behind him. But then Gasly comes under pressure from Piastri at turn five and the McLaren goes up the inside and takes third place! Great move. Bold and caught Gasly napping.
Leclerc has built a moderate lead already in the first sector or so but Perez then closes it down.
Verstappen, in fifth, has been noted for an unsafe release.
Lap 28 of 50 - Full order under SC
- LEC
- PER
- GAS
- PIA
- VER
- OCO
- STR
- ALB
- RUS
- SAI
- SAR
- ALO
- ZHO
- MAG
- RIC
- HUL
- HAM
- BOT
- TSU
OUT: NOR
The pack will be bunched up here. Perez has fresher tyres than Leclerc, albeit not by an absolutely enormous amount. No idea how this will pan out. The SC is coming in at the end of this lap and the incident between Russell and Verstappen has been noted. Leclerc also nearly loses it under the SC...
Lap 27 of 50 - Safety Car comes out
In comes Verstappen too. Does this throw the cat among the pigeons as it were? Probably. Perez went onto the hard tyres so will not be able to one-stop. He does have a set of soft tyres available, though. Ferrari decide not to pit Leclerc. Right, let’s see where this shakes out. I don’t think this is going to be good news for Ferrari, though, whatever...
Lap 26 of 50 - Actually, I think Russell takes most of the blame for that
Verstappen wasn’t exactly ahead but he was significant alongside and up the inside. I am not sure whether Russell didn’t see Verstappen and just turned in on him, not expecting him to be there.
The debris at turn 11 has meant a full Safety Car is called! That works out well for Perez, who gets a very cheap pit stop!
Lap 25 of 50 - Russell and Verstappen collide!
Verstappen sends it up the inside of Russell at turn 11 and they collide! Bits of the side of the Mercedes come off, I think, as well as the end plate to the Red Bull! More drama! Will that cost Verstappen much?
“Mate he just turns in on me... check my tyre, front wing!” Verstappen says. I think that was a bit foolhardy from Verstappen in all honesty. Need to see it again.
Lap 23 of 50 - Will it be two-stop for Verstappen?
And one for Leclerc? It looks like that could be the way. It is almost certainly going to be an attempted one-stop strategy for Perez, who leads Stroll by four seconds. Meanwhile, every single car on track is on hard tyres but Hamilton in 17th who is on mediums.
Lap 22 of 50 - Perez will inherit the lead
But how big will the gap be between the two men who started on the front row? Six seconds? Seven seconds? Leclerc pits and comes out in third behind Perez in the lead and Stroll, in second. Stroll has stopped but did it fairly early on, so isn’t really in sync with the leaders.
Verstappen trails Leclerc by about four seconds, albeit with Sainz, Russell and Alonso between them.
Lap 16 of 50 - Leclerc RIGHT on the back of Verstappen now
Surely this is only a matter of time.
“My tyres are going to get really f----, mate,” Verstappen says on the radio and he is pulled into the pit lane... but not before he loses the lead to Leclerc! Leclerc continues.
There was probably enough time for Ferrari to bring Leclerc in to respond to Verstappen. If Verstappen does set quick laps on his new tyres the five-second time penalty gives Ferrari a bit of a window to lessen the effects of the undercut.
Hamilton has a puncture after colliding with Piastri when overtaking and Piastri appears to have had an issue with the bottom of his car, sparks flying everywhere. He came into the pits on the last lap...
Lap 14 of 50 - Ocon gets Sargeant for sixth
Sargeant runs wide and surrenders that position. He has a gaggle of cars right behind him. I think a points finish might be a struggle for the American today. Albon perhaps has a bit more pace. Sargeant has now dropped back to eighth and that will soon be ninth once Lewis Hamilton gets him at the start of the next lap...
The pit window is opening...
Lap 13 of 50 - Leclerc holding his own in second
Sainz is told he needs to stop the car? “We need action to cool the car,” he is told initially. Ah, it’s otherwise they have to stop the car. Anyway, the Spaniard gets Ricciardo for 15th. The Haas cars, who ran in the top 10 earlier on, are now dropping back. Magnussen is in 10th and Hulkenberg in 13th.
Lap 6 of 50 - Safety Car in this lap
We will get racing again. Meanwhile, Leclerc has been told that the lap one, turn one incident is with the stewards.
Russell has said this is “like driving in the wet”.
Verstappen is told, the situation with Leclerc is with the stewards and that they will not reverse on positions and that it will be “left with him.” I can’t see him voluntarily handing it back, can you?
Lap 4 of 50 - It's a strange incident for Norris
He loses the rear end at the high-speed kink, crashing into the barriers at that point and then it just slides along the barriers at high speed and into the run-off area. A pretty scary crash but he’s ok.
Apparently he sounded “winded” on the radio. He had worked his way up the order a bit.
Anyway, here is the top 10 under the SC:
- VER
- LEC
- RUS
- GAS
- ALB
- SAR
- OCO
- MAG
- HUL
- TSU
Hamilton in 12th, Perez 16th, Sainz 17th, Alonso 18th.
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THE 2023 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX IS GO!
As we saw recently, it’s a much better start for Verstappen! He has the inside line and takes the lead at turn one but the Dutchman looks to run Leclerc wide and off the road! It almost presents an opportunity for Russell to take the lead but he doesn’t quite have the grip. Leclerc keeps second, too... did he run him wide or was it the lack of grip?
Hamilton and Alonso have made contact with each other? And Bottas is facing the wrong way after spinning...
A Virtual Safety Car is called at the end of the first lap... some debris at turn one. Alonso has damage. Sainz was possibly involved, too.
Tom Cary has just got off that very packed grid
Predictably rammed on the grid, but managed to grab a word with a senior Red Bull engineer who told me there’s some concern about George at the start due to Max now being on the dirty side of grid after Sainz’s grid drop. But thereafter it will all be about tyre deg Red Bull obviously been so strong in that area all year.
Spot the F1 car...
Anyway, we are nearly ready to go. Predictions? Leclerc has been on form all weekend but his last 11 poles have not resulted in a single victory. Ferrari have tended to have a good car over one lap but that has struggled over race distances. Will that be the same today? It’s a pretty strange race track, this one.
Lando Norris has described the track conditions as "pretty dreadful"
Says it’s the coldest it’s been all week but that the track should come to the cars throughout the race. Pretty dreadful day for McLaren yesterday as far as it goes, probably their worst since near the start of the season when they were regularly missing out on not just Q3 but Q2.
Current driver standings
Max Verstappen has had it sewn up for quite a while but a few of the lesser positions to fight for. Not Lewis Hamilton will be too bothered about finishing second ahead of Sergio Perez. It’s about two years since he last won a race. Will 2024 be any different for him? It’s been a pretty mediocre couple of seasons for his Mercedes team.
A superb qualifying session for Williams yesterday
Sixth and seventh in the session which becomes fifth and sixth on the grid after Carlos Sainz’s (unfair) penalty. They are currently seventh in the standings and, if they finish there, it would be their best result for several years. They have a resurgent AlphaTauri (who have scored 16 points in the last three rounds), so a decent haul of points today would be a great help to securing that.
Sergio Perez was out in Q2 yesterday
That is nine times that he has failed to make Q3, which is pretty poor. Okay, even Max Verstappen has struggled to take pole in the recent months but going by the championship results since Silverstone, it is not pretty reading for a man driving one of the most dominant cars of all time.
- Verstappen, 329pts
- Norris, 183pts
- Perez, 132pts
- Sainz, 124pts
- Hamilton, 124pts
- Leclerc, 116pts
- Russell, 91pts
- Alonso, 81pts
NEWS: Formula One hit with lawsuit on behalf of 35,000 furious fans over Las Vegas GP farce
A class action lawsuit has been filed against the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix as the fallout from Thursday night’s lost track action continues.
The suit, filed by Dimopoulos Law Firm and co-counsel JK Legal & Consulting in Nevada District Court on behalf of 35,000 fans, alleges breach of contract, negligence and deceptive trade practices.
Formula One came in for renewed criticism on Friday after refusing to apologise or issue refunds to disgruntled fans who witnessed just eight minutes of track action on a farcical opening day.
Times after qualifying
- Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari 1min 32.726secs
- Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari 1:32.770
- Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:33.104
- George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:33.112
- Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine 1:33.239
- Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams 1:33.323
- Logan Sargeant ((USA)) Williams 1:33.513
- Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:33.525
- Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 Team 1:33.537
- Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin 1:33.555
- Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP 1:33.837
- Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull 1:33.855
- Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 Team 1:33.979
- Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin 1:34.199
- Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:34.308
- Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren1:34.703
- Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine 1:34.834
- Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Alfa Romeo Racing 1:34.849
- Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren1:34.850
- Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) Scuderia AlphaTauri 1:36.447
Qualifying recap
Charles Leclerc was the man to beat in yesterday’s qualifying session (although it actually took place on the same day in Vegas), even if he failed to get in a satisfactory lap (according to him) on his final run in Q3.
He pipped his team-mate to pole, though Carlos Sainz will start down in 12th due to a 10-plae grid drop (more on that shortly). It was a strange spread of cars, with eight cars in the top 10. Neither McLaren made it out of Q1, whilst Williams had both of their cars in the top seven. Only one Mercedes and one Red Bull made it into the top 10.
Whether Ferrari’s prowess can continue over the course of a race we are yet to find out. That said, the only race they won this year has been another night race on a street track in Singapore, so that is something. It should be a bit easier for Verstappen - who starts second - to overtake here. Who knows, he may even get it done off the line and into turn one.
Good morning F1 fans
Welcome to our coverage for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. It is, technically, the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, though it is not the first grand prix in Las Vegas. In 1981 and 1982 there was the Caesars Palace Grand Prix which took place on a flat and uninspiring track that took over the car park for the famous Vegas hotel.
The signs and hopes were that Formula One had learned the lessons from that, investing huge money, resources and effort into what will be at least a decade of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, including a £327-million permanent pit building.
It did not go to plan earlier in the week, with the first practice session abandoned after just nine minutes and the second run to empty grandstands in the small hours of Friday morning. So much for the greatest show on earth.
Things have improved a little since then, though there are still questions over the organisers (F1, this time, rather than a separate promoter) and their treatment of the fans who were locked out of the 90-minute FP2 session. And questions over whether this is all worth it.
Those watching at home will probably find it difficult to differentiate from other street tracks which have races at night, like Singapore or in particular Jeddah. It’s only the wide shots where you get an actual feel of the track’s location. And the track itself? Okay, we haven’t raced on it yet but it has not been an instant hit with the drivers.
It has been refreshing to hear Max Verstappen speak his mind on the state of the “spectacle” in Nevada this weekend, and I am sure he speaks for many F1 fans across the world. Still, let’s give the race (if nothing else) a chance. Qualifying (a bit more on that in a moment) was certainly interesting, setting the race up (potentially nicely).
The race starts at 6am GMT so we’ve got just over an hour and a quarter until things are due to get under way.