2023 Las Vegas GP | 7 talking points | GRR
After the broken drain cover, Ferrari’s understandable fury and angry fans ejected from their seats on a troubled opening night, the Las Vegas Grand Prix lived up to its considerable hype by delivering one of the best Formula 1 races of the season. Max Verstappen overcame a penalty and a collision to win for an 18th time in 2023, but the triple world champion had his work cut out after a thrilling three-way fight with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Pérez. Finally, and surely with some relief for all involved, F1’s big gamble on Sin City came up trumps.
1. Grumpy Verstappen all smiles at the end in Vegas
Monaco is the “Champions League”, Las Vegas is the “National League” grizzled an unimpressed Verstappen after qualifying, as the Vegas razzamatazz tested his patience beyond breaking point. But his mood had lightened after the chequered flag, and for good reason, as the Dutchman equalled Sebastian Vettel’s career tally with his 53rd victory.
Verstappen had rightly picked up a five-second penalty for running Leclerc’s Ferrari off the track at a gripless first corner. Rather than give up the lead, Red Bull ordered Verstappen to race on and take the punishment – the penalty proving not much of one at all. But Verstappen didn’t drive off into the distance. Contrary to the usual pattern, pole position winner Leclerc tracked and passed the Red Bull for the lead on lap 16, following the first of two safety car interventions during the chilly Saturday night race. Verstappen immediately pitted for hard-compound Pirellis, dropping as low as 11th.
During his subsequent rise up the order, George Russell turned in on him at Turn 14, damaging the Red Bull and scattering debris across the circuit. This triggered the second safety car – and sealed Leclerc’s fate. The Ferrari didn’t pit, but both Red Bulls came in for fresh hards and that left Leclerc on the backfoot for the closing stages. Verstappen still had work to do and was fifth when racing resumed, but he was lucky that the damage he had incurred from the Russell clash didn’t affect him too much. He worked his way up to his team-mate and the leader, passed both on consecutive laps and secured a fine victory.
2. Leclerc passes Pérez on final lap
“You both stopped?” Leclerc asked the Red Bull pair during their Rolls-Royce ride to the Bellagio Hotel for the post-race interviews. When they answered in the affirmative, Leclerc’s face said it all. The timing of that second safety car was desperately unlucky. He’d stayed out to keep a grip on track position, but with painful hindsight it had been the wrong call.
Nevertheless, Leclerc enjoyed the three-way fight with the Red Bulls on a Saturday night during which Ferrari proved as competitive as it had done on the streets of Singapore a couple of months ago. On lap 35 Leclerc passed Pérez for the lead, but Verstappen was looming and led by lap 37. Leclerc then outbraked himself to lose second place to Pérez. But for once, that wasn’t the end of it. The Ferrari came again and on the last lap Leclerc pulled a peach of a move into Turn 14 – the favourite overtaking spot on a street track where drivers can actually race – and snatched a superb and deserved runner-up spot. A win had been on, so second place twinged, but as he said afterwards he’d given his all and only just came up short through a dose of typical bad luck.
3. First-corner melee and safety cars jumble the order
Behind the top three, trouble at Turn 1 and the safety car interruptions shuffled the rest of the pack in an entertaining race that was impossible to predict. Esteban Ocon pitted only once to rise from 16th on the grid to an excellent fourth – after an early skirmish with Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly – and Lance Stroll also put in a great performance for Aston Martin, two-stopping from a lowly 19th to fifth. Just what the Canadian needed.
4. Sainz rallies after Vegas frustration
Carlos Sainz had every reason to feel hard done by after incurring a 10-place grid penalty for new parts in the wake of his practice woe caused by that loose drain cover. It really didn’t seem fair that he should be punished and it ruined his weekend. Still, the Spaniard climbed from 12th on the grid to finish sixth – and crucially finished ahead of both Mercedes in the tight battle for second in the constructors’ table.
5. Hamilton out of luck, Russell’s folly
This was another tough race for the black cars after their troubles in Brazil. Lewis Hamilton only started 10th and dropped to 14th after the first-corner kerfuffle. Later while working his way through the midfield he was unlucky to pick up a puncture after contact with Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and frankly did well to end up seventh. Hamilton was gifted a place by his team-mate Russell, who finished fourth on the road but dropped to eighth because of his five-second penalty for causing the collision with Verstappen.
The result means Ferrari is just four points behind Mercedes ahead of the big F1 finale this coming weekend in Abu Dhabi. Millions are at stake.
6. Alonso drops his Aston at Turn 1
He’s had a fantastic season, but even the great Fernando Alonso makes mistakes sometimes. The dive on the inside line at Turn 1 looked on, but on a slick surface that drivers compared to racing on a wet track, the Aston Martin pirouetted without any help from anyone around him. Suddenly Valtteri Bottas found himself face to face with Alonso and could do nothing about a double-impact bump that ruined the Alfa Romeo driver’s night. Alonso dug deep and recovered, with the help of those safety cars, to score in ninth place.
7. Norris sent to hospital after crash
Oscar Piastri beat Gasly to salvage a point in 10th for McLaren on a tough night for the orange cars. The Australian had been left as the team’s only hope on the Vegas Strip after Lando Norris suffered a heavy crash on the third lap, straight after a brief Virtual Safety Car in the wake of the Turn 1 mess.
Norris only started 15th after both McLarens failed to progress beyond Q1 in qualifying and was running 13th in the race when he lost the McLaren on the way to Turn 12, possibly bottoming out on a bump on cold tyres after the VSC. He glanced off the wall and skated down an escape road into a safety barrier. It was a nasty incident and Norris was sent to hospital for precautionary checks but was soon released.
Piastri’s single point leaves McLaren 11 ahead of Aston Martin in their battle for third in the teams’ standings. It will take a big swing in Abu Dhabi for the green cars to overturn that deficit, but it’s far from an impossible task. Might there still be a twist or two in this season, despite Verstappen and Red Bull’s domination?
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images