This week was vital for the drivers championship, with Verstappen claiming his fourth world title, beating Lando Norris. Elsewhere, Mercedes’ drivers Russell and Hamilton had a strong weekend achieving a 1-2 for the team. Kaitlyn Mckinney reports.
Red Bull had one challenge going in to Las Vegas. They had to make sure Verstappen placed above McLaren’s Norris by the end of the race. This would ensure that the dutchman would get his fourth world championship.
There were worries going into the weekend as the RB20 lacked a lot of grip and was far from the fastest car. However, through use of pit stop strategies and the tyre degradation seemingly lower than its competitors – Verstappen managed to end the weekend with another championship under his belt – placing P5 with Norris in P6.
After the race, Verstappen stated to F1.com, “as a team, we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and we pulled off the win. Incredibly proud of everyone, what they have done for me… So at the moment I’m just feeling very relieved, in a way, but also proud.”
On the other hand, Mercedes has a strong weekend. After managing to get pole in Qualifying, George Russell kept his cool and defended against fast Ferraris and brought his Mercedes home to P1 – his fourth in his career.
Following closely behind, Lewis Hamilton battled his way up from P10 after a poor performance in qualifying. Once again, using pit stops to his advantage, Hamilton managed to undercut the Ferraris and just picked up speed from there. He joined Russell up at the front of the pack and brought Mercedes a good haul of points.
In 3rd and 4th were the Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc respectively. Whilst both cars had good pace, the cars suffered with high tyre degradation and the team were unprepared when the pit-wall made certain calls. When in a fight with the Mercedes of Hamilton, Sainz was told to pit. In the last minute, the Ferrari driver was told to stay out. The stewards took no notice to the late bail, but Sainz was frustrated. He had been asking to pit laps prior, and when he asked what happened, the Spaniard was told that the pit crew “were not ready”. Letting his annoyance show, Sainz replied ‘wake up guys!”.
Despite putting up a fight to stay in contention for the championship, unfortunately McLaren’s Lando Norris failed to place above Verstappen. However, in a last bid for a point – the British driver went for the fastest lap point, finishing the race in sixth place.
Just behind Norris was his teammate, Oscar Piastri. After being picked up by the stewards for a false start, the Aussie driver received a 5 second penalty – hindering any progression in the race.
Gaining some crucial points for his team, Haas’ Nico Hülkenburg placed P8 after managing to pass constructors rival, Yuki Tsunoda in the RB.
Rounding out the points positions was the other Red Bull Driver, Sergio Pérez. After failing to make it past Q1 the day before, the Mexican played hard and fast to gain positions. He made some impressive overtakes on Magnussen and Lawson.
Following the Red Bull was the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, and the Kick Sauber of Zhou Guanyu.
After suffering a high speed crash in qualifying, Williams’ Franco Colapinto finished his first time round in Las Vegas in P14. There was doubt over whether he would be able to compete in the main race, but was cleared by the medics in the morning. Due to the damage sustained to his car, the Argentinian had to start from the pit lane.
In P15 was the other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll. This was followed by RB’s Liam Lawson and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Finally, the last qualified driver to finish was Valtteri Bottas in the Kick Sauber.
Las Vegas saw two drivers DNF. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has started strong, managing to place P3 for the main race, following on his success from the race prior. The frenchman had a strong start, managing to stay towards the front of the pack. However, disaster soon struck. Gasly started to complain about having no power, but his team couldn’t see anything in the data. All of a sudden, his car started smoking, having an issue with the engine. Luckily, it happened in a place on the track where the Alpine could drive into the pit lane, however Gaslys race was over.
The second DNF was the William’s of Alex Albon. He was running in P10, but was called back into the pits for suspected power unit issues, causing another disappointed for the team.
After the race, George Russell said to the media, “I’m sure where you’re going, it’s going to be a good party. So I was planning on flying in a couple of hours, but I’m definitely not getting on that flight. And I’m going to enjoy this evening with all my team. It’s been a dream of a weekend. I don’t know how we’ve been so quick, but I’m just riding this wave right now.“
With the Drivers championship decided, all eyes now turn to the Constructors championship. There’s only two more races to go, so teams are going to be as fierce as they can to pick up crucial points. Keep an eye on ENRG for all the news!
