24 November 2024
Formula 1 is back after a three break1! This is the third Grand Prix in the United States and the second year of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Last year, it seemed that the race was going to be a colossal failure but it exceeded all expectations. We’re going into this year’s race with the Driver’s Championship potentially getting locked up. Despite that, I can’t get too excited. It’s a night race in Las Vegas where the temperatures are going to be cold. There’s no chance I’d be able to stay awake to watch it, so it puts a real damper on my schedule as I need to watch the replay immediately after waking up. I also missed the Free Practice sessions, so I’m coming into this recap feeling a little underprepared.
Let’s get going because Qualifying and the race had a lot of action.
The story coming out of the Free Practice was the resurgence of the Mercedes. Both Hamilton and Russell were flying. The other story is that the Red Bulls were struggling with a rear wing that doesn’t bode well for this type of track. Apparently, people were saying they incorrectly shipped the wrong wing but Christian Horner did clarify to say that there is no “right” wing sitting in their shop in England. With the cost cap, they had to make choices on their priority. I get that and it’s great to understand.
The name of the game with each Qualifying session was track evolution. Things were going considerably faster so if the driver’s could get a clean lap at the end of the session, they set themselves up for a good opportunity. The Mercedes continued putting in purple sector after purple sector. At the end of Q1 we lose Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Valterri Bottas, and Lance Stroll. I’d like to say I’m shocked that Checo is out again in Q1, but I just don’t understand why Red Bull stuck with him when they are ruthless with their driver lineup. I was happy for Zhou to get out of Q1. With the news that he lost his seat in 2025, I like when he can get any positive fibes.
Q2 starts and Mercedes again are looking really good. I enjoyed the exchange with Seth Rogan and the commentators. Normally, I don’t care to see images of Jared Leto but it was funny when Seth Rogan got embarassed by having the camera on him. Zhou was looking good, but he didn’t have enough to get to Q3. Right at the end of the session, more bad news for the Williams team as Franco Colapinto clips the wall and crashes. It was later reported that he sustained a 50g impact. Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu, Franco Colapinto, and Liam Lawson are knocked out.
Q3 had a few interesting things happen. George had clean laps and easily took P1. I don’t know what happened with Lewis, but he made some mistakes and couldn’t get a clean lap in and qualified P10. There’s no doubt in my mind if he had clean laps he’s either P1 or P2. Carlos Sainz takes P2. Pierre Gasly has a monster lap and takes a surprising P3. Charles Leclerc takes P4. Max Verstappen edges Lando Norris by taking P5 to P6. All Max has to do is finish ahead of Lando Norris and the Driver’s Championship is his. Tsunoda takes P7. Oscar Piastri in a surprising P8 as the McLaren are not looking like their summer resurgence. Nico Hulkenberg in the Haas takes P9.
The starting grid looks like this for the Las Vegas Grand Prix:
Another early morning as I avoid Mastodon, Lemmy, and the news so I can watch the recap. Let’s get into it:
Here’s how everything finished:
Max has won his fourth consecutive Driver’s Championship. The Constructor’s Championship battle is still tight. McLaren has 608 points in first. Ferrari is at 584 points - only 24 points behind McLaren. Red Bull is in third with 555. At this point, with two races left there is no chance for Red Bull. It’s going to come to the last race for McLaren v. Ferrari and that is exciting.
We’ll be back next week when the race is at a reasonable time for those of us in the United States as the teams battle in Qatar. It’s the final sprint race of the year.
