A Mercedes one-two and a fourth crown for Verstappen

The fourth Formula 1 race to be held in Las Vegas ended in triumph for Mercedes who secured a one-two finish courtesy of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. It also saw Max Verstappen crowned Drivers’ World Champion for a fourth consecutive time, after finishing fifth today. Having finished sixth, Lando Norris can no longer catch the Dutchman, with two rounds remaining.

This was Russell’s third win from 126 Grand Prix starts, his second of the season after the first in Spielberg. Mercedes topped every session this weekend on the way to their 60^th one-two finish, the last one dating back to Brazil two years ago, again with Russell winning from Hamilton.

With four titles, Verstappen now joins, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost in fourth place on the all-time championship winners list, which is headed by Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher on seven titles apiece, followed by Juan-Manuel Fangio on five. Strangely, this is the second time Max has won the title on a Saturday, having won it last year after the Sprint race in Lusail. It is Red Bull’s eighth Drivers’ title, all under the leadership of Christian Horner, in charge since its maiden season in 2005. The team is fourth in this particular category behind Ferrari (15), McLaren (12) and Mercedes (9).

THE DAY ON TRACK   

Temperatures were slightly higher for the race, both ambient and track, compared to the previous days at 18/17 °C. On the grid, the vast majority of drivers opted to start on the Medium. There were four who chose otherwise: Alonso on Softs, Perez, Bottas and Colapinto, the latter starting from pit lane, on Hards. Almost all drivers made two stops, preferring to get the most out of the tyres, especially the two sets of Hards they had kept for the race, rather than trying to manage them, especially in the first stint.

As is so often the case, the laurels for the longest stints went to three specialists in this discipline, Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon both completing 33 laps on the Hard, while Valtteri Bottas did 18 with the Medium.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT   

“First of all, congratulations to Max Verstappen on his fourth world title, an incredible achievement for a youngster who has only recently turned 27. Well done too to Red Bull, as this is the eighth time one of their drivers has been crowned champion. After the start of this season seemed to be following the same pattern as last year’s, Max had a tough time of it, but fought hard race after race, even though he did not have the most competitive package, proving to be an extraordinary champion.

“Congratulations must also go to Formula 1 for having put on an amazing event here in Las Vegas, full of sights and sounds and above all, a great show on track which definitely proved popular with the crowd of over 300,000 spectators who came to the track over the weekend and the millions watching on television and on-line.

“As for tyre performance, it was not a particularly clear cut Grand Prix, starting with the strategy choices. Prior to the race, the one-stop was clearly the quickest option but in the end, almost all the drivers pitted twice, if we leave out Norris who made an additional stop to go for the point for setting the fastest race lap and Ocon, who preferred not to take any risks at the end. From an initial analysis of the data, this was due mainly to the fact that several drivers chose to push hard right from the start without giving too much thought to tyre management. As a consequence, some of them therefore suffered more than expected with graining and were forced to make their first pit stop earlier than planned, which triggered a chain reaction which bit by bit pushed everyone towards a two-stop, especially as they knew they could count on two sets of Hard tyres, which was without a doubt the most competitive compound for the race.

“On average, the level of performance degradation was relatively low on both the Medium and the Hard, and so too was wear. Clearly some drivers suffered with degradation more than others, especially on the C4, but a one-stop was still doable if the tyres were managed carefully. The result was an action-packed Grand Prix with plenty of overtaking and wheel-to-wheel battles which was great for all the fans of this wonderful sport.”

COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES

Formula 1 now heads to the Middle East for the final rush of the season. Next weekend it’s time for the Qatar Grand Prix, at the Lusail circuit, followed a week later by the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina track. All five compounds will come into play over these two final Grands Prix: Qatar will feature the three hardest compounds in the range – C1, C2 and C3, while the C3, C4 and C5 will be on duty in the United Arab Emirates. Both events also feature the last two rounds of the FIA Formula 2 and F1 Academy championships.