At the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, George Russell converted his stunning pole lap from Saturday into a win under the lights, but the bigger story was reigning World Champion Max Verstappen finishing fifth ahead of championship rival Lando Norris and thus securing his fourth World Title.
Russell led home a Mercedes one-two, with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton also putting in a strong drive to finish on the podium ahead of Carlos Sainz, who saw off his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc for the final podium place. Verstappen finished fifth ahead of Norris, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hülkenberg, Yuki Tsunoda, and Sergio Pérez, in that order.
Verstappen has joined Sebastian Vettel as Red Bull’s most successful driver with his fourth consecutive World Title. He is now officially Formula One royalty, joining the likes of Vettel and Alain Prost as four-time champions, with only Michael Schumacher (7), Lewis Hamilton (7), and Juan Manuel Fangio (5) ahead of the Dutchman.
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As the lights went off, Russell was the one with the lead with Leclerc zooming to second place as he went past teammate Sainz and Pierre Gasly in the opening few corners. Verstappen held on to his fifth position with a secure start, keeping his championship rival firmly behind.
A couple of laps later, Verstappen picked off Gasly to extend the gap between himself and Norris as he went up to P4. Russell continued hanging on to the lead, with Leclerc making sure he didn’t get DRS.
Russell’s teammate Hamilton, having had a poor Qualifying, made it into the top ten by Lap 6 and kept moving ahead as he breezed past Hülkenberg with Piastri.
By Lap 10, the pit stops started rolling as Sainz was called in by Ferrari, after which a host of other teams followed suit. Verstappen came in two laps later, and a quick stop saw him come out in front of Sainz, Leclerc, and Norris in P2.
Russell managed to establish a 10-second gap to Verstappen by Lap 16 as Leclerc started feeling the pressure from Hamilton.
Sainz led the second round of pit stops as well as he came in on Lap 29 and re-joined in P6. Verstappen and Hamilton also came in soon, re-joining in P4 and P5, respectively.
Hamilton and Mercedes continued to fly on what was turning out to be a strong Sunday for the British outfit. The veteran Brit kept moving up the grid, while Russell was controlling a comfortable race up front.
There was little to no action towards the final quarter of the race barring the two Ferrari drivers overtaking Verstappen, with Sainz moving into the final podium place ahead of his teammate.
Hamilton continued putting in one fastest lap after another and had brought Russell’s lead down to under five seconds with five laps to go, but the 26-year-old managed to hold on to the lead to seal his second career win.
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While Russell’s win at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix should have been the highlight of the evening, it was Verstappen’s P5 finish that grabbed all the headlines as he wrote his name into the F1 history books with his fourth consecutive title.
Verstappen is also set to become only the third driver in F1 history to pick up the Drivers’ title without his team finishing in the top two of the Constructors’ Standings, where McLaren and Ferrari are slowly consolidating their places. The Woking-based outfit are on top with 608 points, Ferrari have 584, and Red Bull sit in third with 555 points and two races to go.
The penultimate race of the season is scheduled to be held in a week’s time as the grid heads to Lusail for the Qatar Grand Prix.
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