Race report and highlights from the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez to victory at the Las Vegas Grand Prix | Formula 1®
Max Verstappen emerged victorious at the end of an action-packed Las Vegas Grand Prix, beating Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc and Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to the checkered flag in a race punctuated by multiple incidents and safety car periods.
Verstappen took the lead from Leclerc at the start of the race, but was promptly given a five-second time penalty for pushing his rival off the track, and was then overtaken by the pole-sitter before serving it on the first round of pit stops.
Leclerc went into the race longer before changing tires in a first stint marked by graining problems, only to see a safety car shortly afterwards, allowing Verstappen and several other drivers to pit again under caution to go.
At the decisive restart, Leclerc initially controlled the approach of Perez, who had benefited from an early stop after an incident on the first lap, but he came under heavy pressure due to aging tires.
Verstappen caused a stir on the timesheets in the final laps, seeing off both his teammate and the leading Ferrari to take a breakthrough win in the City of Light, while Perez followed suit, scoring a one-two finish, just only to be overtaken again by a certain Leclerc on the last lap.
Behind them, a remarkable lead from Esteban Ocon ensured he and Alpine finished fourth, although he was narrowly beaten by Mercedes’ George Russell in the end. However, Russell had received a five-second time penalty for a collision with Verstappen, which brought out the aforementioned safety car.
Russell’s penalty also boosted Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin to fifth, while Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton’s sister Mercedes – which collided at Turn 1 – also benefited, finishing sixth and seventh.
Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri completed the points finishes in their respective Aston Martin and McLaren machines. The Spaniard recovered from a spin on lap 1 and the Australian rookie was the only Papaya car to make it to the finish after teammate Lando Norris suffered a serious accident early on.
When the race began in Vegas on Saturday night, there was drama from the start
Pierre Gasly had held points for most of the race after starting fourth, but a fall in the Alpine classification saw him cross the finish line in 11th place, while Alex Albon suffered a similar fate in his Williams .
Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo drove lonely races en route to P13 and P14 for Haas and AlphaTauri, with the Alfa Romeos of Zhou Gaunyu and Valtteri Bottas – the latter also stuck in Turn 1 – and Williams newcomer Logan Sargeant among the final finishers .
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg both came off the track in the closing stages due to apparent technical problems, meaning they joined Norris on the retirement list and watched the finish from the sidelines.
After a spectacular three days of action under the lights of Las Vegas, Formula 1 will move quickly on to the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit next weekend.
It was an action-packed first race on the new Las Vegas Strip Circuit
WHEN IT HAPPENED
After a thrilling qualifying session at the brand new Las Vegas Strip Circuit, attention soon turned to Saturday night’s 50-lap spectacle, where the race start and possible tire wear were seen by drivers as two crucial factors for success under the lights.
Leclerc would be the man to start from pole position and Verstappen joined him on the front row, while an engine penalty saw Sainz drop to 12th and Stroll drop five places on the grid – due to a yellow flag violation Exercise – Place the Aston Martin in 19th place.
When the tire covers were removed, it emerged that the majority of the field would start on the medium compound, with Hamilton, Zhou and Piastri opting for hard tires and the back row starters, Stroll and Tsunoda, aggressively on soft tires had proceeded.
At 10:00 p.m. local time the lights went out and the racing began. Verstappen boldly appeared on the inside of Leclerc at Turn 1, sending both drivers well past while taking the lead, which he defended on the long stretch to Turn 5 that followed.
Behind, Russell took third ahead of Gasly, Albon, Sargeant and Magnussen, while Ocon and Stroll both finished in the top 10 after spectacular opening laps, but there was drama elsewhere as Alonso spun himself and Sainz understeered into Hamilton.
Before the start of the race, numerous celebrities were at the start
At this point, the virtual safety car came out to clear the debris, after which Perez and Bottas – who also touched in the bottleneck at Turn 1 – went into the pits for repairs, along with the recovering Alonso.
“We are happy that you were in front,” was the radio message to leader Verstappen during the neutralization, while Leclerc complained that “this has to be addressed now” and that it would be a “joke” if there was no penalty for the reigning world champion .
On lap 3, the VSC ended and the race resumed, but only for a brief moment as Norris dramatically lost control of his car at Turn 11, crashing into the barriers and almost taking out his teammate Piastri, signaling a full safety car and asked Stroll and Sainz to make further pit stops.
Verstappen mastered the restart – and difficult, cool conditions – to maintain his lead over Leclerc, but the stewards soon confirmed a five-second time penalty for the Dutchman for the drama at Turn 1. “Yeah, that’s fine, greet them from me!” Verstappen replied ironically.
While Russell and Gasly had Verstappen and Leclerc in their sights, a gap formed to the cars behind, with Albon and Sargeant still in fifth and sixth for Williams, Ocon in seventh, Piastri enjoying a strong start in another eighth and Hamilton in ninth place after a substitution for Magnussen.
Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023: Verstappen snatches the lead from Leclerc in Turn 1, and there is chaos in the field at the start of the race
After his impressive performance in qualifying and the opening laps, Sargeant’s tires seemed to hit the cliff and he fell from sixth place to the back of the top 10 within a few laps, while Perez got back into the points, getting back into the game due to his early stop .
At the front there were similar tire problems for Verstappen, as he uttered a curse over the radio about the state of his rubber and was told to pit, but not before Leclerc reclaimed the race lead on lap 16 and the crowded tribunes in an uproar.
In another wheel-to-wheel battle there was contact between Hamilton and Piastri, which resulted in a puncture on the Mercedes and left the McLaren on its way back to the pits – an incident that the stewards observed but agreed to concluded that no further action was necessary.
As the race approached the 20th lap, Leclerc, who had not yet stopped, was leading Perez by around 14 seconds, with Ocon also completing his first stint in third place, ahead of Stroll, Sainz, Alonso, Zhou (another still has to pit ), Russell and Verstappen (after serving his sentence) and Gasly.
A few laps later, Leclerc finally pitted for a new set of tires, following the trend of switching from medium to hard tires. The Monegasque came out third again behind Perez and Stroll, who continued to make up position on the track on their spare tire strategies.
Verstappen and Leclerc swapped positions several times in the first stint
Meanwhile, an exciting battle developed between Sainz, Russell and Verstappen for fourth, fifth and sixth place. On lap 24, Mercedes and Red Bull raced past the Ferrari on the long strip straight and then began a battle of their own.
It wasn’t long before Verstappen tried to overtake Russell, but at the apex of Turn 14 there wasn’t enough room for the two of them and they came into contact, scattering debris all over the track. “Mate, he just turns to me!” Verstappen radioed his team, whereupon the stewards gave Russell a five-second penalty.
This debris brought out another safety car and was the perfect time for Perez and Stroll to make opportune pit stops, with Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Alonso, Zhou, Magnussen, Hülkenberg and Hamilton also taking the opportunity to put new tires on caution.
With the field following Bernd Maylander, Leclerc remained in first place ahead of Perez, Gasly and Piastri, while Verstappen finished fifth after a second stop that did not involve a front wing change, followed by Ocon, Stroll, Albon, Russell and Sainz in the final points-paying positions.
Replays then showed Leclerc having a moment as he fired up the rear wheels and tried to warm up his tires behind the safety car. “Ah, I almost lost it! “The tires are cold,” he commented over the radio, adding a swear word for good measure.
There was plenty of action and overtaking during the first F1 race on the Strip
While Leclerc maintained his lead over Perez on the restart, Piastri gained the lead over Gasly with a jump at Turn 5 and took third place, while Verstappen retained fifth place and avoided another penalty for an unsafe exit that left him side by side with Stroll running in the box.
Perez soon began to put pressure on Leclerc and duly moved into the lead at Turn 14 on the 32nd of the 50 scheduled laps, with the other Red Bull also on the move as Verstappen found his way past Gasly and Piastri in quick succession .
Behind them there was a monumental duel between the Alpine riders, with Ocon and Gasly swapping places several times, with the team asking to keep the position to avoid drama, while Albon, Stroll, Russell and Sainz were the final top -10 runners remained.
Back at the front, there was another twist in the tale as Leclerc closed the gap to Perez and turned the tables on his rival with a lunge at Turn 14 straight back.
Verstappen soon saw his chance at the popular overtaking spot at Turn 14 and took the lead from Leclerc with just over ten laps to go before his engineer told him to “work hard” to break the drag and approach the all-important DRS to evade windows.
Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023: Norris crashes on lap 3, triggering the safety car
Piastri remained fourth ahead of the struggling Alpines, who were then separated by Stroll’s Aston Martin, while Russell, Sainz and Alonso held the final points after Albon lost a host of places in a matter of minutes as Williams’ race stalled.
As Perez began to increase the pressure on Leclerc once again, the Ferrari locked up at Turn 14, ceding position to his Red Bull rival, meaning a one-two finish was suddenly in sight for the reigning world champion.
However, as the final laps drew to a close, Leclerc remained within DRS range of Perez and threatened a response, which he finally delivered on the final lap with another successful overtaking maneuver into the Turn 14 braking zone.
Verstappen crossed the finish line a few seconds later and secured victory, while Perez Leclerc pursued throughout and rounded out the podium positions – which was still enough to secure second place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Ocon was relegated to P4 by Russell at the finish, but the Mercedes driver still fell to eighth place – behind Stroll, Sainz and Hamilton – after receiving his penalty for the collision with Verstappen.
Verstappen caught up with Leclerc in the final stages of the race and overtook him for the win
Alonso secured a double top 10 result for Aston Martin in ninth place. Piastri rounded out the points after his late stop, which saw him switch from hard to medium tyres, beating Gasly and Albon, whose pace waned as the evening progressed.
Magnussen and Ricciardo followed in 13th and 14th, with Zhou, Sargeant and Bottas making up the final group of finishers after Tsunoda and Hulkenberg retired their cars in the closing stages and joined the sidelined Norris, who is undergoing precautionary medical checks.
Verstappen punched the air for joy after his 18th win of the season
Key quote
“It was a difficult question,” said race winner Verstappen. “I tried to give it a try [with Leclerc] at the beginning. I think we both braked quite late, then I just lost my grip and we ended up going a little wrong, which is why the stewards gave me a penalty for that. Of course that put us a little behind, I had to overtake a few cars and then the safety car again. There was already a lot going on in the race at this point.
“Once we got the message all the way through, we were able to go full throttle. You could clearly see that the DRS was very powerful here. Even if you took the lead, if the guy behind stayed in the DRS, he would still have the opportunity to take revenge. I think there was some pretty good racing here today, so it was definitely a lot of fun.”
What’s next
The final stop on the 2023 F1 calendar will be Yas Marina for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, taking place from November 24th to 26th.