Max Verstappen Wins Big in Inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix

Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 18, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mark Thompson | Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS — Hoping to put behind the inauspicious start to a weekend meant to culminate Formula 1’s advances in growing a fan base in the United States, the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix looked to put chaos and close racing together.

Mainly, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez would battle it out for victory against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for the victory.

After Ferrari’s Leclerc claimed a commanding pole during qualifying that had him line up alongside Red Bull’s Verstappen, after the other Ferrari of Sainz incurred a controversial 10-place grid penalty after the incident with the manhole cover in first practice, the grid was also changed with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll being handed a five-place grid penalty due to a yellow flag infringement during practice, having him start 19th.

Moments before the race began, the tire blankets were finally removed. The tire strategies were finally laid out as a majority of the field had decided to start with the Medium compound tires.

In contrast, a handful of drivers, including Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, decided to start on the Hard compound tires. Meanwhile, the back-row starters of Stroll and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda elected to start on the Soft compound tires, banking on an early safety car and pitting early.

The field finally made it around the track back to the grid, and the much anticipated Las Vegas Grand Prix was to begin. As soon as the lights went out, Verstappen’s excellent start brought him alongside his rival Leclerc. As they went into the quickly approaching Turn 1 with low grip, Verstappen pushed the Ferrari driver wide as he could not make the turn and took the lead, which he soon was handed a five-second penalty due to forcing Leclerc off-track.

Further down the order, melee occurred as Sainz and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso spun and made contact with Hamilton and the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. The resulting debris brought out the Virtual Safety car so that trackside marshals could clear the circuit.

During the VSC, Perez and Bottas joined Alonso in the pits to take advantage of a quicker pit delta to repair damage sustained in the first corner. Meanwhile, radio communications from Leclerc to his pit wall pleaded for a penalty call to Verstappen due to the first lap drama, calling it a “joke.”

Soon, on Lap 3, the VSC ended, and the race was resumed. But it was short-lived as the McLaren of Lando Norris lost grip in Turn 11 and crashed heavily into the barriers and the tire barriers in the run-off area in a scary wreck. Norris was transported to University Medical Center in Las Vegas and was soon discharged following safety precautions due to the impact. Norris’ wreck brought out the complete Safety Car.

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 leads Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari SF-23 at turn one during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 18, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mark Thompson | Getty Images)

Not long after, with Norris’ car moved out of the way and debris cleared, the SC period ended, and Verstappen set off again, holding strong ahead of a charging Leclerc looking to take back the lead.

The stewards soon gave the five-second penalty to Verstappen, which was met with a “Yeah, that’s fine, send them my regards!” as the race leader attempted to build a lead to minimize the impacts of the penalty on his first pit stop.

Behind the leaders were the Mercedes of George Russell and Pierre Gasly, trying to stay within sight in hopes of taking advantage of any incidents. Meanwhile, a gap formed as the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant looked to capitalize on their great qualifying efforts.

Tire wear soon started to hit, first from Sargeant as his Medium tires were beginning to fall off, and he dropped to the edge of the points-paying positions as Perez was starting to work through the field in his Red Bull on his new set of Hard compound tires. Meanwhile, Verstappen had also hit the same tire wear wall as he started falling back into Leclerc’s clutches after pushing hard to create a gap.

The first round of pit stops was about to occur as Verstappen was being passed for the lead, with a roar from the crowd as Leclerc retook the top position. After losing the lead, Verstappen entered the pits to serve his 5-second penalty as more drivers made their first stops of the day. Meanwhile, after starting on the hard tires, a battle between Hamilton and Piastri ended with contact and a tire puncture for the Mercedes driver, sending him tumbling down the order.

Leclerc was the last to pit the leaders as he handed the lead to Perez and fell behind Stroll, who was waiting for his chance to pit. Further back, a hard-charging Verstappen was looking to return to the front of the field. Following behind Russell, they made their way past Sainz, and Verstappen soon attempted to make a pass on the Mercedes driver in Turn 14. However, Russell misjudged where Verstappen was, result in contact that sent debris everywhere.

A second SC was called, and the field was once again neutralized. The contact from Russell granted him a five-second penalty of his own that was added to his race time at the end of the Grand Prix.

Taking advantage of the SC, most of the field went back down pit lane for a second time. Perez got a fresh set of tires along with his teammate Verstappen while Stroll made his first stop. Ferrari kept Leclerc out, along with Gasly and Piastri.

As the race reached its halfway point, the drivers were ready to return to racing, even after a close-call moment in the cooler temperatures that saw Leclerc almost lose control of his car due to the cooling tires on his car.

As the race restarted, Leclerc retained his lead on Perez as Piastri got around Gasly with Verstappen close behind. Perez got to work on the Ferrari and Lap 32, and he made his way past Leclerc to take the lead in the popular passing spot of Turn 14 while Verstappen worked his way around Piastri and Gasly.

Down the order, the Alpine team had to send a warning to both drivers, Gasly and Esteban Ocon, to keep it cool so they could hold onto a Top 10 finish for both cars as Stroll, Albon, Russell, and Sainz looked to climb up the order more and gather more points on the weekend.

Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 18, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mark Thompson | Getty Images)

Perez’s time in the lead was shortlived as Leclerc worked his way back close behind the Red Bull and pulled his move to retake the lead, while Verstappen hunted close behind and took second away from his teammate.

However, with the laps winding down, Verstappen awaited his chance and soon moved on to Leclerc to take the lead, retaking the lead in the same Turn 14. Verstappen quickly built a gap, the same thing he did for most races in 2023.

Due to the squabbling with the Alpines, Stroll moved his way between Ocon and Gasly while Albon quietly tumbled down the order and out of the points. Piastri finally made a pit stop to make the mandatory swap to a different set of tires to the Mediums and worked his way up the field, setting a new fastest lap.

As the laps winded down, Perez worked on trying to get by Leclerc, and soon the opportunity presented itself as the Ferrari driver locked up his brakes heading into Turn 14, giving the possibility of a 1-2 finish for Red Bull Racing. But the race was not over yet, as Leclerc believed he could still take the fight to Perez. Verstappen was soon asked if he could drop back a bit to give a bit of a tow to his teammate to attempt to protect the 1-2 finish.

However, on the final lap, Leclerc made a daring move into Turn 14 and retook second place, making it the second race in a row Perez had lost a position on the final lap.

Max Verstappen cruised once again to victory as he picked up the win at the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix, even with the penalty and damage he incurred in the middle of it. Charles Leclerc picked up second while Sergio Perez solidified a second place in the drivers standings with a third-place finish.

Although passed by George Russell in the closing laps, Esteban Ocon finished fourth, ahead of Lance Stroll in fifth, Carlos Sainz in sixth, and Lewis Hamilton in seventh, while Russell’s penalty secluded him back to eight. Fernando Alonso survived the day with a ninth-place finish and double points for Aston Martin, while Oscar Piastri worked his way back into 10th, taking the Fastest Lap point with him.

Outside the points, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon suffered deteriorating pace in the latter stages of the race to finish 11th and 12th. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo finished a mediocre 13th and 14th, with Logan Sargeant splitting the Alfa Romeo’s of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas as the final drivers running at the end of the race.

Joining Lando Norris out of the race were Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda, who faced failures in the race’s closing stages.

Even after the almost disastrous start to the weekend for Formula 1 and the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the race provided a lot of excitement up and down the order. Formula 1 now heads to its final race of the 2023 season for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

It will be the last chance for the year for the grid to attempt to take it to Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen while the rest of the points positions are finalized.