Las Vegas Recap: Verstappen wins big as Mercedes' Brits dominate while Ferrari leaves frustrated

With plenty of winners and losers walking away from an action-packed weekend in Vegas, the race in Sin City proved to be a monumental turning point in the 2024 Formula One season. Taking all the chips off the table was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who landed his fourth consecutive drivers’ title, leaving his main rival Lando Norris to ponder what could have been. With all the focus on the title fight, it was easy to overlook Mercedes’ monumental comeback, as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton locked out the podium with a one-two finish. Standing right behind them was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who left Vegas frustrated despite securing another podium. Here’s what we learned and all the highlights from the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix.  

Verstappen joins legends Prost and Vettel with four World Championships

While it wasn’t all plain sailing for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen this season, the Dutchman secured his seat at the table of four-time World Champions in Vegas, lining up alongside legends Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel. 

Despite the Dutchman finishing where he started (5th), it was enough to deal a decisive blow to Norris’ championship hopes and secure the drivers’ title with two races until the end of the season. 

“It’s been a long season and of course we started off amazing, it was almost like cruising, but then we had a tough run,” said Verstappen about his season, after the Vegas race. “But as a team, we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and we pulled off the win,” he added. 

“Incredibly proud of everyone, what they have done for me... so at the moment I’m just feeling very relieved, in a way, but also proud.”

Now with four titles to his name, only Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Michael Schumacher and Hamilton (both seven) sit above him in the F1 history books but, given he’s still only 27, there’s plenty of time for Verstappen to catch up. 

“It’s been a rollercoaster of a year and Max has been truly outstanding,” Team Principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports F1. “We got off to a flying start, we had a very difficult summer, but he just kept nailing the results.  

“He’s won eight Grands Prix, that’s more than double any other driver. He’s just been outstanding.

“I think this has been his best and hardest championship and he’s shown maturity, he’s delivered on the days when the car wasn’t quite there and there’s no one more deserving of this championship than Max.”  

Despite wrapping up the drivers’ title early, Verstappen’s work is far from finished. With two races to go, the fight for the constructors’ title is still underway, with Red Bull’s hopes of a third title largely hanging on the Dutchman’s performance. With 53 points between Red Bull and standings leaders McLaren, there’s still time for the 2024 drivers’ champion and his teammate Sergio Perez to make a difference.

Brits are centre stage in Vegas with double Mercedes podium 

For all the fuss made about Verstappen’s title victory, it was easy to overlook Mercedes’ sensational comeback in Vegas, not least George Russell’s fourth F1 career win, which he converted from Pole. As for his teammate Lewis Hamilton, the Brit pulled in right behind him in second, despite starting from P10. 

“It’s been a dream of a weekend,” said Russell after the race. “I don’t know how we’ve been so quick but I’m just riding this wave right now. 

“To get the victory here, pole position, a dominant weekend, one-two with Lewis as well… we couldn’t have chosen a better place to make this happen.”  
While qualifying didn’t exactly go to plan for Hamilton, the 39-year-old made good use of his unrivaled experience to make up the lost ground in Vegas, slipping through the field to land second and his fifth podium of the 2024 season. 

“I had a great time, when you’re progressing it’s always a great feeling,” said the seven-time World Champion after the race. 

“It felt very much like my old days [karting] at Rye House, starting at the back and coming through – so it was great.  

“[It was a] really good balance in the car today, felt a lot better than it was yesterday – particularly Q3 – but it’s just phenomenal for the team.” 

While the season hasn’t always gone to plan for Mercedes, its dominance in Vegas suggests the car responds well to colder temperatures – something the team will be hoping for as the series moves to the Middle East for the final two rounds. 

“I don’t think anyone in the team knows why we’re as quick as we are this weekend, we’re happy about it, but I think often in the hotter conditions we struggle more,” he explained.

Podium for Sainz despite frustrating race for Ferrari 

Despite his time at Ferrari coming to an end when the season wraps in Abu Dhabi, Carlos Sainz managed to secure another podium in Vegas, finishing third behind both Mercedes drivers. 

While the end result was good, it could have been better given the Spaniard started the race in P2, behind Russell. All was going well for Sainz until a botched pit stop scuppered his race on lap 27. 

Despite being instructed to pit, Sainz’s team told him to hold off at the very last minute, forcing him to abort the pit stop and skip back over the pit entry apron, onto the track.

“We just simply didn’t execute in general,” said the Spaniard after the race. “We just didn’t execute a very good race.

“It just shows that in this sport, you need to do things perfectly weekend in, weekend out. We’ve been doing things really well in strategy and on race management all year around but today wasn’t our day. “We just didn’t do things well and we will have to learn from it and make sure we come back in Qatar stronger.”

As for his teammate Charles Leclerc, “everything went wrong” claimed the Monagasque driver, after he finished fourth despite challenging for the lead. 
Bolting off the start line, Leclerc passed both Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and his teammate Sainz into Turn 1, before he launched an attack on leader George Russell. But his progress was short lived, with tyre wear forcing him into the pits by lap ten. 

“I mean, I was very excited at the start [in] P2, then unfortunately everything started to go very quickly wrong, because I pushed too much on the tyres,” admitted Leclerc. 

Still, Ferrari didn’t exactly leave Vegas empty handed. With a P3 and P4, the Maranello-based team gained 12 points on leaders McLaren, closing the gap to just 24 points. With Red Bull also in contention for the constructors’ title – albeit 53 points behind McLaren -  there’s still plenty to play for in the 2024 season.