The 2024 USA Las Vegas Grand Prix Thread

[cmlean]

This is the place to discuss everything related to the 22nd round of the 2024 season taking place in Las Vegas between the 21st and the 24th of November.

The event timetable for the USA Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Thursday
1st Practice 18:30 local time - 02:30 GMT
2nd Practice 22:00 local time - 06:00 GMT

Friday
3rd Practice 18:30 local time - 02:30 GMT
Qualifying 22:00 local time - 06:00 GMT

Saturday
Race 22:00 local time - 06:00 GMT

[cmlean]

FP1

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:35.001	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:35.397	George Russell	  Mercedes
3	1:35.954	Lando Norris	  McLaren
4	1:36.007	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
5	1:36.038	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	1:36.218	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
7	1:36.262	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin 
8	1:36.451	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
9	1:36.478	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
10	1:36.536	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
11	1:36.811	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
12	1:36.817	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin 
13	1:36.948	Alexander Albon	  Williams
14	1:37.152	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
15	1:37.200	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
16	1:37.765	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
17	1:38.025	Franco Colapinto  Williams
18	1:38.350	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
19	1:38.574	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
20	1:38.730	Liam Lawson	  RB

[cmlean]

First laps on the Lav Vegas Grand Prix circuit and all you could hear wad lack of grip coming from the driver's mouths.
Initial lap times ended up being something like 12 seconds a lap slower the the end of session times. Talk about tracks ramping up!

[cmlean]

FP2

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:33.825	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
2	1:33.836	Lando Norris	  McLaren
3	1:34.015	George Russell	  Mercedes
4	1:34.105	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
5	1:34.313	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
6	1:34.651	Pierre Gasly	    Alpine
7	1:34.686	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
8	1:34.798	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
9	1:34.818	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
10	1:34.997	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
11	1:35.020	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
12	1:35.221	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
13	1:35.251	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
14	1:35.440	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
15	1:35.671	Liam Lawson	  RB
16	1:35.765	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
17	1:35.834	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
18	1:35.868	Franco Colapinto  Williams
19	1:36.055	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
20	1:39.629	Alexander Albon	  Williams

[cmlean]

FP3

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:33.570	George Russell	  Mercedes
2	1:33.785	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
3	1:33.918	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
4	1:34.008	Lando Norris	  McLaren
5	1:34.137	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	1:34.341	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
7	1:34.407	Alexander Albon	  Williams
8	1:34.723	Franco Colapinto  Williams
9	1:34.883	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
10	1:34.905	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
11	1:34.908	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
12	1:34.941	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
13	1:35.061	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
14	1:35.460	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
15	1:35.938	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
16	1:36.215	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
17	1:36.412	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
18	1:36.544	Liam Lawson	  RB
19	1:36.950	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
20	1:36.988	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber

[cmlean]

Qualifying

Code: Select all

Pos	Time		Driver		  Team
1	1:32.312	George Russell	  Mercedes
2	1:32.410	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
3	1:32.664	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine
4	1:32.783	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
5	1:32.797	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	1:33.008	Lando Norris	  McLaren
7	1:33.029	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
8	1:33.033	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
9	1:33.062	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
10	1:48.106	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
__________________________________________________________
11	1:33.221	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
12	1:33.297	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
13	1:33.566	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
14	1:33.749	Franco Colapinto  Williams
15	1:34.257	Liam Lawson	  RB
__________________________________________________________
16	1:34.155	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
17	1:34.258	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
18	1:34.425	Alexander Albon	  Williams
19	1:34.430	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
20	1:34.484	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin

[cmlean]

Lance Stroll and his Aston Martin had stopped on circuit at the end of FP2. Repairs were undertaken and completed.
He took to the circuit with just over 2 minutes remaining but was unable to progress into Q2.

Franco Colapinto brought out the red flags at the end if Q2 with another expensive crash in his Williams.

George Russell set a great time on his first run and, as the track kept ramping up, he timed his final run to be basically the last car to cross the line after the chequered flag fell, finishing quickest and claiming pole.

[cmlean]

Race

Code: Select all

Pos	Driver	  Team
1	George Russell	  Mercedes
2	Lewis Hamilton	  Mercedes
3	Carlos Sainz	  Ferrari
4	Charles Leclerc	  Ferrari
5	Max Verstappen	  Red Bull Racing
6	Lando Norris	  McLaren
7	Oscar Piastri	  McLaren
8	Nico Hulkenberg	  Haas
9	Yuki Tsunoda	  RB
10	Sergio Perez	  Red Bull Racing
11	Fernando Alonso	  Aston Martin
12	Kevin Magnussen	  Haas
13	Zhou Guanyu	  Sauber
14	Franco Colapinto  Williams
15	Lance Stroll	  Aston Martin
16	Liam Lawson	  RB
17	Esteban Ocon	  Alpine
18	Valtteri Bottas	  Sauber
DNF	Alexander Albon	  Williams
DNF	Pierre Gasly	  Alpine

Next: Round of Qatar '24
Date: November 29th - December 1st 2024

[cmlean]

Congratulations are in order to Max Verstappen who secured his 4th, in succession, World Driver's Championship.
He did what he had to do by just running his own race and finishing ahead of Lando Norris.

The turn around in form of the Mercedes duo was surprising. George Russell secured pole, led the first lap and controlled the race from the front. His biggest thread came from Lewis Hamilton who had a masterful drive from P10 on the grid en-route to securing the runner up position.To get to within 5 seconds of George Russell as the race was drawing to it's inevitable conclusion just confirms that he still has the speed.
The Ferrari duo finished 3rd and 4th however Charles Leclerc was having a bit of a whinge after trailing Carlos Sainz for a lot of the race.

Verstappen finished 5th, Norris 6th and Piastri 7th.