Las Vegas: Verstappen beats Leclerc and Pérez in thrilling race
The Dutch national anthem also rang out in Las Vegas as Max Verstappen took his 18th win of the season, with Leclerc finishing second after a last-lap battle with Checo Pérez.
Sergio Pérez, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc form the podium at the Las Vegas Grand Prix / @F1
Criticised by many before the Grand Prix even took place, Las Vegas has at least earned itself a place in the top three of the most exciting races of 2023. Leclerc, who started from pole position, came up against a very aggressive Verstappen in the first corner. The Monegasque had no choice but to run off the track to avoid an accident as Max had little or no room to manoeuvre, an action warned by the FIA that cost the Dutchman a 5-second penalty to be deducted at the pit stop. But that was not the only incident after the lights went out, as several drivers in the middle of the grid suffered from the lack of grip on the track, causing several contacts, including Alonso and Sainz.
The main strategy of the drivers, following Pirelli's instructions, was to run two stints, one medium and one hard, with a first pit stop between laps 10 and 15, although some of the drivers close to or outside the points area saw an opportunity to start on hard tyres in order to extend the first stint and arrive at the end of the race with less degradation.
As is often the case on street circuits, all plans were affected by the presence of the Safety Car. The first was caused by Lando Norris' big crash, possibly caused by a bump on the track, which allowed drivers with damage to their cars to pit and try to regain positions.
Just before lap 25, Sainz, Russell and Verstappen were involved in a thrilling battle for fourth, fifth and sixth places. The Dutchman soon made up positions, but the overtaking manoeuvre with Russell caused a small collision between the two cars, forcing the second Safety Car to be brought out to clear debris, which Verstappen used to make a pit stop. Leclerc, who had pitted on lap 21 to change to harder tyres, was disadvantaged by this action, as he had a 6 lap degradation advantage, but after Max's pit stop it became a 4 lap degradation disadvantage.
Charles could do little to hold on to first place, losing the chance for the Reds' second win of the year. Checo Perez managed to overtake the Monegasque, who was struggling with his tyres until the last moment. But the result is decided on the last lap, and so it was. At Turn 14 on lap 50, Leclerc didn't waste his last chance and took second place after a perfect overtaking manoeuvre.
AN UNANSWERED QUESTION FOR FERRARI
Despite coming from twelfth to finish sixth, and scoring the other half of the points which, together with those of Charles, leave the Scuderia just four points behind Mercedes in the championship, Sainz's weekend is blurred by the incident with the misplaced manhole cover in FP1, which resulted in him being penalised 10 places at the start.
A penalty that has been much debated throughout the F1 world, as it was purely a matter of track conditions, and which has inevitably raised the question at Ferrari: what would have happened if Carlos had not been penalised and had started second behind Leclerc?
A question that remains unanswered, but that would have certainly boosted Leclerc's chances of victory, even if Carlos prefers to concentrate on scoring points in Abu Dhabi, the final stop of the 2023 F1 season, where second place in the Constructors' Championship will be decided between Ferrari and Mercedes.
STROLL IN GOOD SHAPE
After a rather anonymous qualifying session, Aston Martin managed to end the weekend on a positive note, largely thanks to a strong race from Lance Stroll, who finished fifth ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, who had to re-start the race after an incident in turn one and finished ninth.
