Martin Brundle’s grid walk has begun on Sky Sports but he’s having a bit of trouble anyone finding anyone to talk to at the moment. Well, nobody he wants to talk to; he’s already been stopped by a couple of locals to tell him how excited they are.
Oh, he’s found Jerry Bruckheimer, whose producing the film ‘F1’ that has been doing some filming this weekend. He’s going “fabulous” and he loves the track. They’ll be off to Abu Dhabi to finish filming.
And now here’s Paul Mescal, star of the new Gladiator II movie. He’s been hanging with the Ferrari team, apparently. He’s very excited. So, too, is 100m Gold Medalist Noah Lyles. No doubt he’d approve of the global nature of F1 crowning a world champion.
The cut and thrust of a race is, of course, a much different beast to the chase for one-lap performance but Verstappen hasn’t been all that happy with the pace of his Red Bull in Vegas as he seeks to secure the title.
Though their car looks to be well-placed to succeed on the Qatar and Abu Dhabi courses that will follow this race, Verstappen hasn’t been happy with his car’s top speed in Nevada.
“I mean we’re just a bit too slow, we have been struggling to get the tyres to work over a lap, and we are too slow on the straights as well, especially in qualifying,” he said after qualifying.
“You can see our rear wing, it’s trimmed down quite a lot, around the DRS flap, so when we open DRS we don’t get the gains like others do, so that makes it a bit more complicated around here.
“But that’s our own fault, we know that, that’s a compromise we have, but nevertheless I tried to do the best I could.
“It was quite close for P3, little details that could have been a bit better maybe, but overall I’m happy with the laps – was not much more in it.”
Off the track, Russell is also a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA), who are increasingly losing patience and confidence in the FIA and its president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Giles Richards has more from Nevada.
Vegas will mark the fourth time in Russell’s career and the third time this season in which he has qualified in pole. And given the pace his Mercedes has shown throughout the week, the Brit will be determined to make this the race in which he takes that momentum goes from coast-to-coast.
The 26-year-old ended up finishing in third behind Verstappen and Norris after recording the fastest qualifying time in Canada earlier this year – he also finished third after grabbing his maiden pole in Hungary back in 2022 – and was forced to retire mid-race at Silverstone due to a water leak in his car.
Should he take out his second win of the season today, joining his triumph in Austria, it would mark Mercedes’ of the season – Hamilton taking out wins at Silverstone and Spa, the latter after initial winner Russell was disqualified for an underweight car – their most since 2021.
“The car has been really strong all weekend,” Mercedes principal Toto Wolff said. “We seem to be able to extract good performance in these cold temperatures, as we saw at Silverstone and Spa earlier in the season, and that has helped us today. Taking pole position is great but it is also a little bittersweet with Lewis in P10. We definitely had the speed to be on the front row with both cars, but I am sure he will bounce back tomorrow.
“It is difficult to say how the race will go tomorrow. We saw on Thursday that graining is a risk; nobody has had a proper look at the hard tyre either, so there are going to be plenty of unknowns. Hopefully, our single-lap speed translates into race pace, and we have a competitive Grand Prix and fight for victory. Let’s see what we can do.”
Jenson Button talking on the Sky Sports coverage about the hours of gaming that have helped Verstappen become what he is today.
The former champion, of course, is talking about the simulator but I’m going to pretend his talking about the more recreational type. It gives me hope my hours and hours of Red Dead Redemption 2 may help me ride a horse.
To put Verstappen’s chase of a fourpeat in its historical context, should he take out the title today he will become just the fifth driver to accomplish the feat, joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
He’d separate himself from Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda, Jackie Stewart, Nelson Piquet, and Jack Brabham with three F1 titles and become just the sixth racer to ever win four or more, with that aforementioned quartet joined by Alain Prost in that pantheon.
History beckons.
How Verstappen can Win the Title in Vegas
Today’s biggest story is that the title is on the line in Vegas. And just seeing the words arranged the way they are feels right, because Vegas is a place that has written itself into history as a place where the title goes on the line. It’s where we got Holmes against Norton in 1978; Spinks becoming the only man to take the title of Ali in the ring in 1978; The Showdown between Leonard and Hearns in 1981 and then the latter’s incredible bout with Hagler in 1985; Holyfield and Bowe in 1992 and the former’s meaty bouts with Tyson; Mayweather locking up with De La Hoya in 2007 and then finally clashing with Pacquaio in 2015; and Wilder and Fury II in 2020.
Today, it’s Verstappen and Norris. And it’s pretty straightforward as to how it will work. Starting next to each other in on the gird, the Red Bull driver leads his Maclaren rival by 62 points entering the race, ensuring that he’ll clinch the hardest fought of fourth-straight titles if he can finish ahead of his rival come the end of the 50th lap. To keep the battle for the championship alive heading into the next race in Doha, the Brit must get past Verstappen and outscore him by three points.
“He’s only just ahead of us today,” Norris said of his rival after qualifying. “I think we have a chance to beat them tomorrow. I’ll go out and do my best.”
Number four is truly in reach for Max Verstappen now 🏆
If he and Lando both finish the Las Vegas Grand Prix where they qualified, and Norris fails to score the fastest lap, Max WILL be crowned champion once again 👑#F1#LasVegasGPpic.twitter.com/Q1QnLj2xIc
Deep down, there’ll be plenty among the F1 executive class that will be hoping Verstappen gets the job done on the neon-lit streets of Sin City, providing new marquee event with a signature moment that can cement its place in the calendar and the burgeoning American market. Norris and Maclaren, though, won’t care much for that.
Further down the grid, Williams’ Franco Colapinto suffered a major impact with the wall at the end of Q2, seeing him end up in 14th place. There had existed concerns that the Argentine rookie wouldn’t be able to take up his place on the grid after the team revealed the force of the impact of the crash amounted to 50Gs but in a team statement Williams confirmed he and his car were able to compete.
“Following Franco’s incident in qualifying yesterday, he has undergone a thorough follow-up evaluation from the event medical team today and has been cleared to race in this evening’s Las Vegas Grand Prix,” said the statement.
“Franco’s health is our main priority, and we are relieved that he is well enough to race following such a significant incident. We thank the medical staff for prioritising Franco’s health and wellbeing and for the excellent care he received.”
As a result of the crash, however, Colapinto will start the race from the pit lane due to the significant work needed to get his car back on the grid; a heck of an effort from the crew given both Colapinto and teammate Alexander Albon also DNFd in Brazil.
“We are extremely thankful to our incredible garage team for their hard work overnight to repair Franco’s car and our fans and partners for their continued support,” said Williams’ statement. “We have taken the opportunity to make some set-up changes during the repair and, as a result, Franco will start the race from the pitlane.
“We are looking forward to going racing under the lights tonight.”
Elsewhere, with doubts continuing to linger about his future, Sergio Pérez’s turgid run of things since F1 returned from its summer break continued, qualifying in 16th and failing to make it through Q1 for the sixth time this season.
“The whole weekend we have been struggling with the grip, it is weirdly difficult to put a lap together, with sliding and grip with the tyres,” said Pérez. “I did expect a very difficult qualifying and it turned out to be a very tricky one. We have been lacking a lot of low-speed performance and we haven’t been able to put the tyres in the right window, that was the main issue and has been very costly in this session. I wanted more today but the progress was not enough.”
After an energy recovery system failure in final practice, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was only able to manage one hot lap and qualified in 20. He and Bottas will swap places on the grid, however, after the Fin was handed a five-place grid penalty for an engine change. Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin will start from 14th.
“We have been uncompetitive the whole weekend so far and expected it to be a struggle heading into Qualifying,” said Alonso. “We have been struggling with the balance and managing the tyre temperatures in these colder conditions here in Las Vegas. We’ve had a few races of being uncompetitive now, but we need to improve and keep learning for next year. As we saw in last year’s race anything can happen, so we will be ready to capitalise on any incidents or safety cars that come up.”
The Grid in Vegas
1. George Russell (Mercedes)
2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
3. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Lando Norris (McLaren)
7. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
8. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
9. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
10. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
11. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
12. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
13. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)
14. Liam Lawson (RB)
15. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
16. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
17. Alexander Albon (Williams)
18. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
19. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)
Pit Lane. Franco Colapinto (Williams)
Preamble
Joey Lynch
Howdy, y’all, and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and what could prove the decisive race in the hunt for the 2024 world championship.
What a difference a year makes. At around this point in 2023, Formula One’s foray into the desert of Nevada was the subject of scepticism and criticism. The first practice on Thursday evening had been forced to be abandoned when a drain cover on the street circuit ripped through the chassis of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, locals were expressing their disquietude over the race’s impact, and Max Verstappen, never one to tiptoe around the issue, labelled the event “99% show and 1% sporting event”.
One enthralling race later, however, and not only was the Dutchman seemingly won over, singing along with ‘Viva Las Vegas’ as he cruised to an 18th win in the 2023 season, but so was most of F1. There’s a decided sense of excitement surrounding this year’s race, with Giles Richards reporting on the ground that the event possesses “an atmosphere that boundless petrodollars simply cannot buy, and everyone feels it.”
This year’s driver’s title still being on the line, as opposed to last year when Verstappen had long since wrapped it up, probably has a lot to do with building this sense of excitement. Despite struggling for pace throughout practice, the Red Bull driver will line up fifth on the grid in today’s race and, adding to the sense of occasion, he will do so next to the Maclaren of the man seeking to get in front of him from sixth and deny him glory, Lando Norris. Of course, while Verstappen won last year’s race, Norris crashed on lap three and was forced to retire – so there’s plenty of work for the Brit to do on that front.
Up the front of the grid, George Russell will start from pole in front of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and, after his surprise podium finish in Brazil, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly – who also qualified fourth at this circuit last year, only to end the race outside the points. Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari will start next to Gasly in fourth.
The Mercedes have shown significant pace throughout their time in Vegas, with Lewis Hamilton bemoaning two errors that led to him qualifying in tenth place. “I should have been on pole but I am not,” said Hamilton, in one of his final races for Mercedes before he makes his offseason switch to Ferrari. “C’est la vie. You live to fight another day. But I didn’t do the job. I didn’t put the laps together. It’s not a stinger. I feel great. The good thing is I have pace.”
The RB of Yuki Tsunoda – after the Japanese driver was interrogated by United States border officials in his pyjamas – and McLaren of Oscar Piastri will line up behind Verstappen and Norris, while Nico Hülkenberg and his Haas will start in ninth place next to Hamilton.
