F1 Las Vegas GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates of the 2024 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Formula 1 returns for its final leg of the season under the bright lights of Sin City for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
George Russell starts from pole position for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
Max Verstappen can clinch his fourth consecutive F1 world title if Lando Norris fails to outscore him by more than two points in Las Vegas. The Red Bull driver starts fifth and directly ahead of his championship rival in sixth.
The Las Vegas GP starts at 6am GMT.
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Summary
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On lap 30 Russell's lead has expanded to 15.4s over Leclerc following Verstappen and Sainz pitting.
Sainz does pit a lap later to take on fresh hards and drops to sixth behind Hamilton. A messy few laps for the Ferrari squad.
Yes, Sainz is in trouble, he definitely crossed the pit entry line. Ferrari tells Sainz it wasn't ready for him and he gives it short shift: "Wake up guys!"
Sainz is demanding to be pitted by Ferrari but instead he is told to swap positions... the Spanish driver duly does, then opts to pit only to bail out last minute. Did he cross the pitlane white line? Verstappen and Hamilton did pit to commit to the two-stopper.
Awful news for Williams as Albon is told to retire the car. It's a suspected PU issue.
Sainz has had enough of his hards: "Let's get off these tyres." He's been caught by team-mate Leclerc which has also pulled along Hamilton in turn.
Alonso manages just 20 laps on hard tyres before pitting for the second time.
Another indication of a two-stop strategy being needed?
At the front, Russell is 10.3s in the clear from Verstappen and gradually building that advantage. Sainz remains a couple of second back from the Dutch driver in third but not making gains.
Hulkenberg now up to ninth with a move on Albon, which had looked more likely than not in recent laps.
Hamilton, even with DRS, cannot reel in Leclerc due to the Ferrari's superior top speed. As a result he remains stuck behind him in fifth.
"The front right looks like it is about to go any lap," Norris tells McLaren. The Woking-based team just cannot look after its tyres in this race, with Norris down in sixth and 4.8s off Hamilton ahead.
Ferrari duly gets back to Sainz and tells him Plan A, which would point towards a one-stop and therefore he needs to nurse his hards to the finish.
On lap 21 and Russell leads by 9.8s from Verstappen, with another 2.2s to Sainz in third and then 2.8s to Leclerc in fourth, who has Hamilton in his DRS.
Albon has made a move at the end of the Strip on Alonso which puts him ninth as it stands.
Two points would be most welcome for Williams.
Hulkenberg is also past Alonso and into the top 10.
Plan C is likely to be a form of a two-stop strategy, which teams won't be 100% committed to given nobody really knows how the hard tyres will perform over a stint. Because each driver only has two sets of hard tyres per race weekend, and predicted they may need both in this race, nobody did a long stint on them in practice.
"Let me know as soon as possible if it's going to be Plan C, because it changes everything," Sainz asks over team radio. "Give us two laps, and we'll come back to you," is the reply.
Red Bull calls in Perez, giving him fresh mediums given he started on hards, and he comes out in 14th place.
Perez is a sitting duck on his old hard tyres and is powerless to stop Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris in quick succession.
Alpine had a fine outing in Brazil but the tight battle for sixth in the constructors' championship has suffered a double blow in the early stages here. Gasly's issue came just moments after Ocon's double-pit faux pas - even though he came in twice, though, he somehow managed to keep Stroll behind him...
A great qualifying is not rewarded as Gasly's engine expires. He retires by boxing.
Verstappen has been waved by his team-mate Perez so is up to second on lap 15. He has a 9.6s gap to close to catch leader Russell.
"What the hell man? How many places have I lost."
All the traffic upon exiting the pits left Hamilton a little riled, but a quick explanation from Bono on team radio and his head is back down and pushing after Norris for sixth.
With Hulkenberg pitting, it is just Perez in second place as the outlier at the front given he started on the hards and hasn't pitted yet. Russell leads Perez by 8.4s and then comes Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton.
A disaster for Ocon who came into the pits but missed his garage and had to drive through, do another lap and then pit again.
That's a race ruiner.
And as expected a lap later Hamilton duly pits for his hard tyre swap. The Mercedes driver comes out in ninth and right behind Norris.
Race leader Russell pits at the end of lap 12, a 2.4s stop for fresh hards, and he comes out in second. Hamilton is the new leader but he is yet to stop.
Perez is doing a decent job of making progress on his hard compound tyres, getting past Zhou for his latest move.
At the end of lap 11 Verstappen pits for his switch from mediums to hards, with a quick 2s pitstop, and he comes out in traffic but crucially just ahead of both Ferraris and Norris.
On lap 10, Verstappen uses DRS to push by Sainz into Turn 14 to take second place. At the end of that lap Ferrari calls in Sainz to pit anyway.
A five-second penalty for Piastri who was outside his grid box for the start.
A copycat move from Hamilton sees him pass Tsunoda and get into fifth, with the pitstops ahead.
At the end of lap nine Leclerc and Norris both pit, swapping mediums for hards, coming out in 16th and 17th respectively.
Leclerc appears to have damaged his medium tyres attacking Russell early on and that has wrecked his pace - on the last lap he was three seconds slower than Russell in the lead.
Hamilton makes the move on Piastri this time, simply outdragging the McLaren with DRS and a tow from Tsunoda ahead.
More than that, Verstappen overtakes Leclerc into Turn 14 to take third place. Right behind them Norris uses the same overtaking spot to pass Gasly for fifth.
A great battle between Piastri and Hamilton as they race absolutely side-by-side down the Strip.
The McLaren was well placed to defend the inside line though and remains ahead for now.
Does Leclerc have an issue? He is bleeding time and is being caught by Verstappen.
Or not... as Sainz overtakes Leclerc for second place into Turn 14 having used DRS to pull alongside on the back straight.
Both Piastri and Hamilton have made their way past Hulkenberg, into eighth and ninth.
On lap seven and Russell still leads and has shaken off Leclerc with a 2s advantage. Leclerc might be trying to protect his tyres with an eye on the bigger picture.
By: Autosport Staff
