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Formula 1 Las Vegas GP

F1 Las Vegas GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race

Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix

Caesars Palace

After a difficult Friday with FP1 being called off after eight minutes due to a dislodged water value cover that caused damage to Carlos Sainz's Ferrari and Esteban Ocon's Alpine, and then FP2 being run in front of empty grandstands, F1 enjoyed a far more positive Saturday. 

Charles Leclerc secured pole position with Max Verstappen set to line up in second after Sainz was hit with a 10-place penalty - this coming after Ferrari replaced his battery as part of the repair work needed following his early-event incident. 

George Russell is third but Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez start 10th and 11th. 

The grand prix will get under way at 6am GMT.

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Pit stop
Russell pits from third at the end of lap 15. He trades his mediums for fresh hards - the first time he's run this compound all weekend. Russell comes out in 13th.
Piastri makes light work of Sargeant for P7, diving to the inside under braking at the end of The Strip. Hamilton follows the Australian through.
Leclerc is pushing again and is within a second of Verstappen. This race is on!
Stopwatch
Perez is a man on a mission, setting a new fastest lap of the race with a 1m38.319s. He's less than a pitstop away from the leaders and has made potentially his only stop of the night already.
Sargeant is being swallowed up by the pack now, losing places to Ocon, Piastri and Hamilton in the space of two laps. He's down to ninth.
All the frontrunners are still on their starting medium tyres, which should go longer into the stint now due to the safety car earlier. Verstappen and Leclerc are trading fastest lap times at the front and the gap stays at 1.8s.
Quote
Sainz has been instructed to cool his car. He's now in a bit of clear air after progressing to P14 but the warning is that Ferrari will have to "retire the car" if he cannot cool things accordingly.
Pit stop
Magnussen and Hulkenberg continue their traditional race-day slide down the order as Hamilton passes the former for P9. 

Hulkenberg pits after losing out to Perez.
Leclerc is starting to come back to Verstappen, the gap down to 1.8s, as the Ferrari driver creates the gap time gap to Russell behind him. Gasly is still attached to Russell's rear wing.
Hamilton moves into the top 10 along The Strip as he passes Hulkenberg.
Pit stop
Piastri proves that overtaking is possible in Vegas to climb to P8. Soft tyres are beginning to run out of rubber as Tsunoda now pits for medium Pirellis.
Verstappen has opened up his lead to 2.1s at the start of lap 10. Leclerc still has Russell and Gasly to think about directly behind him, effectively been dragged along with the aid of DRS.
Verstappen has been informed of his penalty and also told to push on. "Yeah that's fine, send them my regards," is his response, with a hint of sarcasm.
It was expected to be a case of switching the places back between Verstappen and Leclerc, but that penalty could weigh heavy on the Red Bull driver.
Penalty
Verstappen has been given a five-second penalty for forcing another driver off the track! Blimey.
Undercut, overcut (wombling free)... What strategy would you be employing this weekend?
Verstappen isn't hanging about, at the end of the seventh lap he leads by 1.8s from Leclerc who has Russell and Gasly on his tail.
Sainz and Alonso - both on hards - are squabbling over P17 as Perez is ahead is also dragged into the fight. The trio could really do with working together at this stage to pull through the field.
Green flag
Verstappen has nailed the restart, as he often does, and gets darts clear of Leclerc. Off we go again!
Drivers that have already stopped ahead of the restart - Stroll, Perez, Sainz, Alonso and Bottas. They are currently the bottom five runners.
The safety car is coming in at the end of lap six.
Ferrari has told Leclerc the race refs are still discussing his Turn 1 incident with Verstappen. Has it gone to VAR?
Ah, more replays of the start and a penny for every time I've done this on F1 23. Alonso barrels down the inside of Turn one, misses the braking point and comes to a stop in front of Bottas. 

In the same incident, Perez made contact with the rear of Bottas' Alfa Romeo.
After a frantic four laps, things will settle down behind the safety car. Verstappen still leads, no Turn 1 calls from race direction yet, ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Gasly and Albon.
There we go. He lost the rear end of his car in Turn 11 and scraped along the outside wall causing sparks to fly as he made the race-ending trip to the TecPro barriers.
Norris climbs out of his car rather gingerly as his rear-left Pirelli is sat next to his car. We'll need to see that again to tell you more.
Safety car
A big crash at Turn 12 as Norris causes sparks to fly. He hits the barrier at the end of the runoff and the safety car is deployed.
Verstappen is quickly building his lead as DRS is enabled.
Alonso appeared to spin by himself on lap one, Turn 1. Contact came when his car came to a halt in front of an AlphaTauri.
Green flag
"This needs to be addressed now, he pushed me wide, so he needs to give that position back," Leclerc says over team radio. No doing yet as green flag racing resumes.
Verstappen's Turn 1 move was very hard, neither driver stayed on the track, but it appears he'll keep the lead.
Pit stop
As Perez leaves, in comes Alonso - also for a front wing change. The hard Pirelli rubber is bolted onto his Aston Martin.
Alonso is reporting damage and in comes Perez for a new front wing.
Safety car
Verstappen leads at the end of the opening lap as a Virtual Safety Car is called for. There is debris around Turn 1.
Chaos at the back as Alonso goes spinning with it appearing that Hamilton made contact with the Aston Martin into Turn 1. Sainz has also been turned around!
Lights green
Verstappen gets the better start, pushes Leclerc wide into Turn 1, but takes the lead! Leclerc slots into second and there is carnage behind!
No Brazil-like woe for Leclerc as he leads the pack around to the grid without a fuss. Here we go...
It is just 175m from pole to Turn 1, so this might be a tricky start. Leclerc leads away the formation lap.
The formation lap is about a minute away, can Leclerc make it further than he did in Brazil last time out?
Starting tyres: The majority are on mediums, but Hamilton, Zhou and Piastri have opted for hard tyres, while the back row pair of Stroll and Tsunoda start on the softs.

By: Autosport Staff

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