Las Vegas Grand Prix: F1 – live

Lap 31/50: Norris moves into the pits and emerges in seventh position behind Hulkenberg.

If these positions hold (they won’t), Verstappen will end today 71 points clear and a world champion.

Lap 30/50: So, the top ten: Russell leads from Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen and Hamilton. Sainz sits in sixth, followed by Hulkenberg, Perez, Guanyu, and Ocon.

Lap 29/50: Sainz now pits asking what happened, with the response being that “we weren’t ready”. He emerges in sixth position, just in front of Tsunoda.

Russell looks very comfortable out in front, 15 seconds in front of Leclerc. Norris then sits in third in front of the two-stopped Verstappen and Hamilton.

Lap 28/50: Verstappen moves into the pit lane, the first of this leading pack of six to come in for a second time, immediately followed by Hamilton.

It looked like Sainz was about to come in as well but pulled out at the last second. However, it appeared the Ferrari aborted after crossing into the demarcation of pit lane, meaning he’s likely to come in for a penalty.

Lap 27/50: It’s a suspected power unit issue for Albon, with the coverage suggesting some debris may have gotten caught in his car.

Lap 26/50: Albon has been called into the pits and is going to be forced to retire. Another blow to the Williams.

Sainz, meanwhile, wants to get a new set of tyres in a two-stopper but he’s staying out there for now.

Lap 25/50: Perez gets past Lawson into 13th place, looking to get some important points in the context of the Constructor’s Title.

Norris is now seven seconds back of Hamilton, with Verstappen sitting pretty comfortably in second-place.

Lap 24/50: Further down the grid, Guanyu has moved up into eleventh place past Alonso.

Norris, meanwhile, wants to pit again and get rid of his tyres but his team are telling him that the traffic he’d emerge back into makes that unwise, asking him to stay out there a bit longer.

Lap 23/50: Norris is starting to drop back of Hamilton and Leclerc’s battle for fourth, getting on the radio complaining about some trouble with his right front tyre.

Russell maintains his healthy lead at the front of the grid.

Lap 22/50: Hamilton continues to absolutely monster Leclerc in the hunt for fourth in this narrow circuit but the Ferrari, for now, is keeping him at bay thanks to his pace on the straights.

Lap 21/50: Russell holds a ten second lead to Verstappen, followed by Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Norris. There’s then a big gap to Tsunoda, Piastri, Albon, and Hulkenberg to round out the top ten.

Lap 20/50: With Norris sitting back down in sixth and Verstappen in second, the broadcast is beginning to muse that McLaren doesn’t have the pace to go with Red Bull.

McLaren’s Zak Brown joins the broadcast and does admit they’re off the pace but references Mercedes in doing so, not referencing Red Bull.

Obvious title implications, nonetheless.

Lap 19/50: The Mercedes are flying out there tonight, with Russell comfortably out in front and Hamilton all over the back of Leclerc in his hunt for fourth.

Lap 18/50: Perez pits to get some mediums put on and comes back out in 14th.

The top six are now able to do battle with no stragglers: Russell, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, and Norris.

Lap 17/50: Russell leads from Verstappen, followed by Sainz, Leclerc, Perez, Hamilton, Norris, Tsunoda, Piastri, and Magnussen.

Lap 16/50: Russell leads by nearly ten seconds to Verstappen but, importantly for the Red Bull driver, he’s well clear of sixth-placed Norris.

As things stand, we’re going to crown a four-time champion.

Lap 15/50: Gasly is on the radio complaining about low power. His team answer back saying everything is fine on their end but he’s still not happy. And now there’s smoke coming out the back of his car! Looks like his engine is gone – that great qualifying run quite literally going up in smoke.

Laps 14/50: Russell maintains around a six second lead on Perez, with Verstappen moving up into third as Hulkenberg pits. Then comes Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Magnussen, Bottas, and Tsunoda.

Hamilton wasn’t too happy about the amount of places he lost in his stop but his team are quickly on the radio to tell him he’d have lost a lot more had they waited.

Lap 13/50: The scene is being set for some absolute chaos as this race goes on – overtakes aplenty.

Hamilton pits now, too, with Russell taking his lead back. He’s followed by Perez and Hulkenberg, neither of whom have pitted. Then comes Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Magnussen, the resuming Hamilton, and Bottas.

Apparently, Ocon came into pit lane, missed his garage completely, and had to come in next lap to do his stop. That can’t happen too oftenn.

Lap 12/50: Verstappen pits as well and while it’s a good stop, he comes out behind some traffic in the form of Magnussen and Bottas. Nonetheless, he’s emerged in front of Sainz, Leclerc, and Norris.

Russell is now going to be the next to pit, leaving Hamilton as out new race leader – albeit one expects he’ll be coming into pit soon.

Lap 11/50: So a host of early pit stops as the field begins to stretch out.

Lap 10/50: Sainz now pits after being overtaken on that lap by Verstappen. Russell maintains the lead but as it stands, Verstappen will be crowned world champion in 40 laps time.

Piastri, meanwhile, has picked up a five-second time penalty for a false start.

Lap 9/50: Norris moves to respond and gets past Gasly for fifth position.

Meanwhile, it looks like Leclerc is slowing with indications are that he’s perhaps having some trouble with his tyres after his aggressive start. He heads into the pits.

Norris, too, has been called into the pits! Albon and Stroll heading into there as well, with Leclerc emerging in 16th and Norris in 17th.

Lap 8/50: It’s now around a four-second gap between fourth-placed Verstappen and sixth-placed Norris, as the former makes a move to try and overtake Leclerc for third… and gets past him!

Lap 7/50: The Mercedes of Hamilton moves past Hulkenberg and lays Piastri under siege, only for Piastri to prove up the task and keep him at bay, for now at least.

Lap 6/50: Despite a plastic bag appearing to have been caught in his body, Russell still leads from the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz. Verstappen follows in fourth, with Gasly’s Alpine serving as a buffer between he and Norris. Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Piastri, and Hamilton round out the top ten.

Lap 5/50: Norris went around half a second slower on that lap than he did four, hurting his efforts to get past Gasly and maintain the pressure on Verstappen.

Lap 4/50: Russell leads by less than a second from Leclerc, followed by Sainz. Verstappen has vaulted past Gasly and into fourth, putting a car between he and Norris.

On the radio, Ferrari are apparently telling their drivers to maintain their tyres through turns ten and eleven but, in contrast, Verstappen has been told he can go a bit harder by Red Bull.

Lap 3/50: Given the circumstances, Verstappen isn’t being as aggressive as he otherwise might be, looking after his tyres in fifth position.

Up top, Leclerc is piling on the pressure on Russell.

Lap 2/50: Russell maintains his lead over Leclerc, Sainz and Gasly. No change between Verstappen and Norris.

Hulkenberg has moved past Piastri and into eighth, while Alonso has moved up multiple positions into 14th.

Lap 1/50: Leclerc with the incredible start, vaulting up past Sainz and Gasly and into second place as Russell leads them around turn one!

Verstappen holds his fifth position over Norris in the battle for the title while Tsunoda, Piastri, Hulkenberg, and Hamilton round out the top ten.

Lights Out! The Sin City GP is underway!

The formation lap is underway in Vegas and the circuit is looking resplendent under the 12 million light bulbs that illuminate the city.

Alonso will be starting the race on soft tyres, catching a few by surprise. Perhaps looking for an early safety car.

Down at the back, Bottas and Perez are on the hards, as is the pit lane starting Colapinto.

In other Americana-related news, General Motors’ efforts to secure a place as the 11th team on the F1 grid look to have moved into its final stages against the backdrop of the Las Vegas GP, with McLaren chief Zak Brown saying its announcement was “probably imminent”.

An Andretti-led bid to join the grid in 2026 was rejected earlier this year but Giles Richards and others are reporting that a retooled bid that will see the new entrant operate as a GM works team – including building their engine by the 2028 season – and potentially operating under the Cadillac brand name looking to have swayed F1 towards seeing the bid as a strong commercial proposition.

Verstappen is a winner and Americans tend to like winners, so perhaps it’s no surprise that Giles Richards has found that the championship leader has his fair share of admirers in Vegas this week.

Gasly’s claiming of third place on the grid represents the Frenchman’s best-ever performance since entering F1 in 2017 and sets a new mark for Alpine this season after his teammate Esteban Ocon’s remarkable effort to grab fourth secured in a sodden Brazilian qualifying earlier this month.

Needless to say, it was one of the biggest shocks of Saturday

“I’m very happy to qualify in the top three today,” said Gasly. “The lap felt incredible and it was one of those when you cross the line and you know that everything was thrown at it. I never imagined that we would be in the top three, though, that was a surprise.

“Tomorrow, we will give it everything but we know where our fight is. It’s a tough race for tyre degradation and graining. We have to stay on top of it as last year at this race it cost us. We’ve worked hard as a team to understand it and there is more hard work tonight to prepare ourselves. We will go for it tomorrow with the target of taking some points.”

Ocon – who qualified 11th in Vegas – and Gasly ended up flanking Verstappen on the podium in Brazil, a result that saw them overhaul Haas for sixth place in the Constructor’s Championship and move five points clear of RB.

“With Esteban just missing out on the final part of Qualifying in eleventh place, our goal is to get both cars in the points tomorrow,” team principal Oliver Oakes said. “Similar to last year, we expect the conditions will be tricky with the lower temperatures and tyre management, so we need to analyse how we can get the most out of our strategy.”

Sainz is now two-from-two in qualifying second-fastest in Vegas, albeit last year he was hit with a ten-place penalty before lights out and had to fight back up the grid to finish sixth. The Spaniard, who will be driving with Williams next season, won from pole in Mexico City but crashed his Ferrari and was forced to retire in the following race in Brazil.

“I’m happy with qualifying today as it was one of the trickiest Saturdays of the season and we performed well,” said Sainz. “I would have obviously preferred to be on pole, but Mercedes has been very fast all weekend on a flying lap. Overall, we are in a good position for the race and in terms of pace I’m confident we can put up a fight.”

Sainz’s teammate Leclerc dramatically overtook Pérez in the final lap of last year’s race to secure a second-placed finish and will start today on the second row – Ferrari the only team with representation on both two front rows.

With three races remaining on the season, the Italian outfit sits second in the Constructors’ Championship behind McLaren, trailing 557 points to 593, and will be seeking to close that gap this evening.

“For most of the season, we have had a car that has better race than qualifying pace, and certainly our long run pace yesterday was strong,” team principal Fred Vasseur said. “For sure, the most important thing tomorrow will be tyre management and keeping the graining under control, trying not to push too much at the beginning of the race and managing the tyres as well as possible in order to have more strategy choices.”

Given the emergence of a safety car pretty much smack-bang in the middle of the race likely adjusted a lot of team’s plans, it’s unclear just how reflective last year’s debut in Vegas can be used as a guide for what to expect strategy-wise today.

We can be confident that teams will have to contend with relatively chilly temperatures. The temperatures drop rapidly after sundown in the Nevada desert and with a 10pm local start time, this is the latest start time of any race on the calendar.

Every driver on the grid has two sets of hard tyres up their sleeves for today’s race but given the performance of the mediums throughout the opening days on the street circuit, a one-stop strategy of medium onto hards seems to be emerging as the consensus pick for today’s race.

Such an approach would see a lot of cars pitting relatively early, in the 14 to 20 lap range, while those able to nurse their tyres could look to do so between the 28 to 34 lap mark. Invariably, however, there could be interruptions and stoppages throughout – Vegas is a circuit in which there’s going to be plenty of chances for chopping and changing – and that means adaptability will be key.

In a remarkable example of longevity and love for the sport, Las Vegas will mark the 600th race of Aston Martin stalwart and its current sporting director Andy Stevenson, who has been with the team across its various incarnations as Jordan, Midland, Spyker, Force India, Racing Point and Aston Martin.

Giles Richards spoke with him.

The national anthem of the United States has been sung. A lovely acappella version by Boyz II Men. Lights out is imminent in Las Vegas!

Brundle has now bumped into Colapinto, who says that he’s going ok after his 50g crash last night and is full of praise for his team for getting a car ready for this race.

And now here’s Sly Stallone! He was going to race today but apparently he has a bum ankle. Seems he’s conflicted about who to support, he loves a champion but he also loves an underdog. That feels a bit like having one’s cake and eating it too, to be honest.

Immediately following the ‘Rocky’ director is a stoic Verstappen, who looks very much all business.

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

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

Preamble

Joey Lynch