George Russell withstands late pressure from Lewis Hamilton to cap Mercedes' stellar Las Vegas weekend with one-two; Max Verstappen finishes one place ahead of Lando Norris in fifth to clinch fourth world title; Hamilton charged from 10th, while Carlos Sainz took final podium berth
Sunday 24 November 2024 09:21, UK
Max Verstappen clinched his fourth successive Formula 1 world title in a Las Vegas Grand Prix in which George Russell capped an unexpectedly dominant weekend for Mercedes to hold off team-mate Lewis Hamilton's comeback charge for the race win.
Verstappen joined the exclusive ranks of four-time world champions by achieving the minimum requirement of finishing one place ahead of Lando Norris to secure the 2024 drivers' crown with two rounds to spare.
Russell, meanwhile, motored away into the distance of the race itself to end Mercedes' four-month wait for another victory in F1.
Russell led away from pole at the start, and while he came under early pressure from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and then withstood a late charge from Hamilton, who had started 10th, the race leader did not put a foot wrong across the 50 laps and claimed his second win of the year and Mercedes' first since July's Belgian GP, when his team-mate inherited the victory after he was disqualified on technical grounds.
Hamilton finished seven seconds behind and was ultimately left to rue his pair of mistakes in the final phase of qualifying on Saturday which had left him down on the grid's fifth row on a weekend Mercedes clearly had the quickest car around the spectacular floodlit Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
Verstappen had risen to second from fifth on the grid in the race's first stint to set himself up for championship glory but his Red Bull was less competitive in the long second stint on hard tyres and he was eventually shuffled out of the podium places.
After being overtaken by Hamilton soon after their respective stops, a relatively compliant Verstappen, who clearly had the wider title picture in mind, was then overtaken by the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
But with Norris's McLaren off the pace and a further 10 seconds back, there was no real threat of Verstappen losing any more ground and dropping out of a title-winning position in the closing laps.
Indeed, running in something of a no man's land in sixth, Norris made a late pit stop for fresh tyres in order to take the bonus point for the race's fastest lap - which, while having no impact on the outcome of the drivers' title race, may be useful for McLaren's now sole challenge, trying to close out the Constructors' Championship ahead of Ferrari.
Indeed with Oscar Piastri only seventh in the sister car, McLaren's lead over Ferrari has been reduced to 24 points with two race weekends to go in the Middle East - first in Qatar next week and then Abu Dhabi on December 6-8.
Constructors' title holders Red Bull remain mathematically in the hunt too but, at 54 points back, their two-year reign as champions will be ended as early as next Sunday unless they reduce their deficit by at least 10 points in Qatar.
Nico Hulkenberg drove strongly to finish in eighth place, taking Haas back ahead of Alpine for sixth in the Constructors' Championship after their rivals' unexpected double podium in Brazil, with Yuki Tsunoda ninth for RB ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, which had started 15th.
Mercedes' 2024 car has proved wildly inconsistent all season yet, when placed in the narrow operating window in which it thrives, it can be particularly impressive.
Las Vegas proved one of those rare and, from the team's perspective, mystifying weekends.
After storming to a brilliant pole in qualifying under the lights of Sin City, Russell successfully navigated the potential pitfalls of the race's first lap as Leclerc leapt from fourth on the grid to second ahead of Sainz and Alpine qualifying star Pierre Gasly.
Indeed, by the start of lap four the Ferrari was piling pressure on the McLaren race leader with a change of lead briefly appearing inevitable.
But Leclerc's early burst seemed to come at the expense of his car's tyre life and he swiftly dropped back, with team-mate Sainz first retaking second and then Verstappen third too.
With Leclerc and Norris, who was also struggling on his medium tyres, soon heading for pit stops after just 10 laps, Verstappen was into second by lap 11 as he then passed Sainz.
But this was relatively inconsequential for the fast Russell, who continued to pull away at the front in a phase of the race that effectively earned him the win.
Hamilton was also showing strong pace in the other W15 and, having picked off the cars in the lower end of the top 10, had placed himself on the back of the podium-chasing pack by the time he stopped on lap 13.
Passing Norris on his fresh tyres soon after, Hamilton followed the Ferraris and then undercut them by pitting earlier at the second stops. He then passed Verstappen for second at the start of the third stint.
At that point of the race Hamilton was around 10 seconds back on Russell and, although he impressively and relentlessly set about eating in to his team-mate's advantage to get to around seven seconds back into the closing 10 laps, the race leader appeared to be managing his pace and eventually eased to a well-deserved win.
Formula 1's season-ending triple-header continues next weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the final two F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership - No contract, cancel anytime
