Las Vegas Strip Circuit

Razamatazz and bling fill the air in Vegas. The F1 road show came to join the party. A night race gave the opportunity to show off the lights, the strip and the Sphere. Although, in reality, TV coverage made the circuit's trackside barriers and fences look a bit like a giant cage fight arena. The circuit was first used in 2023. F1 had come to Vegas using a much smaller circuit in 1981 and 1982 as the Caesars Palace Grand Prix.

The circuit has 2 DRS zones, some fast corners, but many slow corners. A pitstop here costs about 20.5 seconds of track time. The forecast was for a 1 stop race.

The 6.2km track is the 2nd longest of the F1 tracks, 17 turns and high-speed car configuration, which caught many teams out, some modifying rear wings to reduce drag.

Driver's Championship

The question on everyone's mind, "Will Max become 4 times World Champion in Las Vegas?".

Max's season started well, with 7 first places from the first 10 races of 2024, with other wins from Sainz, Norris and Leclerc. It looked like another runaway year for Max. It's not uncommon in F1 for a team/driver to dominate for several seasons.

Subsequent wins from Piastri (x2), Hamilton (x2), Norris and Leclerc demonstrated how the other teams had closed the performance gap. Full season domination wasn't going to be the story. By the middle of the year, this had become the most competitive F1 season for many years.

Norris claimed a string of wins and podiums to become the prime challenger as Verstappen scrabbled for a few points. A replay of Button's 2009 Brawn championship season, where a big early lead was eroded by challengers? Yet, Norris's challenge was hampered as the big points were shared between his team mate Piastri and the Ferrari drivers, Leclerc and Sainz.

Verstappen returned to winning form in Brazil, gaining a 62 point lead over Norris, knocking out the other contenders. Norris needed to outscore Max by 3 points in Vegas to keep his hopes of the championship alive. Norris would also need Max to fail to score in the final 2 race weekends, whilst taking everything, an extreme longshot.

On track

Vegas wanted to keep Vegas open! The circuit was only closed for short periods around the track sessions. Each session started with a dusty track and showed significant evolution. Everyone was complaining about the lack of grip. Getting tyre temperature and maintaining it in the window proved to be difficult which favoured a "go long overcut" strategy for the race.

Mercedes showed remarkable pace topping all 3 dark, cool and slippery free practice sessions. Mercedes couldn't explain, although they were happy to enjoy the moment. Stroll stopped on track near the end of FP3. Replacement Energy Recover System needed.

Perez failed to get of Q1. He scored decent result in the first 6 races the season, but then struggled to get results in the top ten. His season has fallen away. I've been a Perez fan, but it's not happening for him at all. Stroll's mechanics successfully raced to replace an ERS system to get the car on track before the end of Q1.

Out, Perez, Alonso, Albon (lap time deleted), Bottas (also 5 place grid penalty for engine components) and Stroll.

Q2 saw fast Mercedes, with Piastri and Verstappen not far behind. With the flag for the session out, drivers were trying to complete the lap well to get into Q3. The track had been evolving and Colapinto clipped the inside barrier (turned in more than expected), destroying the front left corner, before heading to the outside of the track to destroy everything on the other side of the car. The medical car was immediately called into service because the high G limits had been tripped. Fortunately, Colapinto walked away and was deemed fit to race the next day. The Williams mechanics night out in the Casinos and on the strip was cancelled, they had a monumental rebuild on their hands, starting with a new tub. It would have been cheaper to have avoided the crash and gone into town.

Out, Ocon, Magnusssen, Zhou, Colapinto, Lawson

Q3 started after a cleanup delay. All go out at the start of the session, apart for Russell who delayed a couple of minutes. After Russell's first run, he was on the radio to say he wanted to go last. The track was evolving quickly. Hamilton lost a lap, by locking up and overshooting, no decent banker lap. When it came to the sharp end, Russell was correct, the track was evolving and it made a big difference. He claimed pole in front of Sainz and Gasly. Hamilton's final quick lap was lost with a big slide, P10. Championship contenders, Verstappen P5, Norris P6.

Top 10: Russell, Sainz, Gasly, Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Tsunoda, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Hamilton

Race day

It was windy for the first time in the weekend. Litter was blowing across the track, which did prove to be a problem for some.

In the race, bags getting stuck in brake ducts, air intakes and radiators were removed in the pitstops. Most started on medium tyres, with a view to a 1 stop. But most ended up switching to a 2 stop strategy as tyre graining became a big issue.

At the start, Russell had an excellent get away. Sainz and Gasly were busy with each other, which allowed Leclerc up the inside, 3 abreast, to move into P2. Hamilton got a great launch and made up several places in the early laps.

Russell pretty much led from start to finish, barring pit stops. Hamilton started out of position in P10 and worked though the field to finish P2. Mercedes 1-2.

The Ferraris were competitive throughout, depending on their tyre status, at times aggressive, at other times defensive. Leclerc eventually lost ground while trying to have a go at Russell, losing a place to Sainz. Sainz finished P3 and Leclerc P4.

Gasly's weekend finished with an engine failure.

Hamilton moved through the field, including passing Max. Max didn't defend. His mind was on the bigger picture.

From Max, a mature drive to get points on the board. Max sealed the World Championship with P5.

Norris was never troubled from behind. He had an early pitstop with Sainz, but equally didn't progress. He took a free lap 49 pitstop for softs and then went onto to claim fastest lap of the final lap of the 50 lap race.

Congratulations

• Race winner: George Russell
• World Champion: Max Verstappen (4 times)

Other race news

Regarding the Constructors' championship, all I will say is that it is still wide open for the top teams.

2024 has been a year for some mighty sailing in strange 'foiling' machines. The boats use foils to lift themselves out of the water.

The America's Cup needs F1 type budgets, and indeed the GBR contender is sponsored by INEOS, with significant parts of the very strange looking boat designed by the Mercedes F1 team in Brackley. GBR won the qualifying Louis Vuitton regatta to be allowed to compete in the America's Cup proper, against the New Zealand defenders. This takes place approximately every 4 years and is the F1 of yacht racing. New Zealand beat GBR 7-2 in the finals (first to 7), but it is always harder for the challenger.

Check it out: https://www.americascup.com

F1 now has a longer championship, a 24 weekend series. With a couple of hours driving, about 50 competitive hours racing per year. At the beginning of November, 40 IMOCA 60ft pure racing machines set off from Les Sables d'Olonne on the West coast of France for the Vendée Globe race, also every 4 years. This race is described at the Everest of Sailing. What makes it special? It is a non-stop single handed around the world race. They left France on 10th November to sail south around the Cape of Good Hope, around Antarctica, Cape Horn and back to France. The record is 74 days. 10 days after the start, the fleet is currently in the Southern Atlantic sailing south.

Check it out: https://www.vendeeglobe.org/en