Las Vegas GP: Verstappen secures win as Perez cements second place in championship
19th November 2023Red Bull’s Max Verstappen reigns victorious at the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Sergio Perez secures second place in the world championship drivers standings.
Race summary
For the opening stint, most of the drivers opted for the medium compound tyres, a handful decided to start on the hards and a couple – at the back of the pack – opted for the soft compounds.
Verstappen took the race lead at the opening corner as the Dutch world champion ran both himself and Leclerc off the circuit. Red Bull believed Verstappen was entitled to take the lead while Ferrari reported the case to the stewards, Verstappen was soon given a five-second time penalty for his troubles.
On lap 16, Leclerc had clawed back the time between himself and Verstappen and finally took back the race lead with a smooth overtake at the end of the Las Vegas Strip.
16 laps later, on lap 32, the lead changed hands once more as Leclerc was overtaken by the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. At the end of the iconic strip, aided by DRS, the Mexican driver made light work of the Monegasque to take the race lead into turn 14. Two laps later, Perez was re-overtaken by Leclerc in the same place on the track where the Mexican overtook the Monegasque.
However, Leclerc’s lead was short-lived as Verstappen snatched the race lead away from the Monegasque down at turn 14, legally, on lap 37.
Verstappen’s win brings the Dutchman’s tally up to 53 career wins, tying himself with Sebastian Vettel as the joint-third most successful driver in F1. It also provides the reigning world champion with his 18th win of the season while Perez’s second-place finish secures Red Bull’s first-ever 1-2 finish in the drivers championship.
How the race unfolded…
It was a good start from the front row as both Leclerc and Verstappen got an even getaway when the lights went out. However, due to a dirty line and the lack of grip, Verstappen understeered wide and forced both himself and Leclerc off the circuit before he took the lead of the race.
Chaos ensued behind as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso spun around, seemingly on his own accord, which impacted a number of drivers as they tried to avoid the green AMR23 including Valtteri Bottas, who made contact with the Spaniard. Due to carbon fibre being out on track, the virtual safety car was deployed on the opening lap.
When the VSC soon ended the full safety car was deployed, on lap four, as McLaren’s Lando Norris crashed out on his own accord under braking. The Briton lost rear traction under braking which caused the car to fishtail before he slammed into the barrier, backwards, before he slid to a stop in the run-off.
On lap seven, the race finally got back under green-flag conditions. The incident between Verstappen and Leclerc, at turn one on the opening lap, was with the stewards and the Dutchman was soon given a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.
Although there was a two-second gap between Verstappen and Leclerc at the restart, the Ferrari Monegasque had clawed back the time to the Dutch Red Bull. On lap 16, at the end of the strip, Leclerc finally got past Verstappen to take the lead as the Red Bull pulled into the pit lane for his pit stop.
Three laps later, Hamilton reported he had a puncture after he made contact with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at turn 14 – at the end of the strip. As a result of the wheel banging, the McLaren came into the pits immediately whereas Hamilton stayed out as he realised he had the wounded tyre.
At the halfway mark of the race, at turn 12 on lap 25, Verstappen and Russell made contact. In an opportunistic move, Verstappen lunged up the inside of the Mercedes. Russell turned in on Verstappen and the two lost some degree of bodywork from their cars but the two were able to continue on. Russell was later given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.
The safety car was soon deployed to allow the marshals to get out on track to clean up the loose debris and the top runners opted to pop into the pit lane for fresh tyres.
After a handful of laps behind the gearbox of Leclerc, on lap 32, Perez finally made light work of Leclerc to take the race lead from the Monegasque. However, two laps later, the Ferrari Monegasque retaliated and regained the lead of the race at the same section of track where he lost the lead.
At the same time, the two Alpine’s were ordered to hold position to manage their tyres but the instruction fell on deaf ears as Esteban Ocon made a successful overtaking move on his teammate, Pierre Gasly, into turn five for fifth place.
While Perez and Leclerc fought over the race lead, it brought Verstappen back into the fold who had climbed back up to P3. After Leclerc took the race lead, Verstappen overtook his teammate who was sitting duck on the straights on lap 36 before he made an easy move on Leclerc, a lap later, at turn 14 to take the race lead back – legally.
Although Leclerc lost second place to Perez, on lap 43, as he outbroke himself into turn 12, the Monegasque managed to regain his lost position on the final lap of the race at turn 12 with a dive down the inside. Perez tried to fight back but the #11 Red Bull didn’t have the speed to take back the position on the run down to the chequered flag.
Podium:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull
That’s all for the article; !
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Carlos Sainz suffers 10-place grid penalty for Las Vegas GP
- Las Vegas GP: Leclerc on top of bitesize FP1 as a drain cover fails
- Red Bull reveal the ‘Neon Bull’ ahead of Las Vegas GP
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
