Las Vegas proves critics wrong with one of the best races, says Hamilton
LEWIS HAMILTON took aim at Max Verstappen’s criticism of the Las Vegas Grand Prix after lauding the star-studded race as one of the best of the year.
The lead changed hands on multiple occasions on a wild and incident-packed night in Sin City. But it was Verstappen, doommonger-in-chief, who prevailed to take his 18th win from the 21 rounds. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc denied Red Bull a one-two finish after he passed Sergio Perez on the final lap to finish runner-up.
The build-up to Formula One’s £500 million debut race on the Strip had been mired in controversy. Verstappen accused the sport’s bosses of making him look like a clown following Wednesday night’s Superbowl-style Opening Ceremony. And in the wake of an embarrassing practice washout, the triple world champion compared the event to the fifth tier of English football.
But Las Vegas’ 3.8-mile street venue served up a thrill-a-minute classic which culminated in Verstappen passing Leclerc for victory with 13 laps remaining.
Hamilton endured an arduous night following a collision with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. The prang dropped him to 19th and last. Hamilton fought back to seventh but he can no longer catch Perez in the race for second in the championship.
Yet, despite his own personal disappointment, the seven-time world champion hailed the Saturday night sizzler as a breakthrough moment for the sport.
“For all those who said it was all about the show, Vegas proved them wrong,” said Hamilton in an apparent swipe against Verstappen. “The race was great, and it was one of the best races. There have been so many people who have been negative about the show, and all that. But just let it be and see how it goes.
“And it was huge. There has been criticism about having three races in the United States, and people talking about bringing back old classics from Europe. But this has provided a better race than most of the tracks we go to. Hats off to the people who ran the show. I cannot wait to come back and hopefully have a better race next year.”
The inaugural event – billed by F1 as the greatest show on earth – got off to the worst possible start when Carlos Sainz collided with a drain cover and first practice was abandoned after just eight minutes. Furious fans were ejected from the venue before second practice concluded at 4am on Friday.
But F1’s American owners’ Liberty Media were celebrating a triumph in the early hours of yesterday. Verstappen took centre stage after he fought back from a five-second penalty – for pushing pole-sitter Leclerc off the road at the first corner – and a collision with George Russell as they duelled for fifth. Russell was penalised with a five-second penalty of his own by the stewards.
The all-conquering Verstappen made his way ahead of Perez, and then Leclerc on laps 36 and 37 respectively to land a fine win.
But was Verstappen ready to row back on his earlier disapproval?
“I always expected it to be a good race because there are long straights, and low-speed corners, and you don’t lose a lot of downforce so that has never been my issue,” he said, largely dodging the question. “Today was fun and that is the only thing I want to say about it. I hope everyone enjoyed it.”
Lando Norris is expected to be fit for next weekend’s season-concluding race in Abu Dhabi after he was discharged from hospital following his 180mph shunt on the third lap.
The 24-year-old British driver lost control of his McLaren through
Turn 11 before thudding backwards into the concrete wall. Norris was then a passenger as his machine bounced off the tyre wall before skidding sideways along the track – narrowly avoiding his team-mate Oscar Piastri – and then slamming head-on into the Armco at Turn 12.
“Not the way we wanted the weekend to end, Norris said. “Big thanks go to the medical staff for checking me over, and to the team for the work they’ll now put in on the car.”