Welcome back (and yes, I've been waiting for MONTHS to use that Lando headline!). Hope you all had a Wicked weekend! We are now down to the last three races of the 2024 season, and we have a tight race for the Constructors Cup after the Brazil GP, with three teams in contention for the top spot, and Max leading Lando going into Vegas for the Drivers Cup. To give you an idea of where we stand before this weekends Vegas GP, here are some nifty graphics to set the scene!
If this had been last season, there would not be the excitement of a close race in either of these categories, as Max and Red Bull dominated 2023 (and would have been pretty boring blog posts! :)
As always, lets start with the driver grid, with the two replacement drivers afterwards:
Kiwi Liam Lawson replacing Riccardo for RB.
Argentine Franco Colapinto replacing Sargent for Williams.
Speaking of Williams, I was not taking the bait that they would only have one car racing in Vegas after both their cars were wiped out in the Brazil GP three weeks ago! Made for some nice buzz, but unless I hear it from Principal James Vowles, not buying it! :)
In another piece of off-track news, RB's Yuki Tsunoda dang near didn't make it into the country, as US Border officials question him for hours IN HIS JAMMIES before he was finally cleared to enter the U.S. just in time to settle into his hotel room and prep for practices! Speaking of which..... Lando Eye Candy!
A Happy McLaren Muppet (fans nickname for him- me Moppet!) Lando! #teampapaya
Onto racing! First up, the practices: 60 minutes for each practice. P1: Night racing and it's a street race! Vegas looks gorgeous, but dang, it is chilly at 47 degrees and fans are bundled up, as are the tyres in the paddock! The track is very shiny and dusty, and since it's cold, drivers will have a challenge warming up their tyres. track length is about 3.8 miles with 17 turns. Main gripe we are getting from the drivers is "low grip" due to dust and the slick track. Other than a few lock-ups, no incidents, other than the oddity of Oscar Piastri's McLaren car engine in denial of turning off as he was heading into the garage ("I want to race, Oscar, not go to the garage!"), which was quickly identified and fixed. The Sky Sports announcers picked up on one thing: Yes, there SHOULD be a clear yellow line for pit entry, as of right now, it's quite difficult to see the pit entry line, as the dust as made that white line very faded. Onto next practice! P2: It's colder, but the track should have a little bit more grip due to P1 practice race running. Oh, and yes, both Williams cars are racing- hmmph to the rumors!
I spoke too soon, as 15 minutes into this practice, Alex Albon's car is still in the garage dealing with a technical issue(fuel system problem!) Pretty orange half-moon in the Vegas night sky, btw!
Turn 14 seems to be the slower cautious turn as there is no grip due to the slickness of the track. With 22 minutes to go in this practice session, we get a red flag, on Albon and his car. Good news: He didn't crash, so car and driver are intact, Bad news: Hydraulics said, "Nah, you didn't correct that fuel system problem so I'm just gonna stall out here on track!". Albon is done for this practice. No further incidents, so night one of F1 Vega GP racing is done!
Onto P3 Friday (west coast PST time- I am feeling for my European fans, cuz the time zone script has flipped- good for me, early AM hours for them!).
P3: Another chilly night in Vegas, 47 degrees to start, everyone bundled up again. Drivers already complaining how slippery the track is. Seems the teams are "scrubbing the tyres" on the track to prepare the tyres for Qualifying. Max Verstappen is not happy with his car, and after a couple of radio calls to the pit, Red Bull pulls him in. It's thermal graining hell (will need a definition on that) for Max on soft tyres, but does well on that lap. With six minutes to go, a red flag waves as Aston-Martin's Lance Stroll's car engine gives up the ghost, and stalls around turn 14, and his P3 is done! Onto Qualis! (Ay least he didn't crash it- shade!)
Lando Eye Candy:
Young Lando beaming with Pride!
A note on how Qualifying works: There are three quick races to determine grid position for the GP race. First quali the last five drivers are cut, second quali again, last five drivers dropped, and 3rd and final quali determines the top ten on the grid and the ever important pole (1st) position. This also applies to the Sprint Qualis, you will just see me use SQ1 to show the difference.
Q1: 18 minutes. Gonna be close if Stroll can get his car 's power unit repaired and on track. He and his pit crew do (miracles!) with two minutes remaining, but was not enough to avoid the bottom five: Stroll, Alonso, Perez, Albon and Bottas will start the Grand Priz at the back of the grid.
Q2: 15 minutes. No incidents until after the checkered flag dropped (if you are on track when it drops you are still racing for lap time), and then....the LAST thing that the Williams Racing team wanted to happen, as Franco Colapinto hard crashes into the wall (he is okay) at Turn 5, bashing the barrier there, but his car is definitely not, wheels on track, wheels askew, and a mess of twisted metal! This quali is over, so the bottom five here are Colapinto, Zhou, Lawson, Magnussen and Ocon. After crashing both cars in Brazil and now this, Williams racing budget screaming this right now: I shall keep my Red Baron jokes to myself in this time of distress!
Q3: 12 minutes: This for pole position and top ten grid placement! Lots of debris on the track, so Q3 delayed for a few. After about 20 minutes of track cleanup, Q3 starts! No incidents, but boy was the final two minutes exciting, as all the drivers were pushing for fastest lap and pole position! And that pole position goes to George Russell/Mercedes, with Sainz/Ferrari 2nd, Gasly/Alpine 3rd (!!!!), LeClerc/Ferrari, 4th, Verstappen/Red Bull, 5th, Norris/McLaren, 6th, Tsunoda/RB, 7th (not in his jammies!), Piastri/McLaren, 8th, Hulkenberg/Haas, 9th, and surprisingly, Hamilton/Mercedes in 10th!
Lando Eye Candy:
A Lando modeling collage!
Vegas Grand Prix: 50 laps. Weather is warmer this Saturday night at mid 50's, but it is gusty! 306,000 in attendance for this weekend's GP, btw. Tyres note: This will be a combo of Medium and Hard tyres (durability), and no team has used the Hards in any of the races mentioned above this weekend and an expected one pit stop...hmmm. Williams Racing has performed another miracle as Colapinto's car and Franco are ready to race, Franco will be starting from the pit lane. And it's LIGHTS OUT ,and Russell has a great breakout start to take the lead, while both Ferrari drivers moved up to 2nd and 3rd on a very fast first lap.
Lap 10 finds both LeClerc and Norris pitting early to switch from the medium to hard tyres, as the graining is not being kind to those who are not managing their Medium tyres. Russell, Sainz, Verstappen top three at this point, Gasly in 4th. Sainz pitting as well for tyre change. Hamilton up to 4th! Piastri gets a false start five second penalty which he served on his pit stop (8.9 seconds!), as more drivers pit to switch to Hard tyres!
With everyone pitting and switching to Hard tyres, the racing deck has shuffled by lap 15, and I am not even going to touch the the list until we have some stable racing (that's a loaded phrase, i know!), When Yuki Tsunoda left the the pit lane, he took out the speed limit sign! Yuki and the car okay, but let's pour one out for that sign!
Lap 18 find Pierre Gasly out of the race, DNF for him (Colby sad face). Lap 27 finds debris in Albon's radiator, and he is out of the race (DNF). Sigh....shall we pour another one out for the Williams team after this weekend? We finds several of the leading drivers making a 2nd pit stop ( as many of us suspected) to get another set of new hard tyres on. Indecision by Ferrari pit wall has cost them, as they first told Sainz to box, then said stay out, but Sainz had already crossed the pit entry line. No penalty though.
As you may have noticed, unlike previous races I've recapped, I hardly did a leaderboard on certain laps, mainly because of the pit-stop polloza, and was waiting for a steady line up. Well, I can now say (previewing the next paragraph!), that Russell has led this entire race, with his teammate Hamilton chasing him, and the two Ferrari's and Max basically making it a race for the last 20 laps. McLaren drivers just didn't have enough in their tyres (tyre management?) and were behind the above mentioned drivers. On the last lap, Norris pitted to switch to soft tyres to try and get the fastest lap of the race and pick up a point for the McLaren team, which he did!
Lando Eye Candy:
Lando is known for sleeping in late, and taking quick naps in the paddock b4 a race!
And your Las Vegas GP winner is George Russell (he had better chosen the bacon and eggs over the yogurt! IYNYK!), who drove just a dang near perfect race, managing his tyres, and his pace! Second goes to his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who moved from 10th to 2nd, and also drove a great race, and picked up the Fan Favorite Vote of the race. Third place goes to Carlos Sainz, despite Ferrari's best efforts to muck his race up (again, IYKYK!). Coming in 4th was Max Verstappen, which he can live with because.....Maz Verstappen has won the Drivers Championship for the 4th year in a row! Congrats, Max! You ran a brilliant Brazil DP to put you in this position, a race that should be a masterclass in driving in harsh weather conditions, coming from 17th to win that crazy race! And you are in Vegas again, so PARTY with your friends, family and Red Bull crew!
Max Verstappen with his fourth consecutive F1 Drivers Cup- joins a rare group achieving that feat! Onto Qatar for the penultimate race of the 2024 season! I did promise the reveal for those who don't know, of another paddock puppy (this is the ONLY part that my younger sister cars about!). Without further ado, Introducing Simba, and his F1 driver Daddy, Pierre Gasly!
Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend, y'all!
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