Ferrari race report: Carlos Sainz P3, Charles Leclerc P4 in 2024 F1 Las Vegas GP

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Here is our full text transcript from round 22 of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the Las Vegas Grand Prix at the Las Vegas Strip circuit:

Welcome back to Las Vegas for a potentially decisive day in the 2024 Formula 1 season. On Saturday night in Sin City, Max Verstappen has the opportunity to seal the Drivers’ Championship by finishing ahead of Lando Norris. The Dutchman isn’t on pole though! The spot at the front of the grid belongs to George Russell after a brilliant display from the Mercedes driver yesterday.

Pole-sitter George Russell on Sky Sports F1:

“Carlos is definitely a threat. He was only just behind us all day really. They're not a million miles away. I think we hit the ground running really well and then everyone has been dropping their wing levels. The Ferraris are really quick in a straight line. So, that's probably going to be the biggest threat, their straight-line speed.”

Nobody has used the hard tyres all weekend and the teams have saved two sets, just in case degradation is worse than they expect, or there is a timely Safety Car. It should be a one-stop race, but a Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car, or even a red flag will change all that!

All but four drivers are starting the race on medium tyres. We’ve got three starting on hards, including Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in P15. Fernando Alonso is the only driver starting on softs, in search of a rapid getaway no doubt.

The formation lap begins and all 19 cars get off the grid. Franco Colapinto is starting in the pit lane due to changes made to his car after a big crash. Here we go, not long to wait now until the Las Vegas Grand Prix…

Lap 1/50: George Russell makes the perfect start and Charles Leclerc nails the first corner to take second place! He gets by Pierre Gasly and goes around the outside of Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz at Turn 3. Brilliant from the Monegasque driver. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were side by side at the first corner, but the Red Bull driver managed to just about to stay in front. There’s no change to the positions in the top 10 aside from Leclerc’s jump forward, with Lewis Hamilton still in 10th.

Lap 4/50: Max Verstappen gets the job done with the help of DRS up the back straight to go fourth. The Dutchman puts a car between himself and Lando Norris, and is looking good for the title early on here! Russell covers the inside into Turn 14 and the pair almost go side by side through the scary last corner. The Mercedes driver fends off Leclerc into Turn 1 and just about retains the lead. Great racing.

Lap 5/50: Oscar Piastri could be in a spot of bother here. He’s been noted by the stewards for a false start, and may well have a penalty coming his way. He has just retaken eighth from Nico Hulkenberg, but it’s not been a great start to his evening on The Strip.

Lap 6/50: Russell pulls away out of DRS range from Leclerc and now Sainz is right behind his Ferrari team-mate. Verstappen is in fourth, with Norris in sixth, so as it stands, the Dutchman will become champion.

Lap 7/50: It’s taken him a moment, but Lando Norris is now right on the tail of Pierre Gasly. It shouldn’t be long before the McLaren can clear the Alpine with the help of DRS.

Lap 7/50: Since that big attack from Leclerc, Russell has pumped in the lap times and is 2.2 seconds in front of Leclerc.

Lap 8/50: Carlos Sainz gets by Charles Leclerc on the back straight and is now in second place. Leclerc’s pace has completely vanished.

Lap 8/50: What a duel this is! Lewis Hamilton is all over the back of Oscar Piastri but the young Australian is holding off the seven-time world champion for now. Mercedes clearly have decent pace at this stage of the race.

Lap 8/50: Surely Leclerc has an issue. Verstappen breezes past too on the long run down to Turn 14. Martin Brundle wonders if Leclerc pushed too hard when behind Russell earlier on.

Lap 9/50: Lando Norris has got past Pierre Gasly for fifth, but it’s not good news for the other McLaren as Lewis Hamilton completes the job on Oscar Piastri for eighth. Norris will surely close on the struggling Leclerc now. Passes everywhere once more in Las Vegas!

Lap 10/50: Leclerc pits for a new set of hards, which is no surprise but so does Norris. They both come out towards the back of the field. The tyre graining is huge here in Las Vegas once your tyres drop out of the optimal operating window.

Lap 10/50: Lewis Hamilton is still flying. He’s got past Yuki Tsunoda and is now on the back of Pierre Gasly, for what is currently P4.

Lap 11/50: It is tyre chaos in Las Vegas as Carlos Sainz loses pace and he’s overtaken easily by Max Verstappen. Verstappen is up to second and eight seconds behind George Russell. Sainz then pits and comes out ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Lap 11/50: Oscar PIastri has just had a five-second penalty for a false start confirmed. It was apparently due to the fact he lined up beyond his the front of his pit box. He’s just come into the pits and served the penalty, which has put him down to P18 for now.

Lap 12/50: A very quick two-second pit stop from Red Bull and Max Verstappen also comes out in traffic. Crucially, he’s ahead of both Ferraris and Norris though.

Lap 12/50: Mercedes are looking supreme here, and their tyres working so well has resulted in Lewis Hamilton moving up to second behind his team-mate George Russell. The gap between them is 15 seconds, and Hamilton might not be completely out of this one yet.

Lap 12/50: In comes George Russell. The race leader stops and crucially comes back out in second place, comfortably ahead of the huge squabble behind him. Lewis Hamilton leads – how much longer can he go for?

Lap 13/50: Max Verstappen and both Ferraris are making their way through the midfield traffic, who have not pitted. Verstappen is now in fifth with Sainz in sixth and Leclerc in seventh. They have all overtaken Colapinto, Bottas and Magnussen.

Lap 13/50: Lewis Hamilton only lasts a lap longer than George Russell, but he’s now in the mix. He comes out just behind Lando Norris in what is currently ninth place, but there are three cars ahead of him who are yet to stop.

Lap 14/50: Lewis Hamilton appears to be a bit confused by the race situation. He complains over team radio about how many places he thinks he’s lost. But he’s actually right on the tail of the leaders and has just, along with Norris, passed Kevin Magnussen. They are now running in seventh and eighth.

Lap 16/50: Sergio Perez started on the hard tyres, so was running in second place. He lets Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen through and Carlos Sainz also gets by.

Lap 17/50: Lewis Hamilton overtakes Lando Norris down the back straight and sets a new fastest lap of the race too. Leclerc, Hamilton and Perez all overtake Perez, who then comes into the pits.

Lap 18/50: George Russell is cruising out front. His lead over Max Verstappen is up to 10 seconds, and the way Hamilton is going, Mercedes could be on for a one-two here. Hamilton is just a second back from fourth-placed Charles Leclerc.

Lap 20/50: He’s not winning, but Max Verstappen is very much on course to seal the world championship tonight. There are eight seconds and three cars between Verstappen and Norris at this point. The Dutchman just needs to finish ahead of Norris to retain his title.

George Russell leads Max Verstappen by 10 seconds, with Carlos Sainz two seconds back from the Red Bull driver. Then comes the Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton fight, but the latter does not have the straight line speed to make an overtake. Lando Norris is in a lonely sixth at the moment. All the front-runners have pitted once and are on the hards. We now expect a two-stop race.

Lap 25/50: Alex Albon is not a happy camper. After being told that Williams are managing a problem and he can’t use his overtake mode, he asks: “Can we have one race without issues?” He’s currently running in the final points position in P10.

Lap 26/50: The issue is terminal for Alex Albon, who has been told to retire his car. That means Zhou Guanyu is into the top 10 and on course to score Sauber’s first point of the season!

Lap 26/50: Into the pits comes Oscar Piastri from eighth and he comes back out in 15th. That’s Piastri’s second pit stop in this race.

Lap 28/50: Carlos Sainz lets Charles Leclerc through into Turn 14 and Lewis Hamilton nearly overtakes him too. It looks like Sainz was going to pit but he comes back onto the track, cutting across the pit entry. Hamilton does pit though. Chaos!

Lap 27/50: Ahead of that battle, Max Verstappen comes into the pits. He’s out behind Lando Norris in fifth, with Hamilton just behind his old rival.

Lap 30/50: Carlos Sainz asks what happened when he was told to stay out at the last moment and Ferrari say they were not ready. We expect Sainz to get a penalty for cutting across the white line at the pit entry.

Lap 30/50: Lando Norris has just made his second stop. He comes out in seventh and more than 10 seconds behind fifth-placed Carlos Sainz. It’s not happening for the McLaren driver today.

Lap 32/50: Lewis Hamilton cruises by Max Verstappen on the back straight and that effectively puts him into second place. Verstappen knew he could do nothing about Hamilton there.

Lap 31/50: Charles Leclerc is the latest of the front-runners to stop. He comes out just behind team-mate Carlos Sainz in fifth but has fresher tyres. Will Ferrari swap their cars back over? We’ve still heard nothing on a possible penalty for Sainz’s aborted pit lane entry…

Lap 33/50: George Russell pits from first place for a new set of hard tyres. All of the front-runners have pitted twice now. Russell comes out 11 seconds ahead of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes are on course for a one-two!

Lap 33/50: Nico Hulkenberg has made his second stop, which elevates Lando Norris back up to sixth. The Brit is 10 seconds behind Charles Leclerc in P5, with his team-mate Oscar Piastri 10 seconds behind him in P7.

Lap 35/50: Russell leads by 10 seconds from Hamilton, with Verstappen three seconds behind the seven-time world champion. Then come Sainz and Leclerc, with Norris by himself at 11 seconds behind the Ferrari duo. All Verstappen has to do remember is finish ahead of Norris to become world champion today. That looks almost certain to happen.

Lap 36/50: “Hamilton is on a mission,” says Sky Sports F1’s Martin Brundle. The gap is down to nine seconds, despite Hamilton being on older hard tyres.

Lap 39/50: Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc are also flying along together in unison. Max Verstappen is just 1.2 seconds ahead of Sainz and could be under pressure from the Ferraris in the next couple laps.

Lap 41/50: Verstappen makes a small error into Turn 5 and Sainz is right on his gearbox…

Lap 42/50: Verstappen doesn’t defend too hard from Sainz, who simply goes down the inside into Turn 14 to take third place. Leclerc should follow through on the next lap you would think.

Lap 44/50: Ted Kravitz has been down at the Mercedes garage and has been told Lewis Hamilton is free to attempt to catch and pass his team-mate George Russell. It does look as though his superb charge might be about to fall short, with the gap having stabilised at just over five seconds.

Lap 45/50: Verstappen is 1.1 seconds behind Sainz, so Leclerc will have a chance to mount a serious attack on the Red Bull driver soon.

Lap 46/50: Leclerc goes down the inside of Verstappen into Turn 14 to take fourth place. Again, Verstappen doesn’t make it hard as he knows he’s still in a position to become world champion.

Lap 47/50: Lewis Hamilton has made a little error, which further eases the pressure on George Russell ahead. Hamilton got out of shape and had to use the run-off area, which saw him lose a second to his team-mate. Russell’s lead is over six seconds now.

Lap 50/50: George Russell has just started his final lap, and looks set to complete a dominant weekend here. Lewis Hamilton’s tyres have gone and Carlos Sainz is closing on him, but the six-second gap should be enough to ensure Mercedes claim the one-two here.

Chequered flag: George Russell completes a faultless performance to take victory for Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton was absolutely brilliant today and and makes it a one-two for the Silver Arrows. Max Verstappen crosses the line in fifth and Lando Norris is only sixth, so Verstappen is the 2024 world champion!

It is his fourth consecutive world title for Verstappen. An incredible campaign from the Dutchman and he gets the championship sealed with two races to spare.

Carlos Sainz finishes on the podium for Ferrari in third place, with Charles Leclerc in P4.

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