Not a surprise, but a surprising double success and crowning of world champion were born in the Grand Prix of Las Vegas.
George Russell got off to a perfect start, not so Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, who were overtaken by Charles Leclerc in two corners. Max Verstappen also had a solid start, but got stuck in traffic, so he "only" managed to recover to fourth place. We quickly arrived at the first pit stop, Fernando Alonso's start on soft tyres did not work, forcing the Spaniard to change already on the fourth lap. In the meantime, Sainz took back second place from Leclerc and was about to chase Russell. However, the Briton had already built up such a lead that it was clear that it would be more than enough until the end of the race. Leclerc had a hard time, Verstappen passed him without any problems, which was logical since he was fighting not only for a better position, but also for his coronation as world champion. Gasly, on the other hand, had nothing left to fight for, his Alpine was smoking under him...
By this point, the entire field had already pitted, the fronts had hardened and it was clear that two substitutions would be a working strategy. Only the Mercedes team could be considered to have significant tyre management, while everyone else continued to struggle with grip and getting the tyres into their operating window. Ultimately, Mercedes won the Las Vegas Grand Prix convincingly, with George Russell ahead of Lewis Hamilton, overtaking the Scuderia Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
But, what is perhaps much more significant, is that Max Verstappen, writing sporting history, defended his title and became world champion for the fourth time at the wheel of Red Bull Racing.
