Verstappen Overcomes Penalty, Crash to Win Las Vegas Grand Prix

Posted on: November 19, 2023, 06:49h. 

Last updated on: November 19, 2023, 06:49h.

There was no surprise ending to the inaugural Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday night. Favorite Max Verstappen of Team Red Bull raced to his 18th victory in 21 races this season.

However, the start and middle of the 50-lap event packed plenty of excitement, as Verstappen overcame a collision and a five-second penalty that at one point conspired to place him in fifth position.

Verstappen received his penalty for forcing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc’s car off the track in the very first corner. But five seconds was no sweat for the Dutch champ. Nor was the front-wing damage he suffered in a crash with Mercedes’ George Russell.

The 26-year-old Dutch driver handily fought his way back, overtaking Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, and then Red Bull’s Segio Perez and Leclerc, the two of whom traded leads early on.

No Stopping Verstappen

Leclerc finally succumbed to the Verstappen magic in Lap 37, then found himself in a tight race for second with Perez that was only decided when his Ferrari zoomed past Perez’s Honda on the final straight.

Esteban Ocon’s Alpine took fourth place, while Lance Stroll grabbed fifth for Aston Martin, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton — who also had contact — finished sixth and seventh. Russell finished eighth due to a five-second penalty for causing his collision with Verstappen.

Behind them, Fernando Alonso finished ninth after spinning his Aston Martin. And Piastri rounded out the top 10 finishers.

McLaren’s Lando Norris suffered a race-ending crash on lap four, when he spun into the barriers at high speed, fortunately ending up in the run-off area.

Verstappen already holds the record for most single-season victories in a season. He set it with his 16th win this season, in Mexico City last month, breaking his own record set last year.

With one more Grand Prix to go, next week in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen could finish the season with 19 wins in 22 meetings, a record unlikely to be challenged in the future by anybody — with the possible exception of Verstappen.

Race Results

OS		DRIVER	CAR		TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1		Max Verstappen	Red Bull		1:29:08.289	25
2		Charles Leclerc	Ferrari		+2.070s	18
3		Sergio Perez	Red Bull		+2.241s	15
4		Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault		+18.665s	12
5		Lance Stroll	Aston Martin		+20.067s	10
6		Carlos Sainz	Ferrari		+20.834s	8
7		Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		+21.755s	6
8		George Russell	Mercedes		+23.091s	4
9		Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin		+25.964s	2
10		Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes		+29.496s	2
11		Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault		+34.270s	0
12		Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes		+43.398s	0
13		Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari		+44.825s	0
14		Daniel Ricciardo	Alphatauri Honda		+48.525s	0
15		Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo Ferrari		+50.162s	0
16		Logan Sargeant	Williams Mercedes		+50.882s	0
17		Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo Ferrari		+85.350s	0
18		Yuki Tsunoda	Alphatauri Honda		Did not finish	0
19		Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari		Did not finish	0
NC		Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes		Did not finish	0

Source: casino.org