3 hours Ago By Will Wood
George Russell led home Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Max Verstappen clinched the 2024 world championship. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Verstappen finished in fifth place, securing his fourth consecutive world championship title. At the start, pole winner Russell beat Carlos Sainz Jnr as his Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc got ahead of third-place starter Pierre Gasly.
Through the first corners, the two Ferraris went side-by-side with Leclerc move ahead of his team mate into second place. Leclerc tried to challenge Russell for the leas through the early laps, but the Mercedes driver defended his lead. After his efforts were repelled, Leclerc fell back from Russell and allowed team mate Sainz through into second before being passed by Verstappen to fall to fourth.
With both Ferraris struggling with graining, Leclerc was brought in for hard tyres at the end of lap nine with Ferrari pitting Sainz the next lap. That triggered reactions from Red Bull and Mercedes, with Russell retaining the lead ahead of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, who were yet to stop, with Verstappen in a net second place ahead of the two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc. Russell maintained a healthy lead over Verstappen as the Ferraris in third and fourth were caught by Hamilton.
On lap 27, Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit for a second time, prompting a second round of stops. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Hamilton jumped ahead of the Ferraris and then passed Verstappen along the Strip to move up into second place to make it a Mercedes one-two. Verstappen lost places to both Ferrari drivers and fell to fifth, but crucially remained ahead of championship rival Lando Norris in sixth.
Hamilton began to reel in his team mate but Russell did not let him within five seconds of him. Russell claimed victory by seven seconds as Hamilton completed the one-two in second. Sainz took the final podium position in third, two seconds ahead of his team mate, with Verstappen securing his championship in fifth.
Norris finished sixth after pitting late to take the fastest lap, ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri. Nico Hulkenberg claimed points ahead of Yuki Tsunoda to move Haas back up to sixth in the constructors’ championship ahead of Alpine. Perez claimed the final point in tenth.
Pierre Gasly retired early on with a power unit problem after smoke was coming from the rear of his Alpine. Alexander Albon was also retired by Williams after he also developed a power unit problem. Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else.
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