@Max33Verstappen clinches 53rd-career victory in thrilling #LasVegasGP. #F1
Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB19, celebrating on the podium after scoring his 53rd-career victory at the Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Grand Prix, Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Las Vegas, United States of America. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Verstappen Las Vegas GP Victory, 2023 Las Vegas GP, Las Vegas GP Results, 2023 F1 Las Vegas GP Results. 2023 Abu Dhabi GP Preview, F1 Abu Dhabi GP Preview, 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Preview.
Verstappen Las Vegas GP Victory – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen equalled four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel to third on the all-time winners list for his 53rd-career victory at a thrilling Las Vegas GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc made a late dive up the inside of Sergio Perez into turn 14 to take second place on the final lap.
When the 50-lap Las Vegas GP began, pole-sitter Leclerc got an equal getaway with Verstappen and the latter ran the former wide into turn one to take the lead meanwhile behind them the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was spun around after tapping the rear-left of Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton and dropping to the back.
At the end of the opening lap a virtual safety car was deployed to clear debris off the circuit at turn one as Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas made contact with Alonso as the latter suffered a spin.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez pitted for a new front wing after sustaining damage, whilst Alonso and Bottas also stopped for a set of hards.
When the VSC ended, Verstappen held a 2.3 second gap over Leclerc with Mercedes’ George Russell third, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly fourth as Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant completed the top six.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was the first casualty of the Grand Prix after losing the back end of his MCL60 racer and hit the wall into turn 12, which deployed the full safety car.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Ferrari’s Sainz also took the opportunity to stop for a fresh set of hards and emerged in 15th and 17th respectively.
Leclerc continued to talk to his team over the radio feeling he should be given the place back.
When the race resumed on lap seven, Verstappen charged away on the rundown into turn one with Leclerc second, Russell third, Gasly fourth as Albon and Sargeant rounded out the top six meanwhile behind them McLaren’s Oscar Piastri made a move on the inside to pass AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda into turn one for tenth place.
On the eighth tour, Verstappen’s lead was up to 1.816 seconds over Leclerc with Russell holding third Gasly fourth as Albon and Sargeant completed the top six.
Verstappen was hit with a five-second timed penalty for forcing Leclerc off the track on the opening tour into turn one.
Hamilton made short work of Tsunoda moving up into 11th place whilst Piastri made his way ahead of Hulkenberg for ninth.
On lap ten, Verstappen’s lead over Leclerc increased to 2.198 seconds with Russell third, Gasly holding fourth as Albon and Sargeant rounded out the top six in their FW45 entries.
In the battle for fourth Gasly was keeping right behind the Mercedes of Russell and the latter covered the Frenchman into turn 14.
Behind them Hamilton followed Piastri through to move up into ninth place after passing Magnussen on the run-down to turn 14.
Upfront, Leclerc started to match Verstappen on lap times after finding a good tyre working range on lap 13 as the gap dropped out front to 1.893 seconds.
On the 14th tour, Piastri dived up the inside of Sargeant into turn 14 and also the latter dropped behind Hamilton into ninth.
On the 15th lap, Verstappen’s lead out-front dropped to 0.598 seconds to Leclerc with Russell third, Gasly fourth as Albon rounded out the top five.
Russell pitted from third on lap 16 for hards and emerged in 13th behind Alonso meanwhile Sargeant stopped from ninth and came out in 16th behind Bottas.
Meanwhile Leclerc on the long famous “Las Vegas Strip”, got into the slipstream and passed Verstappen to reclaim the lead into turn 14, whilst the latter came in for his pit-stop and had to serve his five-second time penalty and emerged in 11th behind Russell.
Piastri and Hamilton also made contact after turn 14 with the former pitting and coming out in 16th.
A tour later, Gasly stopped from third and emerged in tenth behind Verstappen meanwhile Hamilton also pitted after suffering a puncture from his collision with Piastri and came out in 19th behind Ricciardo.
On the 19th lap, the yet-to-pit leader Leclerc was 14.634 seconds clear of Perez who passed Ocon for second place into turn 14, with Stroll fourth and Sainz up into fifth.
A lap later, Verstappen made his way around the outside of Alfa’s Zhou Guanyu into turn 11 to snatch eighth place.
On the 21st tour, Ocon pitted from third for a fresh set of C3 hards and came out in 12th behind Piastri.
The beginning of lap 22 saw Leclerc pit from the lead for a fresh set of hards and emerged in third behind Stroll meanwhile in the fight for fifth, Alonso had Russell tucked right behind the AMR23 into turn one.
On the Las Vegas Strip, Russell breezed his way around the outside of Alonso to take fifth place from the Spaniard before reaching turn 14 and Verstappen also found his way by overtaking the Aston Martin on the inside into the opening corner to take sixth place.
On the 24th tour, Russell flew passed the Ferrari of Sainz down the Las Vegas Strip to grab fourth place whilst Verstappen dived up the inside of the SF-23 into turn 14 to take fifth from the Spanish driver.
At the halfway point of the race, Perez was 10.992 seconds clear of Stroll with Leclerc third, Verstappen fourth as Russell completed the top five.
Meanwhile a tour later, Leclerc made his way ahead of Stroll into second place and behind them Russell and Verstappen made contact after the latter dived up the inside of the Briton into turn 12 with Verstappen suffering damage to his front wing and Russell lost his left-front wheel cover.
A second safety car was deployed for the debris to be cleared, meanwhile Perez pitted from the lead and emerged behind Leclerc as world champion Verstappen pitted for a set of hards and came out in fifth behind Piastri.
On lap 29 when the race resumed, Leclerc breezed ahead of Perez as the Mexican has Gasly having a look at passing the Red Bull into turn one but covered the A523, meanwhile a corner later, Piastri made his way in-front of Gasly to snatch third place.
On the 30th tour, Perez was right back on the Ferrari’s tail in the fight for the lead and later on in the lap, Perez had a look on Leclerc into turn 14 but the Monegasque driver kept the Red Bull at bay.
Lap 32, with DRS assistance down the Las Vegas Strip, Perez on his fresher harder rubber got into the slipstream of race-leader and made a lunge on the inside of Leclerc into turn 14 to take first place meanwhile Verstappen also got ahead of Gasly to move up into fourth place.
A tour later, Verstappen also breezed his way ahead of Piastri on the inside of turn 14 to jump up into third.
Behind them in the battle for fifth, Gasly started to fight with team-mate Ocon as both switched places with the former passing the latter as the Enstone-French squad told their drivers to hold positions and look at managing their tyres.
On lap 35, Leclerc was keeping within DRS range of Perez and later on in the lap at the Las Vegas Strip, the Ferrari driver dived up the inside of the Mexican into turn 14 to reclaim the lead.
On the 36th tour, this put Perez into the clutches of his team-mate Verstappen for the battle for second place and like Leclerc on the Las Vegas Strip – Verstappen moved ahead of his team-mate to grab second.
And on lap 37, on the Las Vegas Strip with DRS assistance, Verstappen dived up the inside of Leclerc to re-take the lead.
With ten laps remaining, Verstappen’s gap was 0.834 seconds ahead of Leclerc with Perez close behind in third, Piastri fourth as the two Alpine’s of Ocon and Gasly were fifth and sixth respectively.
On lap 41, race leader Verstappen broke the DRS hold from Leclerc as Perez in the battle for second continued to intensify with the Mexican tucked behind the Ferrari.
Lap 43 saw Leclerc out-brake himself into turn 13 letting Perez slip through into second place to make it a Red Bull one-two.
Meanwhile on the 44th lap Piastri pitted from fourth for a fresh set of mediums and emerged in 11th place behind Hamilton as Sainz passed Gasly for seventh.
A lap later, Alonso with DRS assistance passed Gasly around the outside on the rundown to turn 14 to take eighth place and at the end of the tour Hamilton pulled a brave overtake on the inside of the final corner to also get ahead of the Frenchman to move up into ninth.
On lap 46, Hamilton passed his former McLaren team-mate Alonso to move up into eighth place using DRS on the Las Vegas Strip as Hulkenberg became the second retirement of the race pulling off into the run-off area.
And on lap 48, Tsunoda also retired from the Grand Prix pulling off at turn 16 due to a gearbox problem as Russell moved up into fifth place overtaking Stroll.
On the final tour with DRS assistance, Leclerc made a late bold dive up the inside of turn 14 to overtake Perez for second place as Verstappen crossed the line to take the Las Vegas GP victory and his 18th win of the season.
Perez finishing third meant the Mexican wrapped up second place in the World Driver’s Championship to make it a Red Bull one-two in the standings.
Alpine’s Ocon finished fourth and in-front of Stroll who took fifth, Sainz who placed sixth as the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Russell came seventh and eighth respectively as the latter was demoted from fourth after receiving a five-second time penalty for his collision with race winner Verstappen.
Aston Martin’s Alonso and McLaren’s Piastri completed the final points places.
The second Alpine A523 entry of Gasly ended the Grand Prix outside the top ten in 11th place and ahead of Williams’ Albon who settled for 12th and Haas F1’s Magnussen who came home in his team’s home race in 13th.
The sole AlphaTauri of Ricciardo finished in 14th and in-front of Alfa’s Guanyu who took 15th, Williams’ Sargeant who came 16th at his third home Grand Prix of the season as Bottas completed the final runner of the race in 17th.
2023 Las Vegas GP – The Top Three
2023 Las Vegas GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB19:
“It was a tough one. I tried to go for it at the start, but I ran out of grip. That put us on the back foot, earned us the penalty, I had to pass quite a lot of cars. Already there was quite a lot going on. The DRS was very powerful, even when you took the lead, the guy behind could come back at you. It’s never ideal [to carry damage] but luckily, we could still win the race.”
2nd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-23, +2.070s:
“What a race! Honestly, I enjoyed it so much. I’m disappointed to be second, but it’s the best we could do. We were really strong overall; we got a bit unlucky with the Safety Car. We went for track position and keeping that first place. But second place with a lot of fight – I’ll take it. I’m so happy the [weekend] ended that way, there was no better race for a first race in Vegas.”
3rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB19, +2.241s:
“It was a really difficult race with a lot of damage initially, we broke the front wing so went to the back of the grid. We had strong pace in that first stint, and with the Safety Car, that brought us into the race. I overtook Charles, but I couldn’t pull away – I had too much rear wing so I couldn’t pull away. It was quite difficult with the gusts of wind, rear locking and then in the end with Charles, I wasn’t expecting him, he was 0.7 back – and then in the braking zone, he was there, so well done to him and to Max.”
Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023 Race Results Classification (50 Laps)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 50 | 1:29:08.289 | 25 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 50 | +2.070s | 18 |
| 3 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 50 | +2.241s | 15 |
| 4 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 50 | +18.665s | 12 |
| 5 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 50 | +20.067s | 10 |
| 6 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 50 | +20.834s | 8 |
| 7 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 50 | +21.755s | 6 |
| 8 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 50 | +23.091s | 4 |
| 9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 50 | +25.964s | 2 |
| 10 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 50 | +29.496s | 2 |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 50 | +34.270s | 0 |
| 12 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 50 | +43.398s | 0 |
| 13 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 50 | +44.825s | 0 |
| 14 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 50 | +48.525s | 0 |
| 15 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 50 | +50.162s | 0 |
| 16 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 50 | +50.882s | 0 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 50 | +85.350s | 0 |
| 18 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 46 | DNF | 0 |
| 19 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 45 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 2 | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Piastri scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1225/las-vegas/race-result.html
Click here for the Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings
The final round of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Yas Marina Circuit in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates for the season-closing Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023 from Friday November 24-Sunday November 26.
#F1 #LasVegasGP #Qualifying: @CharlesLeclerc storms to 23rd-career pole.
#F1 #LasVegasGP FP3: @GeorgeRussell63 pips @OscarPiastri by 0.398s as red flag ends session early.
#F1 #LasVegasGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two in delayed session.
