F1: Abu Dhabi Preview, Constructors Championship Points on the Line

With the top three in the drivers championship already solidified coming into the weekend. The battle for 4th is heating up. Currently Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso are tied in 4th place with Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc in the hunt. Everything will come down to the Grand Prix. With 26 points up for grabs any between 4th and 7th place heading into the weekend has a shot at improving and finishing in the top 5.

Constructors Points Down to the Wire

Second place in the championship is up for grabs this weekend as Mercedes and Ferrari both have the opportunity to make a move in the standings. Mercedes currently holds the lead at 392 points versus Ferrari’s 388. The two camps have traded success in the most recent races with Mercedes losing out to Ferrari in the last outing in Las Vegas. However, Ferrari will need a repeat of last weekend if they want to take the second spot in the constructors championship. They need to outscore Mercedes to by 15 points or more this weekend to move up into second in the season finale.

In the battle behind McLaren and Aston Martin will battle it out for third and fourth. McLaren currently holds an 11 point lead over Aston Martin. McLaren can improve if they out score Aston by at least 12 points this weekend to move up in the constructors championship.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Tire Preview

Yas Marina Grand Prix
58 Laps

Friday, November 24
First practice – 1.30pm to 2.30pm (UAE time); Second practice – 5pm to 6pm
Saturday, November 25
Third practice – 2.30pm to 3.30pm; Qualifying 6pm to 7pm
Sunday, November 26
Race from 5pm

The race can be broadcasted on ESPN.

General Motors announced that they were formally registered with the FIA to become a power unit supplier in F1 for 2028. The announcement came after GM and Andretti publicly have committed to one another for their F1 bid. However, Formula One’s commercial rights holder, Liberty Media is still considering the application. No decision has been made on the commercial bargaining agreement that all 11 teams would share in F1.

The are mixed feelings on the introduction of an 11th team. The most vocal opponent of Andretti’s entry into F1 is Toto Wolff, Team Principal at Mercedes. Wolff offered his remarks on Andretti’s entry into F1, “Well, GM is one of the big players, no doubt,” Wolff said. “And I guess if they say they want to join the sport in ‘28, they’re serious about it, and it’s a good commitment. But, you know, we need to see whether the Commercial Rights Holder deems this to be a good entry or not.

“For many teams (adding an 11th team) is big dilution that can make the difference between, you know, big losses or less losses. And I haven’t changed my opinion on that. We haven’t seen any data, just to say it’s going be awesome. Where’s the case? What are the numbers? How much can we gain in popularity? What’s the name worth? How much more can the sport be attractive? What are the facts? And if those facts are positive, I have no doubt that F1 will consider that in that way.”

Zak Brown Has a More Positive Outlook

Zak Brown, McLaren team principal “A potential entry has to be the right team with the right resources,” he told Motorsport.com. “Let’s assume for a moment it is. If they pay the right franchise fee – which is not US$200 million, let’s say it’s US$700 million – then I get US$70 million.

The dilution of an 11th team is about US$10 million a year. So, if I get US$70 [million], it will be covering me for seven years. Then if it costs US$700 [million] just to enter, it’s created US$700 million more in franchise value. So, whatever I’m worth today, pick a number… US$2 billion, now I’m worth US$2.7 billion.”

Regardless the decision is now out of the hands of the teams. With GM committing to an Andretti partnership. It is hard to believe that one of the most well funded automotive brands in the woudn’t have the funding to make the move happen. However, we still do not have a verdict. We will report back as this story develops. Andretti is looking to enter F1 for the 2025 season.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix started off with the majority of the drivers starting on the medium tires. The track was very dusty especially off of the main racing line. At the start contact between Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) came together and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) spun out. A virtual safety car was released which gave those with damage a chance for a cheap pit stop for new wings. The cars were off and Verstappen built up a 1.5 second lead before Lando Norris (McLaren) crashed out of the race. Norris lost the rear heading into turn 14 which resulted in him contacting the wall and sliding off into the crash lane. The car was totaled, and he was not able to continue. Norris was taken to the hospital for precautionary checks.

Verstappen Penalized for Turn 1 Incident

Max Verstappen was handed a 5 second penalty for forcing Leclerc off of the track into turn 1 at the race start. Verstappen struggled for grip into the first turn. The decision came after 7 laps had gone. When notified via the team radio, Verstappen seemed unbothered by the notion responding with “Thanks, send them [referring to the FIA Stewards] my regards”. At that point Verstappen had already build a 2.3 second lead in the race. He was able to pit just before the half way mark and serve the penalty and come out in P9.

Verstappen made contact again this time with George Russell at the half way point resulting in some front wing damage on the Red Bull and possible floor/side damage on Russell’s Mercedes. The incident was investigated by the stewards and George Russell received a 5 second penalty for turning in on Verstappen. The incident brought out a safety car for debris on the track. After the safety car Verstappen began his charge to the front.

Leclerc Regained Lead

After the Safety car came out for the Verstappen-Russell incident a number of pit stops were triggered which allowed Leclerc to regain the lead of the race. Unfortunately for Leclerc, Perez had just pitted for fresh Hard tires which gave him a major grip advantage. By lap 32 Perez got past Leclerc at the end of the long straight into turn 11.

Perez built up a 1.2 second gap one lap later. However, Leclerc took advantage of a late braking mistake after the long straight to get back ahead of Perez. By this point Verstappen had move his way up and passed Leclerc leaving Perez and Leclerc to battle it out for P2. Leclerc unfortunately returned the favor to Perez on lap 44 where he was also late on the brakes, and ran wide allowing Perez to pass him with ease. Leclerc wasn’t done fighting though. On the final lap of the race Leclerc over took Perez at the end of the long straight stealing away P2. Perez’s P3 finish would however clinch 2nd place in the drivers championship for the Mexican.

Aston Martin Secure a Double Point Finish

Despite a spin out on the first lap, Fernando Alonso was able to bring the car home in the points finishing P9. Stroll who had a a very quiet race. However, he was able to bring home a P5 finish due to George Russell not having served his 5 second penalty. Russell effective finished P8. The finish was exactly what Aston Martin needed. The Aston’s took advantage of Norris crashing out to the race in the battle for fourth in the constructors championship. The double points finish brings Aston Martin within 11 points of McLaren.

With the result Red Bull broke the single season win record at 20 wins in Las Vegas while also securing a 1-2 in the Drivers Championship.

Full Las Vegas Grand Prix Results

At the start of the session both Calros Sainz and Lance Stroll were eliminated from being able to secure pole position. Sainz received a 10 place grid penalty due to having to change a power unit after his incident in FP1. Lance Stroll was handed 5 place grid penalty for overtaking under a double yellow flag during practice.

Q1 – Both McLarens Eliminated

Q1 got off to a quick start with the Haas cars heading out first in the session. It wasn’t long before Charles Leclerc topped the table with a flyer setting a 1m33.617s which was soon challenged by Max Verstappen but Verstappen fell short in the first session. A number of drivers had lap times deleted for track limits. 1m34.7XXs was the benchmark for Q2. Both the McLarens failed to make it out of Q1 which was a huge blow to their championship fight with Aston Martin. The McLarens never seemed to fire up their tires and thus fell behind on pace.

Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) and Zhou Guanyu (Alpha Romeo) were eliminated from the session along with the McLarens. Perez was suspected to be under investigation for impeding. However, no official action was issued by the stewards at this point. Lance Stroll was summoned for failing to slow under a yellow flag.

Q2 – Perez and Hamilton Fail to Progress

In Q2 the lap times started to drop dramatically. The Haas’ looked good early on in the session again. However, they were not able to improve on Q1 times. It was noted that the rate of rubbering in on the track was slower than normal which was likely an artifact of the cool track temperatures. Track temperatures at the start of the session were around 60 degrees Fahrenheit; 4 degrees lower than in FP3.

Charles Leclerc was the first to dip into the 1m32s, setting a 1m32.834s. Sainz followed a half second behind Leclerc with Russell running in third. Surprisingly Sergio Perez made the decision to pit with 2 minutes to go which ultimately left him vulnerable in P6 as the lap times began to fall. By the end of the session Perez was below the cut off and failed to make it to Q3. Lewis Hamilton also suffered the same fate after failing to get a clean lap in the 1m32s range.

Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg were eliminated from the session. Stroll will effectively start from P19 after his grid penalty is added to his finish. He may face further action depending on if the stewards hand down another punishment his failure to slow under a yellow in Q1. Both Williams cars made it into Q3 which will put them in possible point scoring territory come Saturday.

Q3 – Leclerc Secures Pole

The Ferraris made it clear in Q3 that they brought the best package this weekend. Charles Leclerc topped the table once again as the driver went out for their opening laps. With 3 minutes to go the top three were separated by less than 1 tenth of a second. By 1 and a half minutes the Williams cars both had not yet set a lap time. Essentially the Williams cars had one lap to determine their starting grid position. Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant secured P6 and P7 in the session.

Charles Leclerc’s pace remained unanswered and he secured pole position after setting a 1m32.726s lap. His teammate Carlos Sainz finished the session P2, but with his grid penalty will drop him out of the top 10. Max Verstappen will inherit P2 due to the Sainz penalty handing him a front row start. George Russell will move up to P3 with the rest of the grid shifting up one position up to 12th where Carlos Sainz will start the race barring any potential penalties from the stewards that have yet to be announced.

Preliminary Qualifying Results are Below

FP3 was a success in Las Vegas with all of the driver able to set times. The session was red flagged in the closed minutes as Alex Albon (Williams) made contact with the wall and stripped the tire off of his rear left wheel. Albon was able to nurse the car back to the pits. Albon got on the brakes too deep which sacrificed his exit line and he ran out of room to straighten out the car; resulting in the collision.

George Russell (Mercedes) topped the table for the first time this weekend. Russell got a nice slipstream on his final flying lap which allowed him to pull ahead of Oscar Piastri (McLaren) who finished P2 by 4 tenths of a second. In surprising fashion Logan Sargeant in the Williams ran third fastest; a half a second off of the fastest lap. If this result is any indication of his qualifying pace it might be Sargeant’s best qualifying weekend of the season. Qualifying is three hours away so we will see if Sargeant can keep up the pace when everything is on the line.

Verstappen and Perez Miss Out Due to Traffic

Both Max Verstappen and Perez set fastest Sector 1 and 2 times but as they both headed into sector 3 there was an incident where Daniel Ricciardo had run off of the track and Max Verstappen had to abort into the safety lane. He wouldn’t get a chance to set another lap due to the timing of the red flag. Perez was also on a flyer, but also had to abort his lap after catching a bit of bad air rattling the stability of his car in middle of sector 2.

Every single car on the track ran soft tires in the closing minutes of FP3. Given the track temperatures at night in Las Vegas it was safe to say that no one would be on the hard tire this weekend in FP3. The track was at 64 degrees Fahrenheit during FP3 and that temperature is expected to drop come qualifying time which starts at midnight local time.

In the battle for second place in the championship Perez finished one tenth faster than Hamilton who struggled early in the session opting for the mediums, but soon cut tenths off his lap times as he switched to the soft tires. Qualifying for Hamilton will be extremely important because Perez can clinch second place in the championship this weekend. If Perez holds a 26 or more point lead after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Hamilton will not be able to mathematically catch Perez.

Qualifying will take place at midnight local time.

Full FP3 Results are Below

Thus far the Las Vegas Grand prix has been filled with controversy from the start. In what was supposed to be one of the most memorable and festive grand prix of all time. It is being remembered for all of the wrong reasons. In FP1 Carlos Sainz was Forced to Retire after a manhole was dislodged from the pavement causing major damage to the bottom of his car and the power unit. While the incident wasn’t Sainz’s fault the FIA stewards then doubled double and handed Sainz a 10 place grid penalty.

The Steward Issued the Following Statements for Sainz Penalty

“The stewards determine that notwithstanding the fact that the damage was caused by highly unusual external circumstances, Article 2.1 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations obliges all officials, including the Stewards, to apply the regulations as they are written,” said the announcement. “Accordingly, the mandatory penalty specified under Article 28.3 of the Sporting Regulations must be applied. The stewards note that if they had the authority to grant a derogation in what they consider in this case to be mitigating, unusual and unfortunate circumstances, they would have done so, however the regulations do not allow such action.”

The punishment seems overly punitive considering the incident was caused by an improperly vetted manhole on the pavement. On the flip side for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc’s sim racing time seems to be playing well into his hands as he runs fastest again in FP2. Unfortunately, Sainz will already be at a disadvantage heading into qualifying despite running second fastest in FP2. The session was delayed as the track marshals had not finished vetting all of the drain covers on the circuit.

Las Vegas Grand Prix Social Media Statement

The Las Vegas Grand Prix previously posted the following statement before deleting it for why fans were removed from the stands. “Due to logistical considerations for our fans and our staff, we have made the determination that we will be closing all Las Vegas Grand Prix fan areas at 1.30am. We look forward to welcoming fans back later today for exciting FP3 and qualifying sessions”.

Due to this the circuit officials mandated that all fans be removed form grandstands despite being ticket holders. The fans were not happy about this decision after already being robbed of 51 minutes of action in FP1. The decision was made 30 minutes before the start of FP2. The fans took to social media to express their frustrations.

Another Said

Some fans were even threatened with arrest

Unfortunately the race weekend has gotten off to a shaky start. FP3 is scheduled for Friday 8:30 PM local time with qualifying at midnight thereafter.

Full FP2 Results

Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend did not get off to a great start for anyone. Nine minutes into FP1 a manhole encloser came loose on the main straight which impacted the bottom of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari. Sainz was told to shut down the car immediately and his session was ended. Shortly after the FIA stewards cancelled the session for safety concerns.

FP2 will begin in 2 hours time. The session will be crucial for data. Many of the drivers did not get a chance to set one lap. Some drivers were still warming their tires. The drivers who headed out early logged 5 laps before the red flag came out. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was the fastest in the session; 2.5 seconds faster to the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg. 3.3 seconds behind was the No. 20 Haas of Kevin Magnussen in third. Max Verstappen (Redbull) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) rounded out the top 5.

The extent of the damage to Sainz’s car is not yet known. We will report back regarding any updates that may affect FP2.

Full Las Vegas Grand Prix FP1 Results

The 2023 F1 champion Max Verstappen has made it clear that he is not a fan of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. “I just always want to focus on the performance side of things, I don’t like all the things around it anyway,” he said in a pre race weekend interview. The Las Vegas Grand Prix may be one of the most extravagant races on the calendar this year but there are mixed feeling on the event. Verstappen has been the biggest opponent of the event.

Verstappen Continued His Thoughts on the Event in Las Vegas

“For me, you can skip this,” said the 2023 World Champion. “We are just standing up there, looking like a clown. I mean, yeah…Some people like the show a bit more, I don’t like it at all. I grew up just looking at the performance side of things and that’s how I see it as well. So for me, I like to be in Vegas, but not so much for racing. We are not a stakeholder, so we just go with it. They decide what they do, right? I would do the same if I was the owner, I wouldn’t listen to the drivers. It’s my sport, I would do with it what I want if that would be the case.”

Others like 7 time champion Lewis Hamilton had a more positive outlook on the event. “Driving in the nightlights I’m going to feel like I’m in the Casino movie! It’s pretty cool. People are going to be coming from all over for the Grand Prix. It’s great that each city here in America gives a different atmosphere but the one thing is they’ve amazing fans, hardcore sporting fans. It’s such a huge place and there’s something for everyone here. If you want to be in the mountains, you want to be in countryside, you want to be in the city… You’ve got New York which I think is the coolest city ever and Vegas which is kind of a big playground for adults.”

Race Preview

Las Vegas Grand Prix
Date November 16th-19th 2023
Las Vegas Strip, United States

The track for the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix runs along the famous Las Vegas Strip. The 17-turn circuit is 3.853 miles/6.201 kilometers long.

View a full lap on the circuit below:

Practice 1: Thursday, Nov. 16, 11:30 p.m. ET
Practice 2: Friday, Nov. 17, 3 a.m. ET
Practice 3: Friday, Nov. 17, 11:30 p.m. ET
Qualifying: Saturday, Nov. 18, 3 a.m. ET
Race: Sunday, Nov. 19, 1 a.m. ET

Today Williams announced that 17 year old Lia Block, daughter of late rally legend Ken Block will represent the team for the 2024 F1 Academy season. She will race with ART Grand Prix for the 2024 season. The move will mark her first season of open wheel racing ever. In addition coming from a strong pedigree of racing Block has a plethora of experience in the karting world, rallycross, rally and Extreme-E.

An excited Lia Block had the following words about the opportunity, “I am so excited to be joining the Williams Driver Academy and competing in F1 Academy in 2024,” she shared following the announcement. This is something I never could have dreamed of. I can’t wait to embrace this new experience and learn as much as possible.”

James Vowles, Team Principal, Williams Racing: “We are excited to welcome Lia to Williams Racing as our F1 Academy driver for 2024. Lia has already achieved a tremendous amount in motorsport, has incredible natural talent, and the champion mindset and dedication to make a success of her journey into open-wheel racing. We cannot wait to get started on this journey together. As a team, we are committed to Formula 1 and F1 Academy’s joint efforts to improve female representation in motorsport, and we look forward to working with Lia as a key part of the Williams Racing Driver Academy.”

The F1 Academy series will race at 7 Formula one rounds next season starting in Saudi Arabia before heading to Miami, Barcelona, Zandvoort, Singapore, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

While a Formula 1 championship is the dream of every professional race car driver in the world. There is a downside to success for this year’s, and three time world champion Max Verstappen. In order to maintain his super license Max Verstappen will have to pay a hefty fee if he wants to race Formula One in 2024. The fee structures to maintain a super licenses starts with a base fee of €10,400. The licensing fee is also coupled with a variable fee €2100 per championship point earned.

The formula for Verstappen’s bill in 2023 could nearly reach €1.4 million in order for him to retain his licenses in 2024 if he wins in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. While the fees may seem punitive the FIA ensures that the funds raise through licensing fees go toward improving driver safety precaution for the next season. In 2022 Verstappen set a record for the highest super license fee at €963,800 but his success this year will see that record toppled. Thus far the tally is at a whopping €1,110,800 which may increase depending on his finishes in the final two grand prix of the season. Now that’s a tax on success!