Charles Leclerc Dominates Qualifying to Secure Pole Position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix

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!

According to a statement made by General motors to the Associated Press, General Motors will not seek entry into F1 without Andretti Global. The statement comes after rumors in the motorsport world arose claiming that Cadillac, a General motors brand could potentially gain F1 status with another team in the field; despite the outcome of the FIA’s final decision on Andretti Global joining the F1 grid.

GM president Mark Reuss told AP, “GM is committed to partnering with Andretti to race in F1. The collaboration between Andretti-Cadillac brings together two unique entities built for racing, both with long pedigrees of success in motorsport globally.” Andretti current has permission to begin technical development. The jury is still out on the commercial FOM agreement. The FOM is currently reviewing the financial impact adding an 11th team will have on Formula One. We have not heard anything as far as an official decision.

We anticipate the loyalty surrounding the Andretti-General motors partnership is a big positive for Andretti’s case. General Motors has the platform to reach millions and they also have the advantage of being one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world. GM plans to send senior executives to next week’s Las Vegas Grand Prix in the hope of improving their chances for the FOM to approve Andretti’s entry.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend will take place starting November 16th with Free Practice 1 at 8:30pm PST.

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team was the model motorsport titan from 2014 to 2020 in Formula 1. However in recent years the ferocity and competitive advantage they held for so long seems to have dwindled away. But how? Surely a team who could dominate the pinnacle of motorsport for six years knows how to adapt to shortcomings in development. In 2023 there were glimpses of brilliance but nothing compared to the former day. What has Mercedes done wrong in 2023?

Where the Downturn Happened

The demise of Mercedes came via the introduction of the “zero sidepod” a new design thought to push the envelope in sidepod developments. This coupled with some changes to the FIA technical regulations raising the minimum height of the floor for all cars eventually led to multiple problem. The changes came after multiple cars complained about instability in the car coined as porpoising in 2022. The worst victim was seemingly Mercedes. The changes in 2023 for Mercedes were thought to correct the issues that plagued them last year, but improvement did not come. By mid season Mercedes conceded that that they needed to redesign the entire car; setting them back substantially.

Fast forward to today and now the rumor mill is flying with whispers related to now ex-Technical Director Mike Elliott and his departure from the Mercedes F1 camp. Elliott was considered responsible for the zero sidepod design that hasn’t panned out. While unconfirmed, many speculate that his decisions may have led to the down turn of Mercedes costing him his job. However, Mercedes has chosen to take the unified front.

Toto Wolff Rubbishes Rumors Surrounding Elliott’s Departure

Team Principal Toto Wolff denies any merit to the idea that Elliott. Wolff stated the following to Sky Sports F1, “Mike was my number one employee for many, many years in terms of how he performed. We are going to miss one of the most clever people in the industry. It was just a hard toll on him over those many years and I find it very remarkable that somebody can say ‘you know what? I need to do something else rather than holding on to this’. Formula 1 anyway is an incestuous environment. If someone is strong and says ‘I’m done with it’ for the time being that’s good.

It’s no single person’s fault if a car doesn’t perform. It’s also not one single person that makes the car faster. I think we have such a strength in the organization that you can take one out and everybody else is going to cover that. I don’t think that’s going to change anything next year.”

Hamilton and Wolff Were Displeased in Brazil

Hamilton had the following words after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last weekend, “It’s difficult to say why we struggled so much this weekend. There are moments with this car when it works and others when it doesn’t. It’s very inconsistent throughout the lap and we need to figure that out….we were slow on the straights but still sliding through the corners, so it was difficult. We will go away and look at things to find out what we should have done differently. It was a day to forget but hopefully there are lots of learnings from it too. I am also so proud of everyone in the team. They are still working as hard as they can and holding their heads up high. That’s what we have to continue to do and we will keep pushing to improve.”

Wolff had the following comments, “Lewis survived out there to take P8 whilst George was forced to retire. I can only feel for them having to drive something so difficult today. The car is clearly on a knife-edge the whole time and we need to ensure we develop that out of the car for next year. We also need to push hard for the final two races of the season and recover. That is the most important thing now heading to two very different tracks in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.”

Hamilton’s Second Place Possibly Decided in Vegas

With Hamilton’s second place hopes dwindling it seems that some of the Mercedes camp might have their sights set on 2024. The fight is not over, Hamilton is now 32 points behind Sergio Perez in the championship. With two races and potentially 52 points up for grabs the race is still on. However, if Perez leaves Las Vegas with more than a 26 point lead. Hamilton will be mathematically eliminated from second place. . There are no more sprint races so the only opportunity to score points will be the final two

Max Verstappen won the the Sao Paulo Grand Prix marking his 17th win of the year. The race got started with a dramatic incident on the formation lap by Charles Leclerc after he lost his hydraulics which sent his Ferrari into a spin into the wall. Leclerc was able to drive the car off of the track to prevent a delayed start. Upon the start Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen came into contact before turn one. Both cars were not able to continue and a red flag came out to clear the cars. Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri also suffered damage in the incident but were able to continue the race.

On the restart all of the cars got away cleanly and held on track until the first pit stops started to come. Hamilton came in after being passed by Sergio Perez for a set of medium tires which triggered a pit stops down the pecking order. On between lap 23 and 24 Zhou Guan Yu suffered from a mechanical failure which marked the 4th car to retire from the race.

Sergio Perez Continued His Charge

Sergio Perez got away from the Mercedes which is exactly what the Red Bull driver needed to keep his drivers championship second place fight alive. After the first pits stops it didn’t take Perez long to catch Lewis Hamilton who had pitted before. He passed with ease and built a 2 second lead within the next 2 laps; eliminating any benefit from DRS that Hamilton might have gained to hang on. Hamilton’s teammate was verbally frustrated on the radio questioning the teams decision to no let him pass his teammate before the pit window opened which cost Russell the opportunity to get into clean air in the chase for 3 place. The fight between Hamilton and Russell allowed Perez to get past both cars with minimal tire degradation deeming Perez the winner in the three car scuffle at this point in the race.

Verstappen Holds After First Pit Stops

Verstappen checked out at the front of the pack from the beginning of the race extending his soft tire stent to 27 laps. Because Norris behind also pitted on the same lap it was a free pit stop for Verstappen as he came in for mediums and came back out in the lead having built up a 28+ second lead over third place sitter Fernando Alonso.

By Lap 40 the fifth retirement occurred. This time it was Valtteri Bottas who suffered a mechanical failure. The retirement meant a double DNF for Alpha Romeo. No one expected to be down to 15 cars at this point in the race. However the retirements did clear up some track real estate which only help Verstappen as he didn’t need to navigate as many back markers. On lap 58 George Russell also retired from the race. Mercedes cited an oil cooling issue that would’ve resulted in a catastrophic failure of the power unit.

Perez and Alonso Battle it out to the End

Fernando Alonso was able to hold off a 15 lap siege by Sergio Perez. Perez used DRS for the majority of the end of the race but couldn’t quite get below the 4 tenths differential he needed to be able to make the pass. Alonso put on a masterclass in defense leaving no opening for Perez to utilize. However the opportunity finally came with 1 lap to go in the race where Perez out braked Alonso into turn 1. Perez got by and held the drive out of turn 4 to stay ahead. However, Alonso wasn’t done and fought back on the final lap of the race passing Perez. Third place came down to a drag race to the finish line that Alonso edged out a 0.053 lead and took third in the race. Alonso finished behind Lando Norris who held P2 for the majority of the race.

Hamilton Loses out in Brazil

Lewis Hamilton couldn’t muster the pace to make a challenge for the podium in Brazil. Hamilton was verbally displeased with the decision to go on to the soft tire instead of the hard which may have given him an advantage to drive at full pace. He finished P8 which did not help his case in the race for second place in the championship. Hamilton finished behind Perez in the Grand Prix and the Sprint race so Perez will leave the weekend with a 32 point lead over Hamilton. With two races to go Perez can potentially clinch second place in the next race in Las Vegas depending on the events in two weeks. For now Hamilton will need to reassess as his second place hopes are dwindling.

Full Race Results Below