Race report and highlights from the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Max Verstappen is crowned champion while George Russell leads Mercedes with a one-two in Las Vegas

Close behind, Verstappen and Norris increased the heart rates of Red Bull and McLaren by providing a neck-and-neck race in the first sector. They remained in fifth and sixth, ahead of Tsunoda, Hülkenberg, Piastri and Hamilton, while Lawson and Magnussen fought their own tight duel in the midfield.

On the fourth lap, Leclerc was close behind Russell and almost made a charge at Turn 14 when Verstappen slipped past Gasly to take P4. The Mercedes man was then forced to go on the defensive in Turn 1 at the start of the lap 5 to keep the Ferrari behind him.

Alonso gained several positions in the opening laps, but the gamble seemingly backfired when he pitted early to ditch his soft tires. However, there was a bigger problem for Piastri when the stewards gave him a five-second time penalty for an incorrect starting position.

After such a strong start to the race, Leclerc’s pace dropped dramatically – meaning Sainz and Verstappen were ahead in quick succession. Meanwhile, Hamilton got the better of Piastri to take eighth place, while Norris pushed past Gasly into P5.

Just ten laps later, Leclerc came into the pits with Norris to replace his defective medium tires with a set of hard tires. A tour later, Sainz, Gasly, Tsunoda and Piastri did the same, leaving Russell and Verstappen alone at the front and promoting a flying Hamilton to third.