For the first time in Formula 1 history, they've held a Las Vegas race that serves as the penultimate round of the F1 23 season. No drivers are prepared for the twists and turns behind the glitz and glamour Sin City possesses.
As the lights went off, the first Formula 1 race at the streets of Las Vegas kicked off with an opening contact at turn 1 as Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, and Valtteri Bottas got impacted and dropped to the back of the grid. Meanwhile, in Lap 4, Lando Norris is out of the race following a crash and gets hospitalized for evaluation, although Norris says "I'm okay" after the crash.
Lap 7 restart, Max Verstappen leads but got slapped with a five-second time penalty for pushing Charles Leclerc off the track at the start of the Grand Prix. Come Lap 16, Charles Leclerc storms through the lead from Verstappen while a lap later, Lewis Hamilton got a punctured tire and Oscar Piastri sustained damage to his car. Lap 25 saw George Russell's front wing sustained damage following a hit by Verstappen and a safety car was triggered on Lap 27 while Leclerc remains in the lead.
As Leclerc maintains his lead at the Lap 29 restart, Piastri storms to third place while Sergio Perez is hunting Leclerc down for the top spot. As Perez leads at Lap 33, the two Alpine drivers went neck-and-neck while Leclerc retakes Perez's lead at Lap 36, and Verstappen storms to 2nd place, only to outrun Leclerc a lap later.
As the end drew near and with Nico Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda thrown in the towel due to mechanical failures, it became an anti-climactic fight to the finish as Leclerc pulled a late surge to P2 in the final lap from Perez.
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| Courtesy: Formula 1 |
Max Verstappen wins the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix followed by Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. History has been rewritten again for Verstappen with his 18th win of the season.
The F1 2023 season ends in Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina for the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this November 26. Don't miss it!
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