Las Vegas Grand Prix: Doppju Mercedes rebħ, Verstappen reġa' jsir kampjun tad-dinja

Surprise not, but a surprising double success and world champion crowning was born at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

George Russell perfectly caught the start, unlike Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly, who were overtaken by Charles Leclerc within two corners. Max Verstappen also had a strong start, but got caught in traffic, thus he could only close in to fourth place. We quickly reached the first pit stop, Fernando Alonso's soft compound start did not really work out, so the Spaniard was forced to switch tires already in the fourth lap. Meanwhile, Sainz regained the second position from Leclerc and was about to chase Russell. By this time, however, the Brit had built up such a lead that it was clear it would be more than enough until the end of the race. Leclerc was struggling, Verstappen was easily overtaking him, who was obviously fighting not only for a better position but also for his crowning as world champion. Gasly, however, had nothing to fight for anymore, as the Alpine under him went up in smoke...

By this time, the entire field had completed their pit stops, the fronts had stiffened, and it was clear that two tire changes would be the effective tactic. Relevant tire management could only be discussed in the case of the Mercedes team, everyone else was constantly struggling with grip and getting the tires into their operating range. In the end, Mercedes won the Las Vegas Grand Prix convincingly in the order of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, easily ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

But, what may be much more significant is that Max Verstappen, writing sports history, defended his title and became world champion for the fourth time behind the wheel of Red Bull Racing.