After the Finish Line: Vegas 2024

Vegas gave us a decent race and a few intriguing story lines.

I don’t like Vegas, the circuit, the glitz and glamour, or all the off track stuff. However the race itself was quite entertaining, so I won’t complain. I enjoyed it, just like I enjoyed the politicking preceding the event.

Before the weekend, the FIA issued a new technical directive “prohibiting the use of protective plates over the skid block under the car after Red Bull sought clarification.” Now the teams will have to be more careful with setting up the ride height to ensure that the wooden plank does not wear down more than allowed 1 mm.

How it will affect them we should find out in Losail, a circuit that features a much greater variety of corners than Vegas.

Four in a Row

Max Verstappen has just added another championship to his growing collection. The Dutchman finished P5, one position ahead of Lando Norris, which was the minimum required to win the championship number four.

His campaign, with all its ups and downs, deserves a separate post. For now, however, I want to say that I find it much more impressive than his two previous titles, simply because of the hurdles on his path. 2022 was much easier than it should’ve been, 2023 felt like a formality. This year was a “little bit more difficult” as Verstappen said on the radio.

The Dutchman drove a smart, goal-oriented race and kept his trademark Senna-Schumacher-esque aggression in check when others attempted to overtake him. Neither Lewis Hamilton, nor the Ferrari duo posed a threat in the standings, so he obviously didn’t bother to swing his elbows. He just did the job.

Eins-Zwei

George Russell secured victory from pole position, controlling the race from “lights out” to the checkered flag. With the exception of a brief threat posed by Charles Leclerc at the beginning of the race, he remained unchallenged until the finish. Thanks to the surprising superiority of Mercedes in Vegas, he dominated the race; the only thing he missed was the fastest lap, which would have given him the first grand slam of his career.

This win for sure must’ve tasted sweeter than his triumph in Austria and the brief one in Belgium, where he was disqualified due to an underweight car after delivering perhaps his best race of the year. This win was undoubtedly his most comfortable so far.

It could’ve been different. Lewis Hamilton might've won, or at the very least, made it much more challenging for his teammate if he hadn’t screwed up both of his flying laps in Q3 yesterday. However, in the race, he was spectacular, carving his way from P10 to the second step of the podium. He resembled his former self, a sight that has been rare this season.

He has delivered when provided with a very good car but has been rather anonymous, or even mediocre, when given a so-so machinery. In Vegas, the former was the case, but why? That’s a good question, as Mercedes themselves haven’t had any idea why they were so good this weekend.

One Unhappy Bunny

Although Ferrari finished in 3rd and 4th, and gained 12 points on McLaren's lead in the World Constructors' Championship, they will need to address internal issues.

Leclerc was livid after the race. Carlos Sainz hadn’t respected their pre-race agreements and had disregarded team instructions by overtaking his teammate despite being told not to do so. The Spaniard is on his way out and he drivers for himself, while his teammate remains the company man, who gets screwed over by following the agreements. Not a good look and not a good issue to deal with when you’re in a championship fight.

 (Hopefully) Temporary Woes

Nowhere, compared to Mercedes, Ferrari, and Verstappen – that’s were McLaren were in Vegas. It seemed as though they had been relegated from the top back to the position they occupied during the opening race in Bahrain. They lacked pace. They were participants, rather than competitors.

Maybe the circuit simply didn’t suit them. This shouldn’t be a problem in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. McLaren will enter the final two races as favorites, at least on paper, because on track it may be a different story… I had thought that Ferrari would take a dominant 1-2 in Vegas.