Welcome to our coverage of the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the second at this track on the Vegas Strip. After a three-week gap we are into the final stretch of what has been a largely captivating Formula One season. As has been the case in the previous two seasons, it looks very much like Max Verstappen will be crowned drivers’ champion a few races in advance of the season’s conclusion.
What does Verstappen need to do to ensure that is the case today? Well, there are myriad possibilities and permutations but the long and short of it is that if Verstappen finishes ahead of Norris he wins his fourth world drivers’ title. It’s not impossible that Norris keeps the battle alive until Qatar but he needs to take at least three points out of the Red Bull driver to do that.
In the last couple of months the pair have battled several times on track with varying (and sometimes controversial) outcomes and they line up alongside one another this afternoon in Las Vegas, although this time not on the front row but on the third row with Verstappen just ahead of the McLaren driver. Who could rule out another clashing of wheels?
In truth neither man looked like taking pole position in yesterday’s session. Mercedes topped every single practice and qualifying session heading into Q3 yesterday and it was George Russell who completed Mercedes’ dominance over one lap this weekend, taking his third pole of the season. It was a fine, fine lap at the very end of qualifying having been bumped down to fifth before he crossed the line.
The same cannot be said of Lewis Hamilton, who enters his final few races with Mercedes before heading to Ferrari. The Briton was certainly in contention for pole position but two mistakes on his two hot laps in Q3 mean that he will start today’s race in 10th. It would be too much to say that he has “checked out” at Mercedes, but he has made a few too many errors in a car that he has made it absolutely clear he dislikes.
Carlos Sainz is also leaving his team, Ferrari for Williams this time. He narrowly missed out to Russell but will hope that his Ferrari’s race pace is enough to secure him a third win of 2024. The surprise package was no doubt Pierre Gasly’s Alpine who finished in third. It comes soon after the team’s double podium in Brazil a few weeks ago and boosts their hopes of securing sixth in the constructors’.
The race begins at 6am GMT and we will be here for all of the build-up, live updates and reaction.