Viva Las Vegas!

Or alternatively, VEGAS BABY!

What the Brazilian rain gods suggested, the towering casinos and hotels of Vegas have compounded: Max Verstappen is your World Champion for 2024.

Source: The Guardian

He dominated the first couple of races of the season in the usual Max-Verstappen-style, going unchallenged in his quest for glory. Then, his Red Bull car fell off the cliff with a nosedive in speed and performance of epic proportions. What followed was a demonstration in raw talent, skill, determination, and honestly, sheer spite for any critic who ever dared to suggest that Max Verstappen can only win with a fast car. Facing immense pressure from the Mclaren of Lando Norris, the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, and virtually no support form his teammate, Max was crowned champion in a slower car with two races and a sprint still to go. Some of his drives in the later half of the season were the stuff of legends, enough for any fan to wax lyrical about.

As awe-inspiring as Max’s defence of his title was, he was NOT the best driver at Las Vegas. George Russell fans (like myself) may (do) feel a little (a lot) disappointed with the fact that his commanding win on Sunday got overshadowed by the larger picture of the championship. But really, it was a commanding win, rightfully commemorated with his iconic T-pose celebration.

Source: Matt York, AP photo

That Mercedes car has been really funny this season, and by funny I mean ridiculously inconsistent. The colder temperatures seem to have, paradoxically, brought the car to life, while other teams struggled with graining and brake temperatures. For those unfamiliar with the concept, let’s break down why colder temperatures can be such a pain for teams.

A general rule of thumb is the hotter it is, the faster the tyre degrades. This “blistering” occurs when the tyres heat up internally, eventually damaging the surface¹. However, in cooler temperatures, “graining” occurs, where the surface of the tyre is hot due to friction with the track, but the tyres’ internal temperatures are chilly because of the overall cold environment. Funnily enough, this leads to the same consequences as “blistering": damage to the surface of the tyres, and wearing tyre surfaces are the bane of every F1 driver during a race.

Most of the teams found it difficult to get their tyres to a high enough temperature to reduce the effects of graining. However, Mercedes have had a problem with overheating tyres and high internal tyres temperatures this season, which, usually a curse, turned out to be a blessing in the colder ambient temperatures of Nevada. Mercedes ended up fastest in all three practise sessions, before Russell took pole on Saturday with his last-lap heroics. I say last-lap for a reason; he was the last one out in Q3 and the last across the finish line to complete his lap. Once again, this was a strategic call. Vegas, on account of being a new circuit, was extremely “slippery” in 2023, its first year on the F1 calendar. What does “slippery” mean, you ask? Well, the track was newly surfaced, and there are no support races at Vegas, which mean’t that the track wasn’t worn in before F1 took to it.

This “slipperiness” hadn’t improved much in a year, and so 2024 saw a still fairly new surface at Vegas. This mean’t that the track would get grippier and grippier the more the cars went around it, kind of how new shoes get more and more comfortable the more you wear them. On Saturday, the same increase in grip levels was evident, with almost no-one being confident in the first run times to get them through to Q2 and Q3. Come Q3, Russell knew that going last would include the risk of his lap being compromised due to a late yellow or red flag, but he also knew that he’d ben getting the best conditions on track. The gains on some of the final runs was enormous. Sainz gained around half a second on his previous Q3 lap to take provisional pole by 0.25s, ahead of Gasly, who having finished his lap after everyone bar Verstappen and Russell, and shot up to 2nd. Russell, at this point in time, was 0.4s off of pole from his first Q3 lap, and he rounded the corner, the last car to cross the chequered flag, and ALSO gained about 0.5s to take pole from Sainz by 0.098s exactly. Quoting his race engineer, “Zuperbar!” (No clue what the word means, a Google search revealed nothing, neither did translate, so. Make of that what you will).

Source: Clive Rose, photographer

Sunday was nothing short of perfect for Russell, having dealt with a brief charge from Leclerc (who once again, had a superb launch from 4th to 2nd). He continued to lead 49 out of 50 laps of the race, and sailed over the line a comfortable 10 seconds ahead of his teammate. He’s been underrated this season, often overshadowed by his teammate—granted, that teammate is THE Sir Lewis Hamilton—but he’s been fast, consistent and squeezing every drop of pace from that Mercedes. He’s had his fair share of good luck this season, with that Norris-Verstappen crash practically gifting him a win in Austria. But he’s also had his fair share of bad luck: mechanical issues forcing his retirement in Great Britain where he was running a solid 7th, and that devastating disqualification after an incredible victory in Belgium. He is currently 9 points ahead of Hamilton, who has only 2 DNFs to Russell’s 3. While these numbers point towards Russell as having had better races across the season, his real advantage over Hamilton has been during qualifying, having qualified higher up the grid than Lewis in 17 of the 22 races so far, not counting sprints. His one-lap pace has been mighty impressive, often outperforming the car, leading to him often dropping back during the race itself. I firmly believe (and I’m not biased at all) that next year will be very interesting if Mercedes are able to conjure up a car to match the Ferraris and Mclarens.

The Driver’s world championship might be decided, but the action isn’t over yet. Ferrari, Mclaren and Red Bull still have it all to play for in the Constructor’s title, and the all-important prize money (cha-ching!) that comes with it. Onward to Qatar…

1. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-tyres-what-are-the-compounds-and-what-do-they-mean/10344284/#:~:text=Graining%3A%20When%20the%20outer%20surface,top%20of%20the%20tyre%20surface.