Race 22 - 2024 Las Vagas GP [The Pig]

[Nitrodaze]

We head back to the PIG for another glitzy race weekend. We arrive at this track with a lot of activities happening in the interim. Race Director Wittich departs his role with immediate effect. Akin to an immediate dismissal, some suggest. F1 Champion Damon Hill parts ways with Skysport F1 media in what appears to be a dispute. Toto Woolf released a new autobiographical book which has raised a few eyebrows. Hamilton states he shall see out the rest of the 2024 season driving the Mercedes W15 car.

The WDC is practically out of realistic contention. The WCC is very much a three-horse race with McLaren leading the way with Ferrari hot on their heels. Redbull stepped back into contention with Verstappen's brilliant win at Sao Paulo Brazil. The last three races are mainly about who is going to win the Constructors championship. As fans, do we really care about the constructors? Yes, if you are a Tifosi. For the rest of us, it is mainly about which driver wins the WDC.

Lando Norris is 62 points behind Max Verstappen in the WDC with 85 points up for grabs in the last three races. Verstappen would need to have DNFs at least twice for there to be a realistic chance of Lando having a chance to win the WDC. With the efficiency of Redbull and Verstappen combined, this would be highly unlikely to occur.

McLaren extended their lead in the WCC to 36 points with 144 points up for grabs by the team that can achieve the ultimate performances over the rest of the three races.

Verstappen can win his fourth WDC title at Las Vagas if Norris fails to win or finish in a podium position. Which would be his sole respectable WDC to date, in my opinion. I am sure you would have yours, lets hear it.

[Bagwan]

That's "Vegas" , not "Vagas" .

[Bagwan]

That's better .

[Matthew]

These must be tough times for all the Aston Martin fans. I hope they perform a lot better in the next season.

[Bagwan]

These must be tough times for all the Aston Martin fans. I hope they perform a lot better in the next season.

I'm one of those poor saps , and it is , indeed tough to watch .

Next year and the one after that are going to be epic , though , so we'll be fine .

[airshifter]

Gasly and Alpine make a major impression.... I'm sure putting that car in the top 3 wasn't easy. I doubt he will stay there long, but at least he is starting up near the front.

Well done on George to put it on pole, especially with Lewis bottling his qually. At least he made it to Q1, and Sergio couldn't even get to Q2! Overall I think Ferrari are in the good position for the race with both cars up front. Hard to say what Max might be able to do, but I'm doubting the car can fight for the front. But with the tires brought in it well still might. As for McLaren, it seems they have lost pace without the illegal wings. It's surprising how quietly that whole thing went down, but it kind of reeks of the FIA turning a blind eye to tighten up the title fight.

As for "skidblockgate" I'm not sure what to think. Everyone seems to point fingers different directions, and nobody has any good evidence. It might just be another technical directive aimed at removing the thought that cheating could take place, stirred up by behind the scenes talks similar to bibgate stuff.

Overall the track isn't terrible.... it's just another Baku but with a lot more lights. The weather makes it interesting in a way, and shows what cars come alive if it's cool out. Merc look to be in the window, and maybe Lewis can fight back through the pack a good bit.


As for WDC's, they all count, regardless of what some critics claim. And as usual, many if not most of them go to the people in the strongest cars. Nothing new to see there, other than the field being tight though several teams rather than just one team being able to challenge the lead. At this point I would say RB, Ferrari, and McLaren have all at times had the edge, and overall the teams have developed the cars well.

To me the WCC displays more about team positioning and the margins between the drivers in the team. At this point had Sergio stayed home all year Red Bull would STILL be 3rd in the constructors. It's a pathetic display of having a second driver that doesn't get much out of the car. Alonso is owning Stroll as expected, but in that case we know daddy's boy is going to keep a ride until he quits. Margins elsewhere are much smaller, reflecting that both drivers are at least performing near the potential of the car.

[Nitrodaze]

The track preparation could be better l felt. There were white lines everywhere, it is a wonder how it did not confuse the drivers.

[airshifter]

Overall another good race at Vegas!

Some action at the front that was more than expected in the first few laps, and for a bit it looked like only George had his position in hand really. Tires going off early in the first stint made it interesting, and I think it's safe to say that Carlos is done playing the team game with Ferrari. Leclerc was upset as well, but when you have a team with the terrible strategy calls of Ferrari and no backbone to strictly enforce team orders it's bound to happen, and did.

Max played it cool and didn't fight anyone that much, even though I doubt it would have mattered. Being that McLaren weren't strong all he had to do was stay out of trouble and bring it home in front of Lando, which wasn't really a huge challenge. With the Ferrari's recovering and Lewis charging through the pack, Max could just quietly stay ahead of the papaya cars and bring home that 4th consecutive title.

The back end of the top 10 and some of those finishing below them put on some good racing as well. Yuki and Hulk had a decent battle, and Perez had several hurdles to make it back up into the point. Though he sucked in qually, as has been the case lately, Sergio did manage a two car pass on the way back to the points.

I have to admit I laughed when Lewis thought he had lost a bunch of positions somehow after his first stop, not realizing many of them hadn't stopped yet. Other than that, he kept his head in the game through the race and made the best of his poor qually. The Merc was planted in the cool weather, and most of the passes were slam dunks. Ferrari were hard to get past, amazing that even with DRS the Merc needed to be pushed to make the passes work.

Though race commentary tried their hardest to make it sound like Lewis was fighting for the lead, it was unlikely at best. George had fresher tires, 10 seconds in hand, most of the race in clean air, and the advantage of not having been in the position to work though the field. Rather than push pace, he just controlled the gap to bring it home. A very well executed weekend for George, even if they still didn't understand why the car was fast.



I still think the after race transfer to the podium thing is just stupid. Get rid of that train wreck of delay and let the cars stop where the interviews and podium will take place. And we really don't need to lift the drivers through the podium floor either. Maybe next year they will wisk them away in helicopters and let the drivers parachute onto the podium?

[N. Jones]

My only concern (to put it nicely) is that this race is good because grip is so terrible. It seems more artifical than it should be. I do agree with Coulthard though, these cars are fast but they looked fast here.

[Bagwan]

My only concern (to put it nicely) is that this race is good because grip is so terrible. It seems more artifical than it should be. I do agree with Coulthard though, these cars are fast but they looked fast here.

What if they take away the tire warming blankets ?
You're gonna really hate that .