2025 Race 22 - Las Vegas

[F1nKS]

1. Norris
2. Max
3. Sainz

Came down to who was out last. Piastri at 5

[Nitrodaze]

1. Norris
2. Max
3. Sainz

Came down to who was out last. Piastri at 5

I am not surprised Piastri was 5th. He did not look comfortable in that McLaren. What about Hamilton dead last for Ferrari with LeClerc only 9th. All is not well in the Scarlet team. They are set to be woeful in 2026. All the poker faces in the media pen has turned out to be a bluff. Sainz would be laughing his head off after that one.

I doubt they will be able to retain Leclerc next season; there is a very good chance that Hamilton will exit as well. I see Sainz and Piastri at Ferrari in 2027 with Vasseur also gone. I also don't see Ferrari winning a race in 2026 as well.

[airshifter]

Fairly crazy session.

With the first time I can remember the full wets being of any use, both Q1 and Q2 were dominated by the wet tire. And times just kept tumbling more and more as the session went on, especially after the rain stopped. Though it isn't a short track, it seemed like the cars kept struggling to find gaps to full a good lap without any distractions, and it showed.

As for Hamilton, the yellows on his last full lap and the start/finish lights screwed him of any chance. Adami was telling him to keep pushing to get another lap, but Lewis saw the overhead start/finish lights change from green to red as he approached them and backed off, even though he made it over the line in time to get another lap. By the time the error was realized he had lost too much time to make up. He was looking a bit scrappy and had taken out a corner bollard, but might have made it if he had stayed in it over the line and got another lap in.


I thought the move to inters for Q3 would be more risky than it was, but everyone made the call. It was still a bit dicey through the session,

It might be interesting to see how the race plays out. Being that qualification was in the wet, and a dry race predicted, the cars in the front might not be the best setup for dry running. Being that Vegas does give passing opportunities, there is a chance of some cars moving through the pack. And that mega straight is danger if anyone is in DRS range unless there are huge setup differences in the cars. I would think that Lando would be smart to just let Max go if he gets aggressive in the early stages, and just concentrate on where Oscar is. Right now Lando has everything to lose and Max has very little to lose, and history has shown that Max usually comes out on top vs Lando anyway.


And as cringe as most of the ceremonial stuff is, the track isn't terrible. And the weather has given us a strange mix up in the calendar, with cooler weather and now the wet as well.