Hello, MiniFans! He city that never sleeps has finally dried out for the race, but the track is still cold and slippery, which means the drivers will need to be very careful, specially at the very start with colder tyres. The short distance to the first corner won’t allow for much, but having Verstappen in second can easily change the outcome…
Norris excessively aggressive start trying to close the door on Verstappen and pretty much choke him against the wall made him go way too late on the brakes on the dirty side of the track, going wide in turn 1 and conceding first place to Verstappen. Eventually, the bad move also forced him to lose second place to Russell, who quickly saw what was going on and took full advantage of it, also passing his fellow countryman. The rest of the start went in a similar way, but resembling more a boxing ring: Lawson crashed into Piastri, losing part of his front wing but apparently not causing much damage to Piastri, seemingly trying to avoid crashing into the back of Russell’s car, while Bortoleto straight up rammed into Stroll’s sidepod. This caused debris on track and we once again were unlucky enough to see people close to the live track with just a handful of yellow flags in turn 1 to protect them before we finally got a VSC to take care of the debris left on track.
The incidents ended with a few investigations and both Bortoleto and Stroll out, while Hamilton had managed to take full advantage of the mayhem with the collisions to climb up to twelfth with a set of hards. The VCS lasted just for a few laps and, as soon as the race was back underway, Russell started chasing Verstappen in a way that reminded of the opposite chase just last race in Brazil. Norris, behind both of them, was either not able to close the gap to Russell or not seeing the need to just yet. Verstappen eventually managed to shake Russell off of his DRS zone, pushing his tyres harder and hoping he wouldn’t have to pay for it later.
As laps went by, it seemed as if Norris dropping behind was more of a strategy to try and avoid as much dirty air as possible to take care of his tyres and delay the onset of graining. His third place was more acceptable than what his teammate was doing, with the caveat that Piastri might have damage from Lawson’s collision at the very start. To continue the trend, Albon clipped Hamilton and lost a front wing flap, leaving it in the middle of the track. Apparently not considering it a hazard, race direction didn’t take care of it for a couple of laps, eventually ruling a VSC to remove the parts in a bit of an awkward way.
The first of the ones from the top contenders to pit was Russell, right after the VSC, not quite being flexible enough to pit one or two laps earlier to take advantage of it. Norris, finally in clean air, reassured the team via radio that the circumstaces were better now, an even though the gap seemed to shrink at times, it still still bounced back, even increasing further than it was originally and forcing the Brit to pit in an attempt to overtake. The lower degradation than expected meant that they were not struggling as much as originally thought, lowering the power of the undercut. Teams still tried it, with Norris attempting it to get past Verstappen, but Red Bull didn’t take the bait and waited to do it on their own tems. All the overtakes missing at the front were happning in the midfield, with Alonso getting past both Tsunoda and Colapinto in a couple of consecutive corners.
Once Leclerc and Sainz pitted, with the Ferrari edging the Williams out to complete what had been started on track before the Spaniard was called into the pits, Verstappen finally changed tyres as well to a set of hards to make it to the end. With the race mostly settled, Norris was the only one with power to try and change its outcome. Catching up to Russell, he didn’t take long to get past, aided by the fact that Russell didn’t want to risk the podium for anything. Verstappen was siftly informed of McLaren’s instructions to Norris, who had been told to catch up and where he could take care of his tyres after asking for clarification about the end goal, and started working on keeping the gap as close to the original six seconds as possible.
The last ten laps weren’t a good experience for Piastri. While his teammate was comfortably in second and attemping to chase after Verstappen, the Australian driver was struggling. Stuck behind an Antonelli who had yet to serve a five-second penalty, Leclerc had caught up and was putting increased pressure on the Australian, who was defending as well as he could, taking advantage of his closeness to Antonelli to deploy his DRS. Back at the front, Norris had pretty much resigned himself to second place, as the closest he had managed to get to Verstappen was five and a half seconds, and focused on taking the car to the finish line in one piece. A feat difficult enough on its own in a street track, a late lap four seconds later than his teammate pointed to a very close fuel limit that was later mentioned on the radio was the only hiccup on his way to the finish line, still behind a Verstappen that will be crowned on the strip for his sixth win of the season, proving yet again that only a car not up to his level can prevent him for rising to the top.
A very aggressive start from Norris compromised his race from the very beginning, surrendering his bid for the win before even turning in for the first corner. Verstappen’s hunger helped him take advantage, and Russell’s quick thinking made him take advantage as well, even if he’d lose it later down the line. Verstappen held on, locked in for the whole race, and Red Bull was in sync with their driver, helping him to finish on the top once again, keeping his options still open, albeit slimly, but the season won’t be over until we cross the finish line in Abu Dhabi. And remember kids: what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
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