‘The Las Vegas Grand Prix should not be on the F1 calendar’ - GPFans Hot Takes

The second edition of the modern Las Vegas Grand Prix is in the bag, with Mercedes star George Russell taking a stunning victory under the lights in Sin City this year.

Russell put in a stellar performance in qualifying on Friday night and followed that up with an excellent drive on Saturday, fending off the challenge from his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

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Despite that, however, it is Red Bull star Max Verstappen who is going to claim many of the headlines in the aftermath of the race, and rightly so.

Even though he finished in what is, for him, a lowly P5, the points earned were enough to secure a fourth consecutive world championship for the Dutchman, who now joins an exclusive club of just six drivers to win four or more titles.

With all of that said, here is what the GPFans team made of the action in Las Vegas!

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GPFans' Las Vegas Grand Prix hot takes

Matt Hobkinson - Global Lead Editor

George Russell, take a bow. That was a perfect weekend for Mercedes and boy did both he and the team deserve it.

However, what a shame that the vast majority of F1 fans will likely not know just how good a weekend it really was for the Silver Arrows.

For the last three days, my alarms have been set for 01:30 GMT in order to cover the best of the action right the way through from FP1.

And even those in the States are hard-pushed with some of the session times. As Sky said on broadcast, aside from those in Guam and Australia - who really benefits from this?

The Las Vegas Grand Prix needs to change its timings if it wants to keep pulling an audience in.

If not, I give it another year or two before the novelty behind simply racing at Vegas wears off.

Chris Deeley - US Lead Editor

It feels like this has been 'the bit where Chris beats McLaren over the head for four paragraphs' for the second half of this season, but if they will continue to invite it...

Maybe they'll still win the constructors' championship, but if they aren't doing their damnedest to fumble every opportunity that falls into their collective lap then they're doing a great impression of a team that is.

If you're losing a hefty number of points to Ferrari on a day where one of the Scuderia's drivers is shouting down the radio to furiously argue pitstop timings and the other is unleashing a foul-mouthed rant straight after the chequered flag, that says more about you than them.

Of course Oscar Piastri got a five-second penalty for a mistake on the grid. Of course they looked fast all weekend until it actually mattered, on the weekend they conceded the drivers' title with a whimper. Oh well. At least the pitstop for the fastest lap point was smart.

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Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

Well that won’t go down as an all-time classic will it?

Admittedly, there were aspects of the Las Vegas GP that were exciting on track, but the race possessed a rather cold and sterile atmosphere across the whole weekend, that did not fit the showstopper we were promised.

Las Vegas stands in stark contrast to the high-energy atmosphere in Austin, Mexico and Brazil, where the passion of F1 fans fuelled the weekend.

Either of those races would have been a more fitting venue for Max Verstappen to win his fourth world title than Las Vegas.

Perhaps fatigue has settled in towards the end of a very long season; in that case, they should consider moving Las Vegas to earlier in the year if it deserves a place on the F1 calendar at all.

Instead, it would serve the championship better to cut the season shorter and return the finale to Brazil.

Ronan Murphy - Social Media Editor

Max Verstappen is the World Champion. Lewis Hamilton still has the chops to be World Champion. All he needs is a better car, and maybe he’ll get that car next year in Ferrari. As long as they can sort their team strategy out.

Strategy at Ferrari has long been a joke. Memes have been created and shared and reshared. They’ve gone so far from Plan A in most races that they are actually inventing new letters.

This is the mess Hamilton is walking into. But alongside him, he’ll have one of the most aggressive drivers in the business in Charles Leclerc.

Next season promises to be an exhilarating year for motorsport with the destination of the 2025 F1 title anyone’s guess.

Oh, I nearly forgot. George Russell won a race. Good for him, I suppose. But there are far more important things to worry about.

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