George Russell dominated under the lights at Las Vegas to take his third Grand Prix victory ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes looked untouchable all weekend, with Hamilton being fastest in all practice sessions along with Russell securing pole during qualifying. The only problem was Hamilton’s performance in Q3 which resulted in a messy lap for the Briton and forced him to start from P10 on the grid.
After working his way up through the field, Hamilton managed to follow Russell home to a 1-2 victory for the Silver Arrows, their first since the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Russell’s only challenge came early on in the race from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who put pressure on him in the early stages with his superior straight-line speed. However, the time spent behind Russell ruined Leclerc’s tyres and forced him to make an earlier pit stop than planned.
Martin Brundle said he felt sorry for Russell when writing in his Sky Sports column, who managed to put in a brilliant performance for Mercedes on the same weekend Max Verstappen secured his fourth title.
George Russell dominated Las Vegas on same weekend Max Verstappen on fourth title
Verstappen finished ahead of title rival Lando Norris to clinch his fourth title for Red Bull under the Las Vegas lights, having gone into the race only needing to outscore him.
It was a brilliant effort from Verstappen to win the race in Brazil after a 10-race win drought, with the celebrations lasting into the early hours of Sunday in Las Vegas.
Brundle said he felt sorry for Russell, having put in an impressive performance but seemingly having most of the attention diverted away to Verstappen.
“In all the championship noise you must feel sorry for George Russell, who qualified impressively on pole position and simply dominated the race. He was so far out front for most of the 50 laps we hardly saw him given the battles raging behind. It was George’s third Grand Prix victory,” wrote Brundle.
“Mercedes looked very fast from the opening laps of first practice, and indeed they would lead every session throughout the event. Their car simply worked on the cold slick surface, and the team had the good grace to admit they weren’t entirely sure why, which is consistent with the unpredictability of that car this year.”
Mercedes had one ‘key advantage’ over F1 rivals in Las Vegas
Russell was able to manage the pace after the early challenge from Leclerc, while Hamilton could easily cruise past his rivals to make it a double podium.
Hamilton felt he could have won with a better qualifying lap, with his pace in the race seemingly silencing anybody who criticised him for losing his edge.
READ MORE: Martin Brundle thinks Lewis Hamilton will be smiling after what Ferrari did at the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Mercedes brought a low downforce wing in Las Vegas, which helped tremendously with their straight-line speed on the run down the strip and with tyre wear.
The team is unlikely to experience a similar weekend for the remainder of the season, since the W15 appears to prefer cooler conditions and higher tyre temperatures.
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