Race Rundown: São Paulo & Las Vegas

Race Rundown 21 and 22: Brazil - São Paulo Sprint Weekend; Las Vegas Grand Prix

The São Paulo Sprint weekend was absolutely amazing, especially since this weekend was a clean sweep for title contender Lando Norris.  He was the fastest in FP1, got Pole for the Sprint, won the Sprint, got pole for the Grand Prix and won the Grand Prix.  While this was amazing in of itself there were other details from both the Sprint and the GP that are definitely worth mentioning.

Sprint:

The first three for the Sprint were Lando, Kimi, and Oscar.  On Lap 7 of the Sprint, Oscar went into the barrier, then Hülkenberg and then Colapinto.  They all hit approximately the same spot on the curb and went off the track and hit the barriers in the same area.  Hülkenberg was able to continue but Oscar and Colapinto DNF’d.  Then Gabriel Bortoleto crashed into the wall.  It was a huge crash and there was a red flag.  The podium for the Sprint was Lando, Kimi, and George. 

Grand Prix:

While Max did not get out of Q3, (he even ended up starting from the pit lane) he absolutely dominated this race.  Max ended up on the podium, P3.

Lap 1, Gabriel Bortoleto went into the wall which resulted in a yellow flag.  There was a safety car from laps 2-6.  Unfortunately, Bortoleto DNF’d.  

There was a whole bunch of chaos, Lewis Hamilton losing his front wing, Piastri locked up and made contact with Antonelli and Leclerc, which caused Leclerc to lose his front tyre.  There was another yellow flag and a VSC.  Charles Leclerc then DNF’d.

There was a 10 second penalty for Yuki Tsunoda for causing a collision with Lance Stroll.

Max Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton and then Franco Colapinto within a minute.  Max then overtook his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda.  

Oscar Piastri received a 10 second penalty for causing a collision (Kimi and Charles).

Hamilton lost his front wing at the beginning of the race due to a collision with Carlos Sainz, the stewards decided on No Further Investigation on their collision.

Max Verstappen pops up to 9th.  Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly pit at the same time.  Verstappen moves up to fourth due to overtakes and pits.  

Lando was consistently growing the gap between him and Oscar.  It was 0.3 seconds at the VSC restart and at lap 29 it was 6.3 seconds.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton ran into Franco Colapinto on the main straight and received a 5 second penalty for causing a collision.  

Lando Norris pitted from mediums onto softs with a time of 2.2 seconds.  Lando was in first when he went into the pits and came out in fourth.  According to the pit wall and radio messages, they pitted Lando to save Oscar.  Lando overtook Max for third. 

Yuki Tsunoda received another 10 second penalty for failing to serve a time penalty correctly.  George and Max pitted at the same time. 

Lewis Hamilton retired his car on lap 38.

Oscar pitted and served his penalty and came out in eighth.  Lando pitted a second time, went in first and came out third.  

Max Verstappen, the Flying Dutchman, started in the pit lane and became the race leader near the end.  

Oscar pitted, went in second and came out seventh.  Then Max Verstappen pitted, went in first and came out fourth.

George was once again being anxious over the radio, which means his inner sass comes out. These are my favorite moments.  This anxiety most likely came from him having to lift and coast allowing Max to get very close.  Verstappen then overtook Russell (on the outside) for third. 

There was a brief battle between Max and Kimi for 2nd and George and Oscar for 4th.

The ending podium was Lando P1, Kimi P2, and Max P3.  

While the São Paulo Weekend was an amazing weekend for not only Lando, McLaren, and their respective fans, the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend was filled with crushing disappointment.  With a double DSQ for McLaren after the race, many fans were left hurt and riddled with anxiety for yet another week in the driver’s championship.  With that pain-staking statement out of the way, it is time to run down the race as a whole.

Las Vegas Grand Prix:

The start of the race began with Lando, Max, and Carlos in the top three.  Lando Norris went wide in turn 1 allowing Max to overtake Lando and then George to overtake Lando.

There was a yellow flag due to debris on the track.  Along with track debris, there was also damage to Liam Lawson’s front wing.

Lewis Hamilton went from 19 to 12 in the first lap.  

There was then a VSC.  Gabriel Bortoleto collided with Stroll, and both of them DNF’d lap 1, turn 1.  

Piastri and Lawson collided - the stewards decided on No Further Action for both.

The stewards then decided to investigate Bortoleto and Stroll for causing a collision.

Kimi Antonelli was noted for a false start, then received a 5 second penalty for moving before the start.  Alex Albon was also noted for a starting procedure infringement - he got a reprimand. 

Charles Leclerc then overtook Oscar Piastri for sixth.

Then we had yet another VSC due to debris on track.  There was an incident between Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon got a 5 second penalty.  This incident was the reason for the VSC.

Lando took second and Russell pitted.  There was then a battle between Charlos (Charles and Carlos - I miss them as a duo) for third.  Piastri then pitted and came out 10th.  

Lando pitted and came out fourth - he had a 2.5 second pit stop.

Ollie Bearman overtook Fernando Alonso.  Lando overtook George for second.  Then Alex Albon DNF’d.

Kimi Antonelli moved up 13 places throughout the race.  He also got a penalty (so it was more like 12 places).  

The last lap or so, Lando Norris was having issues with fuel.  At the end of the race the top three were Max, Lando, and George.  After the DSQ, the places were Max, George, and Kimi.

Despite the double McLaren DSQ, the cooldown car was my favorite part of the race.  Terry Crews drove a pink Lego car and sang A Thousand Miles.  When I was younger, White Chicks was one of my favorite movies so I loved this.  Lando also swore in his interview which got some priceless reactions from George and Max.  

I am going to leave my rundown about this Grand Prix here so I do not have to relive the hurt from the DSQs.