Lando Norris dominates the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend

The papayas have never finished on the podium in the glitzy Las Vegas strip circuit before. Should they take it easy and bring home the points this time around? Will Norris adopt the safer strategy, knowing he has a 24-point lead over Oscar Piastri? Can Piastri afford to risk it all? He has a slightly better finishing record in Vegas than his teammate, who crashed out spectacularly in the inaugural round in 2023.

The papayas make their way around the circuit

Red Bull and Max Verstappen will go all out for a pit stop strategy gamble for sure; they’ve been the best at it for over half a decade now. Verstappen, sitting in P3, still has an outside shot at the championship, although he is a good 49 points behind Norris. In sport, and especially in Formula One, anything can happen. And Vegas is famous for turning the tables!

Last race, at Sao Paolo, Verstappen rose to P3 against all odds, after a pit lane start! Thanks to Piastri first nerfing out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and then earning himself a penalty, the Red Bull ace amassed a whole lot of points to stay in the fight. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli enjoyed his best-ever F1 finish in P2 behind Norris and managed to keep the fast-charging Verstappen at bay.  Last year, Mercedes enjoyed a one-two finish at Vegas. They can study the street-circuit set-up and data of that victory and hopefully apply it to this year’s car and drivers.

But if there’s one team that really needs some luck at Vegas, it’s Ferrari. They endured a painful double retirement at Interlagos that saw them slip from P2 in the Constructors to P4! Leclerc got cancelled out by a tyre-locking Piastri move on Antonelli that ended his race immediately, and Lewis Hamilton misjudged an overtake to crash into the Alpine of Franco Colapinto and sustain terminal damage to his SF25. Ferrari Chairman John Elkann could not hide his frustration and publicly vented to the media. The tifosi are not thrilled with his comments and have turned to social media to encourage and cheer on their drivers, whom they support unconditionally! The championship mood around the paddock is unsurprisingly nervous, with excitement around the streets of Las Vegas this weekend.  There can only be one winner when the flag drops. It may just not be the one you gamble on!

Round 22 | Las Vegas | Sunday, 23rd November 09:30 | F1TV & FanCode App

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