Tag: Results

Max Verstappen and Red Bull were utterly dominant in F1 2023; Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin are all looking to get closer next year after each challenging at different points in the season; watch the whole 2024 F1 season live on Sky Sports F1

Red Bull boss Christian Horner expects the 2024 Formula 1 field to close up after his team’s record-breaking campaign this year.

Max Verstappen won an unprecedented 19 races from 22 events, a winning percentage of 86 per cent, and Red Bull finished one-two in the Drivers’ Championship for the first time.

The Milton Keynes-based team failed to win just one race, the Singapore Grand Prix which saw Carlos Sainz take victory, and Verstappen was often unchallenged on some weekends.

Since F1 introduced new ground effect regulations in 2022, Red Bull have won every championship and their dominance began in the middle of that season after Ferrari’s early title challenge faded away.

Ferrari were the team closest to Red Bull at the end of 2023 but McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin also got close at various points across the year.

“Nobody stands still. We’ve got a great basis, so it’s more evolution [of the car] than revolution. But I’m sure it’s going to converge a bit next year, so we can’t rest on our laurels,” Horner told Sky Sports News at the Autosport Awards.

“They [competitors] are all great teams. McLaren’s form at the back end of the season, Ferrari, Mercedes. Those big teams are going to be coming out all guns blazing next year.”

Wolff confirms ‘completely new car’ for Mercedes

Mercedes finished runners-up to Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship but went winless in a season for the first time since 2011.

Lewis Hamilton hasn’t won since December 2021 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and played down his chances to challenge for the title next year.

There was a glimmer of hope for Mercedes when Hamilton took pole position in Hungary and showed strong pace in the second half of the season but Toto Wolff feels his team have a big deficit to close.

“A new season starts with a completely new car, and that gives opportunities but also risks,” said Wolff.

“I think we’ve got to be realistic. We are aiming for the stars, but we finished only second against a team who was outperforming everybody else.

“I’ve always said this is a meritocracy and the best driver and car wins. Therefore, we have to get our act together, and I hope it’s us [to put Red Bull under pressure].”

What are McLaren’s chances?

McLaren made remarkable progress throughout 2023 after starting the season as one of the worst cars in terms of pace at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

A big upgrade ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix in July saw them leap up the pecking order and Lando Norris led the early stages of the British GP on home soil at Silverstone.

Norris’ four consecutive podiums and Oscar Piastri’s Sprint win in Qatar have given McLaren plenty of hope to continue their upward curve into 2024.

“We hope to start the season where we finished off. It’ll be interesting to see where everybody starts next year, but we’re feeling good about our development,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

“I think we learned a lot this year, so I anticipate a much stronger start to 2024 than we had in 2023.”

Piastri’s impressive rookie campaign and Norris’ consistency has made McLaren a genuine force again for the first time in over a decade.

Brown thinks the team have a driver pairing which can challenge for the title.

“I think he [Oscar Piastri] already is [challenging Lando Norris], which is great to have the driver line-up that we have,” Brown said.

“We look at what we need to be a world championship team again, you need to have two great drivers, and we’re comfortable we can tick that box.

“It’s weird, on Max’s [Verstappen] level, there’s never been a less competitive season, but behind Max, there’s never been a more competitive season. The grid was unbelievably close.

“We had five teams with seven or more podiums, which is a record. So there was one car which was uncompetitive with the rest of the field, and the rest of the field is unbelievably competitive. I’m not worried about that.”

24 races in 2024! Watch every round of next season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix from February 29-March 2. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW

With 22 rounds in the books and a world champion long-crowned, it’s time to rate the drivers for their performances in the 2023 Formula 1 season.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull: 10

Championship position: 1st – 575 points

There may never be another season quite as dominant as what Verstappen has delivered in claiming a third successive world championship, setting record win, point and podium totals in the process.

After two wins in the first four races of the season for Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez, the Dutchman went on to make talk of a title race between the Red Bull pair look absurd, reeling off 17 victories in the remaining 18 Grands Prix.

While the RB19 was undoubtedly the best car on the grid, Verstappen’s incredible dominance of Perez – and the rest of the field – required remarkable consistency.

The 26-year-old displayed a growing maturity to handle wet and chaotic races throughout the campaign, many of which could have easily been lost by a mistake or moment of poor judgement.

Verstappen’s near-faultless campaign has established him as a complete driver, who now rightfully sits among the greats of the sport with three titles.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull: 5.5

Championship position: 2nd – 285 points

It all started so brightly with those two wins in the first four races, but unfortunately, the prospect of going toe-to-toe with Verstappen for a full campaign got in Perez’s head.

After failing to seize a world championship lead when being comprehensively outperformed by Verstappen in the fifth race of the season in Miami, the Mexican’s campaign completely fell apart.

The next five races were five of the nine occasions when he failed to make it through to the final part of qualifying, a completely unacceptable figure given the RB19’s speed advantage, particularly at that stage of the season.

Perez would complain that the car had been developed away from his driving style, but would eventually come under major pressure with a first-corner crash at his home race in Mexico only heightening speculation that Red Bull could choose to replace him a year before the end of his contract.

Ultimately, the fact that he held onto second to secure Red Bull’s first ever one-two in the drivers’ championship, with a relatively consistent finish to the campaign, has likely guaranteed he will at least start the 2024 season as Verstappen’s team-mate.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: 7.5

Championship position: 3rd – 234 points

2023 was something of a bounce-back campaign for the seven-time world champion, as he overcame the disappointment of being given another uncompetitive car to largely get the most out of the W14.

Having been notably outscored by George Russell in 2022 in their first season as team-mates, Hamilton dispelled any notion that – at the age of 38 – his powers are waning.

While he has now gone two full seasons without a victory, Hamilton did at least manage to add to his record pole position tally with a memorable lap in Hungary.

After dismissing rumours of a blockbuster switch to Ferrari, Hamilton signed a two-year contract extension that will keep him in the sport until the end of 2025.

While he couldn’t quite chase down Perez for second in the drivers’ standings, Hamilton showed more than enough to suggest that if Mercedes can finally master F1’s current era of design regulations, he is more than capable of challenging Verstappen.

George Russell, Mercedes: 6

Championship position: 8th – 175 points

Having hardly put a foot wrong in his superb debut campaign with Mercedes, Russell’s 2023 season couldn’t have been in much greater contrast.

While he was rarely far off Hamilton’s pace, a combination of misfortune with reliability and some unnecessary errors saw Russell finish 59 points back from his team-mate.

The Brit’s bold approach is admirable and entertaining but three five-second penalties and a late crash to give up a podium finish in Singapore hinted at some poor decision-making.

Russell did end the season on a positive note, claiming a crucial podium in Abu Dhabi to keep Mercedes ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.

In 2024, Russell must reaffirm his status as Hamilton’s successor as the leader of the team, with what seemed like a formality 12 months ago not quite so certain now.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari: 7.5

Championship position: 5th – 206 points

It’s been something of a season of two halves for the Monegasque.

He endured a miserable start with two retirements in the first three races, along with some surprising qualifying struggles, leaving him to play catch up.

Leclerc was second only to Verstappen in claiming five pole positions, with three in a span of four races towards the end of the season providing a reminder of his prodigious one-lap speed.

While Leclerc has a remarkable active streak of 12 starts from pole without a win, he appeared to have every chance of ending it in Las Vegas until an unfortunately timed Safety Car handed the advantage to Red Bull.

Another strong showing in Abu Dhabi rounded off a hugely consistent end to the campaign, which suggested he is ready to take the fight to Verstappen if Ferrari can provide a car capable of challenging.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari: 7.5

Championship position: 7th – 200 points

The only non-Red Bull driver to win a 2023 race, Sainz produced a campaign that further dispelled the notion that he is merely a solid number two option to Leclerc.

The smooth-operating Spaniard’s win in Singapore was the clear highlight of his season, as he showed incredible race-craft and composure to keep Lando Norris’ McLaren within DRS range behind him to create a buffer to the faster Mercedes cars behind them in the closing stages.

The victory in Singapore came after a second successive pole position, the first of which he converted into a podium finish at Monza following a remarkable late scrap with Leclerc in front of the Tifosi.

Sainz – along with most of the grid – is never going to have the raw pace of the incredibly fast Leclerc, but his ability to manage a race, sometimes overruling questionable calls from the Ferrari pit wall, is proving to be an equaliser.

If there was a criticism it would be that there were a few too many crashes, with a crucial one in Abu Dhabi practice playing a key factor in Ferrari failing to top Mercedes in the constructors’ standings.

Lando Norris, McLaren: 8.5

Championship position: 6th – 205 points

Somewhat regrettably for Norris, he ends the 2023 season having reinforced his standing as the best driver on the grid without a race win.

Once McLaren sorted out the MCL60 with some major upgrades at the ninth race of the season in Austria, Norris was comfortably the highest points scorer behind Verstappen.

The Brit reeled off seven podiums, with perhaps his most memorable display of the season coming at Silverstone as he took the lead from Verstappen at the start before holding off Hamilton for second in a thrilling battle.

However, he was ultimately left frustrated as a win continued to evade him, regularly chastising himself for failing to produce a perfect lap in qualifying when pole had been there for the taking.

A huge crash in Las Vegas brought his only retirement of the season, but Norris’ campaign left no doubt that it is merely a matter of time until he joins the winners’ circle.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren: 7.5

Championship position: 9th – 97 points

Adding to Norris’ frustration was the fact that McLaren’s only (Sprint) win of the season came from his rookie team-mate.

Having claimed a first Grand Prix podium a round earlier in Japan, Piastri converted Sprint pole to victory in Qatar to punctuate a very impressive debut campaign.

The fact that the victory came on the same day Verstappen sealed the title may even have suited the understated 22-year-old.

Piastri clearly struggles to match the tyre management on Norris over a full-distance race, and improving in that area should be his main focus during the winter.

However, the fact McLaren extended his contract midway through the season tells you everything you need to know about what the team made of his driving.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin: 8.5

Championship position: 4th – 206 points

The feel-good story of the season, or at least the first half of it, was Alonso’s return to prominence with Aston Martin.

Many eyebrows were raised when the Spaniard, in a season during which he would turn 42, opted to join the team that had finished seventh in 2022 constructors’ standings.

However, they began the season as Red Bull’s nearest challenger, with Alonso rolling back the years to take six podiums in the first eight races.

He came up agonisingly short in a thrilling pole contest with Verstappen in Monaco, in which victory would have given him an excellent chance of claiming the 33rd Grand Prix win he has waited more than a decade for.

Aston Martin’s failure to match the development of the other front-runners saw Alonso struggle in the latter stages of the season amid a few uncharacteristic errors, but he did have one more trick up his sleeve with an incredible defensive display and last-lap pass on Perez in Brazil sealing an eighth and final podium of the campaign.

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin: 5

Championship position: 10th – 74 points

The Canadian’s remarkable recovery from a pre-season cycling accident to take sixth in Bahrain only added to the positive vibes around the team, but it would be largely downhill from there on Stroll’s side of the garage.

A dismal run of qualifying form saw him make it through to Q3 on just four of 17 occasions, limiting his opportunities to back up Alonso.

While Stroll’s possession of his seat at Aston Martin appears to be unconditional while his father Lawrence remains the team’s owner, his form was so disappointing and his body language so indifferent that he began to be questioned over his desire to remain in the sport.

An unsavoury incident in Qatar where a frustrated Stroll pushed his trainer in the garage after being knocked out in Q1 marked a new low, and led to a warning from the FIA.

However, just when most had written him off, Stroll recorded back-to-back fifth-place finishes in Brazil and Las Vegas to at least provide some positivity going into 2024.

Pierre Gasly, Alpine: 6

Championship position: 11th – 62 points

It’s hard to view either Alpine driver’s performance outside the prism of a hugely disappointing campaign for the team, which has seen them fall back from last year’s fourth, to sixth in the constructors’ standings.

After losing Alonso and Piastri, Alpine were delighted to pluck Pierre Gasly from the Red Bull driver pool, despite the fact he and his new team-mate Esteban Ocon were known to have a difficult relationship.

Given he had to make the adjustment to a new car, the fact that Gasly has outscored Ocon, albeit marginally, represents something of a success.

The highlight of Gasly’s season came as he claimed a podium in a rain-hit Dutch Grand Prix, once more showing his ability to excel in challenging conditions.

Along with hoping for a more competitive 2024 challenger, Gasly will be out to establish himself as the team’s lead driver.

Esteban Ocon, Alpine: 6

Championship position: 12th – 58 points

Ocon might argue that if it weren’t for his six DNFs, he wouldn’t have been outperformed by Gasly.

He had a couple of fine moments with a podium in Monaco and a fourth-placed finish in Las Vegas, and consistently scored points on a Sunday on the occasions he did see the chequered flag.

However, Ocon’s uncompromising – perhaps sometimes to a fault – driving style continues to rub many of his rivals up the wrong way.

Ultimately, Alpine will hope to produce a car that can give Ocon and Gasly more to think about than battling each other for the final points positions.

Alex Albon, Williams: 8

Championship position: 13th – 27 points

The rebuilding of Albon’s career took another big step as he led Williams to a much-improved campaign.

The British-born Thai driver displayed his natural speed with three top-six qualifying displays, but unfortunately didn’t always have a car capable of keeping him in the points-scoring positions.

On almost all of the occasions, the opportunity was there, Albon took it, scoring in seven grands prix, with the only major blemish of his campaign a crash in Australia.

Albon’s performances have caught the eye around the paddock, and Williams will know that they may need to continue to progress to avoid losing the 27-year-old to a more competitive outfit.

Logan Sargeant, Williams: 4.5

Championship position: 21st – 1 point

It’s been a hugely challenging campaign for the rookie, who has too often been unable to produce under pressure.

It took Sargeant 13 races to reach a Q3, and his first F1 point only came under the rather fortuitous circumstances of both Hamilton and Leclerc being disqualified after the race.

Williams’ and Formula 1’s keenness to have an American driver in the sport means that Sargeant might get a second bite at the cherry in 2024.

A P6 in Las Vegas was easily his best qualifying performance of the campaign, but the positivity from that display was somewhat undone by a careless double breach of track limits a week later in Abu Dhabi.

The 22-year-old must cut out the errors and produce in qualifying more regularly if he is to extend his F1 career beyond 2024.

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri: 7

Championship position: 14th – 17 points

The Japanese driver has produced a solid campaign, comprehensively outperforming rookie Nyck de Vries in the opening half of the season before the Dutchman was dumped by the team.

Tsunoda has measured up solidly against Daniel Ricciardo since the eight-time race winner joined the team, with the pair generally quite evenly matched.

After AlphaTauri improved their car with late-season upgrades, Tsunoda claimed strong points-scoring finishes in Texas, Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

The 23-year-old, who has already amassed 63 Grands Prix appearances, has yet to show the sort of skill to suggest he belongs in the Red Bull senior team alongside Verstappen, but a full 2024 campaign alongside Ricciardo should provide an intriguing measuring stick.

Tsunoda still has areas to improve, with one area he can do so being his temperament, although his emotional responses to the track action have continued to create great entertainment.

Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri: 7

Championship position: 17th – 6 points

Ricciardo’s mid-season return was blighted by an unfortunate accident in Dutch Grand Prix practice that would result in a five-race absence caused by a hand injury, which means we only have a seven Grands Prix sample size from which to assess his season.

There was one standout result in that run, with Ricciardo’s only point-scoring finish coming in Mexico after he took a stunning fourth in qualifying.

That performance showed there is life in the old dog yet after the struggles at McLaren that left him without a seat, but it appears some of his most valuable work may have come off the track.

The AlphaTauri and Red Bull leadership have been effusive in their praise of the feedback Ricciardo has been able to provide on how to improve the car.

2024 is a huge season for both AlphaTauri drivers as they seek to stake a claim what looks set to be a vacant Red Bull seat the following year.

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo: 6

Championship position: 15th – 10 points

The former Mercedes driver’s season started with an encouraging eighth in Bahrain, but there have been few celebratory moments since.

Only three further point-scoring finishes have followed for Bottas, who has made more headlines with his off-track promotional work than he has behind the wheel.

While he has quite comfortably outperformed his team-mate, Bottas would appear to be falling short of doing enough to convince the team’s future owners Audi of keeping him on beyond 2025.

The Finn did show that there are some benefits to all the long-distance cycling he does between races by using his extreme fitness to take eighth in the hugely challenging heat of Qatar.

Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo: 6

Championship position: 18th – 6 points

F1’s first Chinese driver has backed up his rookie season with another competent campaign, but has failed to set the world alight.

He has been disappointing in qualifying, aside from a shock P5 in Hungary, and has consequently left himself with too much to do on a Sunday, with points coming from three ninth-placed finishes, in Australia, Spain and Qatar.

Zhou will have the honour of driving at his home race as the Chinese Grand Prix returns to the calendar, but he is another driver whose long-term future in the sport is currently far from secure.

Nico Hulkenberg, Haas: 6.5

Championship position: 16th – 9 points

On his return to F1, Hulkenberg showed that he has plenty left to give by comprehensively out-classing his team-mate in qualifying.

Unfortunately for the German, Haas’ car was so hard on its tyres that many brilliant displays over one lap came to nothing on race day.

As a result, the 36-year-old didn’t come close to losing his unwanted tag as the F1 driver who has the most starts without a podium.

If Haas can get on top of their tyre issues next year, there will be a better opportunity to assess whether Hulkenberg can still mix it with the best on a Sunday.

Kevin Magnussen, Haas: 5.5

Championship position: 19th – 3 points

Having looked impressive alongside Mick Schumacher last season, Magnussen struggled to match another veteran in Hulkenberg over one lap.

While he will be disappointed with his qualifying performances, he generally appeared to be up to the task on race day, but simply didn’t have a car capable of scoring points regularly.

Having been given another year in the seat by the ruthless figure that is Guenther Steiner, Magnussen will be under pressure to produce in 2024.

While there was little joy on the track, Magnussen did produce some of the best viral moments of the season as he shared several heart-warming moments before and after races with his toddler daughter.

Nyck de Vries, AlphaTauri: 4.5

Championship position: 22nd – 0 points

It just never quite worked out for the not-so-inexperienced rookie.

De Vries failed to take advantage of a big break that came largely as a result of one hugely impressive display for Williams as he stepped in at Monza in 2022.

The AlphaTauri (and Red Bull) hierarchy seemed to quickly begin to regret their decision to put former Mercedes man De Vries in a seat that could have been used for a driver from their own academy.

As the pressure built, the errors kept coming and a decision was taken to let the Dutchman go after just 10 races, without a point to his name.

Liam Lawson, AlphaTauri: 7

Championship position: 20th – 2 points

This rookie made an impressive impact as he stepped in to replace Daniel Ricciardo for five races.

The New Zealander calmly went about his business, not over-pressing, and was eventually rewarded with a points finish in Singapore.

The late-season cameo has elevated to being one of the first names being talked about for any potential vacancies, with speculation already out there over whether Williams could consider giving him Logan Sargeant’s seat in 2024.

Either way, it seems pretty certain that Lawson will be a permanent fixture on the F1 grid before long.

24 races in 2024! Watch every round of next season live on Sky Sports F1, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix from February 29-March 2. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner claims that Lewis Hamilton’s representatives made contact over a potential switch from Mercedes; watch every session from the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP live on Sky Sports from this Friday at 9.30am, with lights out on Sunday at 1pm

Lewis Hamilton has denied Christian Horner’s claims that he reached out over a potential switch from Mercedes, and says the Red Bull team principal attempted to arrange a meeting with him.

Horner claimed in an interview published on Wednesday that a representative of Hamilton had approached Red Bull earlier this year before the seven-time champion signed his two-year Mercedes contract renewal in August.

After narrowly missing out on a record eighth world championship at the hands of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in 2021, Hamilton has watched the Dutchman make it three titles in a row in a dominant car.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s season-ending Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton told Sky Sports F1: “I don’t really know where that story has come from. I mean I know it’s come from Christian…

“I don’t really understand what he’s been talking about because no one, as far as I’m aware, from my team has spoken to him. I haven’t spoken to Christian really in years.

“However, he did reach out to me earlier on in the year about meeting up, but that’s it. I just congratulated them on an amazing year and said, ‘hopefully soon, I’ll be able to fight against you guys in the near future.’ That was it.

“So I’m not really sure, I think he’s just stirring things.”

In an interview with the Daily Mail Horner had also suggested that Hamilton met with Ferrari chairman John Elkann.

“We have had several conversations over the years about Lewis joining,” Horner said.

“They have reached out a few times. Most recently, earlier in the year, there was an inquiry about whether there would be any interest.

“He met John Elkann (Ferrari chairman), too. I think there were serious talks.

“But I can’t see Max and Lewis working out together. The dynamic wouldn’t be right. We are 100 per cent happy with what we have.”

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur dismissed reports back in May that they had offered Hamilton a big-money deal to defect to the Italian team.

After the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted Hamilton needs to “make sure he has the car” to win another championship and would have “no complaints” if the seven-time world champion moved elsewhere in the “next year or two” if the Brackley-based outfit don’t demonstrate a title-winning car.

Verstappen was asked about the possibility of partnering Hamilton in the future but played down the chances of the prospect.

“I don’t know because it’s not happening. There’s no point to make up stories ‘if, if’. It’s not happening,” said Verstappen.

Pushed more on whether he would want to be his team-mate, the world champion added: “I wouldn’t mind. It doesn’t matter, anyone. I don’t want to put it particularly on Lewis. There are so many great drivers as well. Sometimes it doesn’t work out like that.”

Mercedes label Hamilton and Red Bull talks ‘rather implausible’

Sky Sports News’ Craig Slater:

“I got in touch with Red Bull today and they said yes absolutely Christian Horner stands by this that a known Lewis Hamilton representative made contact with him. They wouldn’t specify how in-depth this contact was particularly. But it did happen.

“The more interesting aspect to all of this, because Lewis has ultimately resigned with Mercedes for another couple of years, he did so in August, and he did speak during the contract negotiation process about not looking anywhere else.

“So, I did get in touch with Mercedes who tell me they are relaxed; they are not stressed about any of this as far as they see it, they think it’s rather implausible, but it would be in their view due diligence, maybe for a representative of Lewis Hamilton to go and maybe see what else was out there, what future opportunities might potentially be out there, but they’re not taking it particularly seriously.

“It is not in any way a kind of issue between the team and Lewis, even if this did happen, which they’re not convinced that it did. It could even be the case, of course, that Lewis didn’t even know about this this contact necessarily, one insider connected with the team observed to me that, well is this Christian Horner needing to use Lewis’ name to make a few headlines.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Abu Dhabi GP schedule

Friday November 24

• 7am: F2 Practice
• 9am: Abu Dhabi GP Practice One (session starts at 9.30am)
• 10.55pm: F2 Qualifying
• 12.45pm: Abu Dhabi GP Practice Two (session starts at 1pm)
• 2.15pm: The F1 Show

Saturday November 25

• 10.15am: Abu Dhabi GP Practice Three (session starts at 10.30am)
• 12.15pm: F2 Sprint
• 1.15pm: Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying build-up
• 2pm: Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying
• 4pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday November 26

• 9.10am: F2 Feature Race
• 11.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Abu Dhabi GP build-up
• 1pm: The ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX
• 3pm: Chequered Flag: Abu Dhabi GP reaction
• 4pm: Ted’s Notebook

After the thrills of Las Vegas, Formula 1 heads to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit for the 2023 season finale and another stunning spectacle under the lights. Watch the Abu Dhabi weekend live on Sky Sports F1, with lights out on Sunday at 1pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW

Charles Leclerc is determined to end his long wait to convert a pole position into a race win again, but the Ferrari polesitter and his likely rivals for victory are aware the outcome of the inaugural Las Vegas GP will likely be determined by F1’s equivalent of ‘playing your cards right’.

Leclerc will head an exciting-looking mixed-up grid for lights out at 6am on Sunday – live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase – after a superb qualifying performance which the Monegasque said included the “best lap I have ever done in Formula 1” during Q2.

He was not as happy with his performance in Q3, but his first lap in the shootout under the Las Vegas lights was still good enough to secure him a fifth pole position of the season and third in the last four races.

Now for the crunch. Leclerc and Ferrari’s problem has not been topping qualifying – he now has 24 poles in total in F1, the 12th most of all time – but converting them into wins.

Incredibly, none of Leclerc’s last 11 poles, dating back to the Australian GP in April 2022 have been followed up with Grand Prix victory.

It is the challenge to end that sequence and Ferrari’s trend to fall backwards from strong qualifying results – plus the unique aspects that come with racing at 10pm local time in Vegas – that are at the forefront of Leclerc’s mind.

“Without a doubt tyre management will be what will make our race great or really bad,” Leclerc told Sky F1.

“It always is like this; tyre management is always a big thing. But it’s true that with these very cold temperatures the graining will be a thing, the loss of temperatures towards the end of the run will be a big thing as well.

“But I don’t know – I felt good since the first lap in FP1 so I really hope we can convert that pole finally because there have been too many poles without converting it to victory because we didn’t have the car [to win] on race day. I hope that [on Sunday] it will be the case.”

Team-mate Carlos Sainz, who had qualified alongside Leclerc on the front row but will drop back to 12th owing to a grid penalty, took Ferrari’s only hitherto win this season the last time they raced on a street track, in Singapore in September.

Leclerc has been stuck on five career wins since July 2022 and, put to him that Vegas would be the perfect place to party after winning again, said: “That would be the dream scenario! It would make up for the season I’ve had. Looking back, every time a really good result was on the cards something happened.”

But will Verstappen and Red Bull simply cash in again?

With Ferrari denied what would have been a commanding front-row lockout by Sainz’s controversial grid drop, Max Verstappen joins Leclerc at the head of the field for what will be a short run to the opening corner at the 6am lights out.

Leclerc has been overtaken before the first turn the last two times he has started from pole – by Lando Norris in the USA and Verstappen in Mexico – and the latter will likely remain favourite for victory in most observers’ minds given he has won 17 times from 20 races this season.

Asked if Verstappen can again get ahead of Leclerc early on in Sunday’s 50-lap race, Red Bull boss Christian Horner told Sky F1: “I think it will be different here but it’s a track you can definitely overtake on. It’s going to make it interesting.”

Verstappen’s public expressions of dislike for the new Strip circuit and the glittering Las Vegas event as a whole have not shown any sign of detracting from his performance on the track so far this weekend. He finished 0.378s back on Leclerc’s pole time and said: “It felt good yesterday. I would have liked to have a bit more pace today.

“The points are [on Sunday] and it’s going to be a tough one.

“First one here, there might be Safety Cars and it’s a very long straight, so there will be a lot of racing and I hope we are good on the tyres.”

Russell on the ‘unknowns’ of the first Strip race | How many pit stops will we see?

The track temperature is expected to be around 15 degrees during the race, which starts at 10pm local time in Vegas. It is by far the coldest race of the year so the drivers will be going into unknown territory.

There may be a lack of high-speed corners but that certainly does not correspond to there being minimal tyre wear. The cold temperatures put the tyres out of their working window and can lead to severe graining.

“Going into tomorrow, it’s a total unknown. These tyres are just not working around this circuit in the race conditions,” said Mercedes’ George Russell, who will start third.

“They are totally falling apart because they are so cold. The tyres aren’t designed to work in these cold conditions. The team that comes out on top will be the team that manages to keep them alive.”

Off line, the track will be dirty but the long straights mean overtaking should be possible. However, it will not be too easy because everyone is running low rear wings, so the slipstream effect is not as substantial, similar to Monza in that respect.

Some teams have not run the hard tyre and the performance of that compound will be key to see if it is a one- or two-stop race.

“I think if you’re able to keep it [the tyres] within the threshold, it will be an easy one-stop. As soon as you go over that threshold it’s unrecoverable and you might need to do two or three stops,” continued Russell.

“Right now we are all scratching our heads, thinking how are we going to approach the race. We haven’t ran the hard tyre yet. Maybe the hard tyre is just much better than the medium and you won’t be entering that graining that we have seen on all the teams.

“You’re going to have to push the tyre to find out, but if you push it and go over the limit, you’re probably doomed. It’s a real strange one, I don’t really know how to approach the race.”

As for what Russell can do himself, he is unlikely to be battling for the same piece of tarmac as Lewis Hamilton for the first time in a while.

With a strong start, Russell can maybe feature near the front in the opening laps with Verstappen and Leclerc, but he is likely going to be looking over his shoulder due to a lack of outright speed compared to Red Bull and Ferrari.

Russell has only had one podium this year, at the Spanish Grand Prix in June, and simply wants a race with no issues.

“I just want a clean race to be honest. It’s probably been the scrappiest season of my life,” he said.

“Every clean race weekend I’ve had has been when the car was slow and every time the car has been quick, everything was up in the air whether it’s mistakes on my side or unfortunate strategy or DNFs.

“I just want a clean race. I want to get these two races over and done with. We have to keep an eye on Ferrari. They are only 20 points behind us, probably should have been on for a one-two.

“Charles is definitely the favourite, so we need damage limitation but if there’s an opportunity, we will go for it.”

The Sky F1 pundits on the race-day tyre conundrum

Jenson Button:

“The thing is, to stop front-right graining you push that tyre less. Then you go through a stage, then it’s fine to push it a bit harder.

“But while everyone is doing that there is going to be one or two who are going to go, ‘hang on, I can make up one or two places here’. Fernando [Alonso] comes to mind and a few others.

“So it’s going to be a really mixed bag out there. Really interesting to hear George [Russell] say they haven’t run the hard tyre yet and they think they are going to run it in the race.

“It’s so up in the air, they’re really going to have to think on their feet. Strategists are going to be working flat-out as well all the way through the race.”

Danica Patrick:

“It just seems everyone is a little confused why they are fast, why they are not fast.

“What to look for is if someone drops off [in pace]. If they grain their tyres, that’s the problem.”

What does the mixed-up starting order have in store?

The other major point of intrigue for the race is the unusual mixed-up order the drivers will line up in on the grid.

While the Leclerc-Verstappen-Russell front three is not especially unfamiliar, there are many surprises behind after a session in which some of the grid’s usual midfield drivers and cars outperformed a selection of the sport’s biggest hitters.

Pierre Gasly is fourth for Alpine – his best starting berth since 2021 – with the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant impressing in fifth and sixth places.

Valtteri Bottas is a joint-season-best seventh for Alfa Romeo and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen is eighth.

They are all ahead of Hamilton (10th), Red Bull’s Sergio Perez (11th) and the demoted Sainz (12th), along with both McLarens (Lando Norris is 15th and Oscar Piastri 18th) with the grid’s hitherto most in-form team behind Red Bull experiencing a shock double-Q1 exit.

When to watch Sunday’s Las Vegas GP live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase

Sunday November 19

• 4:30am: Grand Prix Sunday: Las Vegas GP build-up (also on Sky Showcase)
• 6am: THE LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX (also on Sky Showcase)
• 8am: Chequered Flag: Las Vegas GP reaction (also on Sky Showcase)
• 9am: Ted’s Notebook (also on Sky Showcase)

Watch the whole Las Vegas GP weekend live on Sky Sports F1 with lights out on Sunday at 6am. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW