Checo asleep at the wheel!

We’re back

I wonder if Checo's got any shot of winning this on tire wear? If he's got a lot less downforce then he should theoretically be able to manage better. Max might just pull too far ahead though.

Toto has been drinking

well I hope verstappen feels like a winner instead of a clown now

Jesus Checo. Max actually tried to help him too, surprisingly. Had plenty of time to see it coming and it least block the inside.

Huge difference between Max and the others are when the stakes are high, Max does not give it away.

George&Lando crack, Leclerc locks up, Checo doesn’t know how to make car wider on final lap. No way Charles should see that inside line gap in that spot.

Low IQ driving. (Weird how in AD21 he defended well vs Lewis)

I enjoyed watching this event, hope they make the correct adjustments for next year.

Couple major adjustments that are needed are the times, do it in normal times instead of midnight and end of the race do not need to drive down to the Bellagio fountains for an interview and come back down to Paddock to do trophy and champagne celebrations.
Regular cool down room and podium is fine.

I liked the cooldown car. I think it's fine as a one off Vegas thing. Entertaining race overall and some good battles throughout.

Stewards dropped the ball by not telling Max to give back the position. Seemed like such an obvious call and they were twiddling their thumbs for 15 minutes before finally making a nonsensical call.

The adjustments to cooler weather driving made the strategy a lot more interesting but I'm not sure if it's something they can maintain going forward bc usually it will involved a couple early wrecks while tyres get up to speed.

Overall, Sunday turned out quite well and with some tweaks I'd venture to say this could be one of the highlights of the calendar.

Big question though is, how is attendance and ticket pricing in year 2 once the novelty is gone? If it falls off precipitously, then is the event even worth it considering the massive disruption to the city?

Yeah that was surely a very quick decision. No idea what their process is and why it took so long

I'm a F1 noob. Can someone explain to me why giving the position back when you have a 1-2 second lead is harsher than a 5 second penalty in the pit? Did the 5 second hold not cost him more time than giving the spot back would've?

F1 is not a novelty that wears off
Neither is Vegas

So demand will always be high. Next year prices probably won’t start as high so there wouldn’t be a crash

Massive disruption was slightly overblown. And next year there will be much less as most of the one time work has been completed

As a local who lives right off the Strip I can tell you that I might not even have known it was there if I lived in a cave and didn’t happen to walk over there the past few days

Indianapolis 2000-2007, Phoenix 1989-1991, Detroit 1982-1988, Dallas 1984, Long Beach 1976-1983, Watkins Glen 1961-1980, Riverside 1960, Seabring 1959.

It'll take Gary Bettman levels of commitment to make this work.

On many tracks it's pretty hard to pass. If Max has a half second edge per lap it's going to be hard for him to pass back, but it will be easy to stretch out the lead to 5 seconds, making the penalty moot. Max's car is so much better it didn't really matter which penalty they picked, he was going to win.

Race director no longer has the authority to tell drivers to give the position back. This is one of the results of the 2021 shitshow season where the race director made many questionable calls. So either the driver gives the position back voluntarily or it goes to the stewards which then hand out a time penalty which is normally 5 seconds. The 5 seconds would probably have caused Verstappen the win if it wasn't for the safety car. I don't like 5 second time penalties as they are very inconsistent in their impact especially when served at the end of the race.

Yah, Leclerc was probably like 80% to win right before the safety car happened. He was ~5 seconds ahead of Max and with 5 lap fresher tires. After the SC he was only 2-3 seconds ahead and with 5 lap older tires. It also didn't help that Checo got a free pit stop too and was able to trouble Leclerc with his 5 lap fresher tires and then allow Max to swoop in for the kill.

Guenter Steiner gone from Haas.
Netflix must be gutted.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/h...2025/10571247/

Hamilton to Ferrari? Would be an interesting start to the year.

Power move! Fred’s best decision so far as Ferrari principal

v much looking forward to lewis regularly finishing 9th in his big red tractor (when he should've finished 6th if not for a horrible strategy mixup)

wowee. Lewis can’t be happy with this year’s car

Lewis: "I'm switching to Ferrari!!
Reporter: "But didn't Ferrari finish third behind Mercedes last year??"
Lewis: "I'm switching to Ferrari!!
Reporter: "Uhh OK"

That gives me a really bad feeling for this season. The only reason I see him doing this is if Mercedes in simulations is barely ahead of last season RedBull.

Time to lock this thread and create one for 2024

The Scuderia doesn't like Whiny drivers... how long is this relationship going to last