Las Vegas is quite the storied city. In Formula 1 2024, several storylines were wrapped up or extended here – the chief being Max Verstappen securing this year's world title.
He finished fifth on a weekend Mercedes dominated in a manner so previously familiar to F1, with the Silver Arrows squad leading every session and being so much faster than its rivals that Lewis Hamilton could recover from his Q3 errors to turn 10th on the grid into second behind superb winner George Russell. This was just three races on from the team's shocking Austin weekend having lost its way since its mid-season wins.
Elsewhere, Lando Norris's faint title hopes were finally extinguished, while there was much development in off-track topics, too. Here then, is our pick of the storylines from Vegas.
1. Only three drivers now head Verstappen in title terms
Verstappen finished where he started in Vegas – fifth – but it was a far more interesting drive than the headline results suggest. Having gained after Red Bull got creative with its cutting tools ahead of qualifying, he was nearly wiped out by RB's Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 1, then rose to second with a fine run and series of passes on the medium tyres most had started on.
The second and third stints on the hards were tougher for the Red Bull driver, which has been something of a theme this campaign. From trailing winner Russell by nearly 10s ahead of stop one, Verstappen was passed by old foe Hamilton and the Ferrari pair – in the first skirmish after a warning from race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to remember his main aim for the night.
That was wrapping up the title and not laying down more markers on rivals, but Verstappen was already in championship-sealing mode. He drove sensibly and was rewarded with the points he needed to fully extinguish Norris's faint title hopes, having done the majority of that with his Brazil brilliance.
On four titles, Verstappen joins F1 legends Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel. Next up, there's only Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Michael Schumacher and Hamilton (both seven) left to overhaul.
2. Cold weather really is Mercedes' best friend in F1 2024
"I don't know how it was so quick, but I'm just riding this wave right now."
Having utterly dominated the sessions that mattered – and for once with Mercedes maintaining strong practice form – Russell still didn't really understand how he'd won in Vegas. This was, after all, a Mercedes package that he and Hamilton couldn't keep on the road the last time F1 was in the USA.
But, as with Ferrari here last year, Vegas's unusually cool clime for F1 tyres was the key. For the SF-23, read how the W15 was able to fire its tyres up perfectly, which meant Russell had a decisive advantage in the first sector when it mattered in qualifying. This came with a double boost of not having to fuel up to complete multiple prep laps and in the process take out tyre life in the softs.
"It simply all worked in our favour that the tyres were in the right temperature window," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said after Hamilton had helped rescue the race 1-2, after the seven-time world champion's errors had dropped him so far down in Q3. "We tend to suffer when it's too hot and today was just perfect."
While Ferrari had led the FP2 long runs, on Saturday night Mercedes had the clear edge on tyres – with Leclerc's early attack on Russell rapidly turning from formidable to disastrous due to the impact it had on the red car's medium rubber.
Having gone badly off the boil from its 2024 mid-season purple patch, cooling down turned out to provide exactly the right recipe for Mercedes this time.
3. Red Bull needs to join the rest on the skinniest rear wings
Although Verstappen shone during the race's early third, he was never in pole or victory contention, with the RB20 again exposed in low-drag trim. This is because of the very skinny rear wings deployed at rival teams and how Red Bull "opted not to make one", per the Dutchman.
"This is already from 2022," he added. "I think we just never thought we would run it that low. And then, with the budget cap, you choose your priorities and we shifted that. We would have liked to have a lower wing, a lower-downforce wing, or at least a different shape, a more efficient shape."
Red Bull sort of achieved this by physically cutting its already significantly sculpted rear wings ahead of qualifying in Vegas, which brought Verstappen into play on top speed – having been around 4.5mph down on the top Mercedes and McLaren squads in Thursday practice, per GPS trace data. But this came at a downforce cost in the corners, which means it's not a long-term solution and was only enacted because of the very long Strip straight.
Red Bull has been exposed in this regard before – think the 2023 Italian GP and Ferrari's 'Monza special', which the Scuderia has been able to fettle and deploy again. But Verstappen suggests it may not be worth Red Bull spending its resources on a part that is used at just a handful of races with the new rules era already looming.
"It's something I will look at," he said. "But, on the other hand, there's only one more year left with these rules, and I don't know if it makes sense."
4. F1 seems set to get an 11th team after all
As the Vegas event developed, it became clear that F1's widening US market now seems set for a notable boost, with General Motors' bid – along with Andretti – to be an 11th team suddenly looking likely to get the green light.
Andretti falling back in terms of the partnership's arrangement appears to be key in the reversal in fortunes. As is how GM will be building a new F1 engine for 2028 and therefore becoming a replacement for the Renault power the championship will soon lose.
Until 2028, however, it is likely that the GM/Andretti squad – whatever it ends up being called with GM's Cadillac brand touted as a possible name too – would need to be fitted with a Honda customer unit. Ferrari is also a possible supplier, but from 2026 Honda is only set to supply Aston Martin and so, with Haas taking Ferrari units, the rules would oblige Honda to provide a supply.
The bizarre barriers to this team's entry seem to have finally been overcome and a confirmed slot for 2026 could be announced as early as this week.
5. FIA removes skid block loophole teams had been exploiting
As the Vegas event was getting underway, news broke that yet another 2024 technical rules farrago was occurring. In this case, the FIA had stepped in swiftly after the Brazilian GP to clamp down on some teams exploiting a loophole in the rules regarding plank wear.
Red Bull, one of the squads that is understood to have made changes to its skid set-up, along with what is thought to be half the grid and including Ferrari, is believed to have brought the issue up with the FIA after the Interlagos event. This concerned how ambiguity in a previous technical directive covering this part had led to extra supporting skids being fitted that were thicker than the rules intended while complying with vertical stiffness requirements.
As this would be useful in protecting the skid measuring points elsewhere on the plank, a fresh TD was issued ahead of the race.
6. McLaren moves back on 'Papaya rules' requirement for Piastri
Norris's pre-weekend points deficit after Verstappen's fine Interlagos win meant McLaren again adjusted its approach to team orders. After he was told to give up the Brazilian sprint race he'd led early on, Oscar Piastri revealed in Vegas there only remained "a very specific few scenarios that maybe I'll still help out if that's what I'm asked to do".
In the Vegas race, the McLaren drivers never ran together on track in what was a rare quiet weekend for the orange squad overall. Norris and Piastri were struggling with understeer throughout, but McLaren is still not sure if this was due to the track's layout or the cool conditions.
Piastri also said in Vegas he "wasn't that disappointed" with giving up the Interlagos sprint as "it's a very different scenario to a grand prix".
"I think I proved what I wanted to prove in terms of qualifying on pole," he added. "And that was just to myself. Even if I had won the sprint, qualifying on pole was probably the more satisfying thing for me."
7. Why Aston Martin axe swung for Fallows
With Dan Fallows leaving his role as Aston Martin's technical director this month, the Vegas race was the first chance for the team to be quizzed on its decision, which was announced in the gap between Interlagos and the start of the current triple-header.
Fallows joined Aston back in 2022 from Red Bull and oversaw its impressive year-on-year gains ahead of 2023, where it began the season as his former squad's closest challenger and scored eight podiums.
But, when Aston failed to replicate such results and slipped back to running adrift of the leading pack this year – along with the hiring of Andy Cowell as Aston group CEO and Adrian Newey and Enrico Cardile at the top of the team's technical department – change soon followed.
Aston performance director Tom McCullough explained in Vegas that "the performance of the team this year hasn't been at the level that we've all been wanting it to be at" and "the development of these cars has been hard and ultimately it's a performance-based industry" the decision over Fallows's future was made.
