Max Verstappen hit with Las Vegas GP penalty as Charles Leclerc fumes at F1 rival.
Early in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Max Verstappen took the lead, but Charles Leclerc was not pleased with how the Red Bull start overtook the pole-sitter.
Max Verstappen forced Charles Leclerc off the track at the first corner of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and Leclerc became furious with the Dutchman.
Leclerc was on pole which meant Verstappen was on the narrower side of the track. It was also much dirtier on that side as it was not on the racing line, while the issue was made worse by an oil spill on the track shortly before the start of the race.
Verstappen got a good launch nonetheless but, because the angle going into the corner was narrower, could not make the apex and ended up running very wide. As he was alongside Leclerc at the time, the Monegasque was also forced off track.
By the time they came back on, the Red Bull racer was ahead. But his Ferrari rival was not at all happy about it, shouting furiously over the radio and clearly wanting Verstappen to be punished.
“This needs to be addressed now, it’s a joke if he keeps the position,” yelled the Monegasque. But Red Bull were happy not to give the place back, instructing their driver to keep track position after studying the footage and claiming Verstappen was ahead before he went off track.
The stewards took their time to come to a decision, given that wiggle room by other chaos that happened at the start of the race. They decided to give Verstappen a five second time penalty rather than make him swap positions, which Sky Sports commentator Martin Brundle felt was not harsh enough.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso span around at the start without even being tagged at the first corner as he lost traction. Indeed, many drivers were struggling. Some were reporting that the lack of grip on the shiny new surface made it feel like they were driving in the wet, despite being on the slick tyres.
Alonso’s twist sadly affected Valtteri Bottas, who needed to halt to try not to ram into the Aston Martin thus tumbled to the rear of the pack. Carlos Sainz, who was at that point in the back half after a framework punishment, dropped to seventeenth subsequent to going head to head with Sergio Perez.
They generally figured out how to proceed with the race, however, while Lando Norris was not all that fortunate. The McLaren man let completely go toward the finish of the Strip segment and his vehicle length under him.
He hit the hindrances hard, however Chief Zak Brown announced not long after that his driver was okay. Television cameras then showed Norris escaping his McLaren under his own power and into the clinical vehicle to be returned to the pit path.
