Red Bull Max Verstappen’s reign in formula one continued when he already secured his fourth consecutive championship in the Las Vegas race.
Mercedes showed its strength in the cool air and took a double victory after starting from the pole George Russell held its first place until the end. Valtteri Bottas was 18th in the competition.
Sports expert Jukka Mildh go through the biggest talking points of formulas in this article. Mildh’s thoughts on Verstappen and Bottas can also be heard in the following video.
What solved it?
Mercedes showed its strength again in the cool air. The car’s speed was top-class, but the team that controlled the tire wear also managed to modify its settings to suit the Las Vegas race.
– If you compare it to Ferrari, the Ferrari’s tires wore out much faster in the beginning than the Mercedes’, says Mildh.
What speaks?
Verstappen’s reign continued as he secured his fourth consecutive world championship. Verstappen is only the fifth driver in all time to do such a trick.
Mildh reminds that Verstappen has had a very difficult season in terms of internal crises in the team. There was buzz around Red Bull, especially from the beginning of the season, when Christian Horner was accused of inappropriate behavior.
In the summer, it was also reported that the designer guru Adrian Newey will leave the team after this season. With the turmoil around the team, rumors about Verstappen’s possible move to Mercedes also spread during the season.
At the same time, the competition on the track intensified even more, as McLaren and Mercedes closed the gap to Red Bull. The energy drinkers no longer had the best car in the series in the summer.
– This was not as easy a year for him as the previous ones, because Red Bull’s superiority has melted during this season, says Mildh.
– Even though the car didn’t develop as well as the others, Verstappen kept a cool head. He is still the best driver in the lineup and there is no doubt about it.
Verstappen showed his strength as a driver during a difficult season. According to the expert, a good example of the ability to withstand pressure was the race in Brazil, which he won in very difficult conditions despite a bad starting position.
– He showed his pure driving talents. Despite these difficulties, he has been able to keep his head clear throughout the season and focus on the most important things.
Surprise?
The biggest surprises of the weekend were seen in qualifying, when Pierre Gasly ran third. However, the excellent qualifying did not bring a prize, as Alpine’s car failed in the early stages of the race.
According to Mildh, in the race Lewis Hamilton emerged in a surprising way, but in general the drivers performed at their own level. However, it can be considered surprising that Mercedes got a double win as a team.
– Mercedes’ double victory has not been seen for a long time. However, they have had to struggle and there have been a lot of problems, so the double win can be considered a surprise.
A flop
Fighting for the world championship with Verstappen Lando Norris was already in big trouble from the start. McLaren failed at a crucial moment.
– Yes, McLaren failed miserably. Someone went completely wrong with them. McLaren didn’t make it in qualifying. All right in the race, but suddenly they fell from the sharpest point.
What about Bottas?
Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber took a familiar tactic to the team and started to try to get up from the tail end with a one-stop tactic. This backfired immediately at the start of the race, as Tire wear was severe in Las Vegas.
Bottas was 18th in the end, while his teammate Guanyu Zhou ran thirteenth.
– The culture of one-stop tactics, which has continued for decades in such a sauber-like style, failed in this competition. He is certainly satisfied that the season is coming to an end and little by little his new patterns are starting to fall into place.
Bottas has been taken as Mercedes’ back-up driver. Head of the stable Toto Wolff said before qualifying in Las Vegas that he would love to welcome Bottas back into the Mercedes family. According to Wolff, solutions in contract negotiations are “only a matter of time”.
The expert sees that Mercedes would be a really good job for Bottas. He believes that Mercedes would be able to give the Finn good tasks, for example in relation to the 2026 rule changes.
– It would be important to get this kind of contract with Mercedes.
What next?
After the drivers’ championship is decided, the eyes turn to the teams’ World Series, because the rankings are very important because of the prize money, among other things.
McLaren leads the teams’ championship with 608 points, but Ferrari is only 24 points behind. According to the expert, the Ferrari duo, who reached behind the Mercedes, will go into the last two races, however, neck and neck.
– It seems that Carlos Sainz too drives really well, even better than Charles Leclerceven if he leaves the stable. He wants to leave a good mark on Ferrari.