Five Big Questions Going Into The Las Vegas Grand Prix

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There are just three races left on the 2024 Formula 1 season and before the series shifts to the deserts of the Middle East for the final two races, it’s headed to the Mojave Desert and the streets of Las Vegas.

Everyone went into last year’s race without knowing anything about what the environment would be like, what kind of racing the circuit itself would provide, and even whether or not the drivers would be distracted by the big yellow smiley-face character on the outside of the Sphere.

But, there are still questions that need answers.

I don’t have those answers, but dammit, if I don’t have questions, here are five of them that might get answered between now and when the checkered flag waves in Sin City.

Will Max Verstappen Clinch The World Drivers’ Championship?

The story that will likely get the most coverage is that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen can clinch his fourth straight World Drivers’ Championship. 

Verstappen and Red Bull dominated in 2023, but other teams have surpassed them when it comes to development, and on most weekends, Red Bull is behind McLaren, Ferrari, and sometimes both on pace on any weekend. 

However, Verstappen scored enough points with wins early in the year and continued to score well through a bit of dry spell in the middle of the season as far as wins are concerned to maintain a pretty comfortable lead over his closest challenger — McLaren’s Lando Norris — for most of the season.

What set up Verstappen’s ability to clinch this weekend was a wet and wild race in Brazil that he won, while Norris finished down in P6. He also earned an extra point for the fastest lap, so him outscoring Norris 26-8 on Sunday — even with Norris earning 8 points from Saturday’s Sprint Race — set up a bunch of clinching scenarios for Verstappen. 

Essentially, all he has to do is finish ahead of Norris, and he’ll be the champion yet again. He can also win the title if he and Norris both fail to score.

According to Yahoo Sports, there’s even a clinching scenario in which Lando can finish in P4 and Max finishes P5, but if Lando doesn’t score the extra point for the fastest lap, Max is the champion.

To keep the fight alive, Norris needs to outscore Verstappen by three points.

So, it’s not a given that Max will clinch in Vegas, but for Norris to steal a championship away from him, things are going to have to go very wrong for the Dutchman. With Verstappen holing a 393-331 lead, Norris will need to win a couple of races that Verstappen fails to finish if he wants the title this season.

Red Bull’s reliability has been pretty solid this season, as it usually is, but who knows? Maybe something crazy will happen.

Can McLaren Maintain Its Lead Over Ferrari In The Constructors’ Standings?

One of the fun things about Formula 1 is that you’ve got two championships happening at once. One is for the drivers, which gets the most attention, while the constructors’ championship goes to the teams, and that’s the one that determines how the prize money is dished out, as well as some other things like how much wind-tunnel time teams get for the following season. 

So, it’s very important.

While the same team usually wins the drivers’ championship and the constructors’ championship, that isn’t always the case, and it looks like this year will be one of those times.

Red Bull isn’t mathematically out of contention yet, but realistically, the constructors’ title race is down to McLaren and Ferrari.

Heading into Las Vegas, McLaren has a 593-557 lead over Ferrari, which is comfortable, but one bad weekend for McLaren and a 1-2 finish for the Scuderia, and this whole thing flips on its head.

While McLaren has been a little more consistent than Ferrari, it seems that either team can show up with a car capable of qualifying well and winning the race on any given weekend.

Both teams have victories on street circuits this season with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc winning at Monaco, while McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris won in Azerbaijan and Singapore respectively.

However, Vegas is a bit of a different animal in that it’s a street circuit where overtaking proved to be very doable last time out. So, unlike some street tracks — *cough*Monaco*cough* — you can’t just win during qualifying.

Still, starting up front will be important to stay out of trouble on the opening lap, but if you need to trade a little qualifying pace for a car that will offer more race pace and overtaking opportunities, it might be the right call.

Is Mercedes Going To Make This A Four-Way Fight For The Win? 

The best thing about this season has been that on many weekends as many as four teams — Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren — have had the chance to win, 

This looks like it could be one of those weekends. 

Through the first two practice sessions, Mercedes came out blazing. Lewis Hamilton topped both sessions, while George Russell finished in P2 and P3. That, of course, bodes well for them, especially in FP1 where drivers struggled to find grip through most of the session.

However, we’ve seen this before. More than once this season, Mercedes has rolled into a race weekend looking great in practice only to unravel as the weekend went on through qualifying and the Grand Prix.

Will this be one of those weekends? Who knows? We’ll find out soon enough.

What Team Will Take Advantage Of A Great Circuit For Overtaking To Steal Some Points In A Three-Way Dogfight For P6 In the Constructors’ Standings?

Now, I mentioned earlier that the Constructors’ standings are very important and one place can mean millions in prize money.

So, the battle for P6 is going to be a big deal through these final three races and that sprint to the finish starts in Vegas. 

Alpine, who looked miserable at times this weekend, jumped into P6 with a massive, double-podium weekend in Brazil that brings their points total to 49. 

That put them ahead of Haas in P7. The only American team on the grid has had a pretty consistent season scooping up points where they can and have wracked up 46 points on the year.

But then don’t look now, because Visa Cash App RB is just behind Haas with 44 points.

The battles on the fringes of the points will be wild seeing as every last point that these teams can possibly scavenge could be worth millions in prize money once the season wraps up in Abu Dhabi.

Will The Las Vegas Grand Prix Quiet The Critics?

The Las Vegas Grand Prix has become one of F1’s marquee races, but not without controversy.

Locals and business owners find it disruptive, it’s expensive, and last year’s race weekend started with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz hitting a loose drain cover that caused serious damage, which required taking a penalty to fix, and threatened the outcome of the Constructors’ standings.

The race itself ended up being one of the best of the season, so now, it’ll be interesting to see if that will continue in 2024.

The first night of practice went smoothly from an operational and event perspective and it seems like teams and drivers have come into the weekend a bit more prepared (obviously) having dealt with the circuit and the attention that comes with this particular event.

I think having Vegas on the calendar is a great thing for F1 (I think it should be the finale).