🏎️ Fight for 2nd Place in Las Vegas

In this week’s email:

• Fight for 2nd place at Las Vegas Grand Prix ♣️

• General Motors makes bid to be engine manufacturer 🏎️

• McLaren in talks to resign Lando Norris 📝

• 3 things that didn’t go well during the LV Grand Prix ⏱️

Leclerc barely beats out Perez for P2 at LV Grand Prix ♣️

Going into the final lap of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, it looked like Red Bull was going to take one-two. Charles Leclerc denied Red Bull’s chances of that having overtaken Sergio Perez on the final lap and beating Perez by 0.171 seconds. Below are results from the race:

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

3. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

4. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

5. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

7. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

8. George Russell (Mercedes)

9. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

10. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

11. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

12. Alex Albon (Williams)

13. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

14. Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri)

15. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)

16. Logan Sargeant (Williams)

17. Valterri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

Drivers that DNF - Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Niko Hülkenberg (Haas), Lando Norris (McLaren)

Other things to note:

• The concrete framing around a water valve cover failed, causing damage to Carlos Sainz Ferrari in FP1. Ferrari suffered $1.5M in damages due to the crash and that excludes the engine.

• Lando Norris lost control of the rear of his McLaren car on Lap 4. Colliding with the barriers and in the aftermath went to the hospital for precautionary checks.

• Williams started the race in P5 & P6 but couldn’t bring in any points this past weekend.

General Motors registers to join as F1 engine manufacturer 🏎️

General Motors have registered with the FIA to become an F1 engine manufacturer for 2028.

If their bid is approved, General Motors will be the seventh engine supplier in 2028. GM is a Cadillac sub-brand and is already making decisions to form an 11th F1 team.

GM president Mark Reuss said: "With our deep engineering and racing expertise, we're confident we'll develop a successful power unit for the series, and position Andretti Cadillac as a true works team.”

This news will add more negotiating to be made between Liberty Media, F1, and the Andretti team in the upcoming months.

McLaren in talks to extend Lando Norris 📝

McLaren is working to secure a contract extension for Lando Norris, even though his existing deal doesn’t expire until 2025.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are on multi-year deals which is a rare occurrence with frequent changes in the driver market.

With the McLaren team performing better in the second half of the year, their teams Principal Andrea Stella looks to create stability across the team for years to come.

Three things that didn’t go well during the Las Vegas Grand Prix ⏱️

With this being the first year F1 has had a race in Las Vegas, there are some things that happened this past weekend that the FIA will want to do to improve on. Below are three things top of mind to improve on:

1. The circuit didn’t have much grip with the cold weather conditions. Several drivers expressed worries with Fernando Alonso claiming the grip level was “extremely low”.

2. The schedule was a challenge with qualifying starting at 3am EST and the race beginning at 10pm EST. Christian Horner stated “I think one of the things we look at is the running schedule because it’s been brutal for the team, and all the men and women behind the scenes.”

3. Issues with the lack of communication in the aftermath of the water valve incident during Thursday night’s practice. Organizers explained the delay was for the safety of the drivers but didn’t apologize to the fans for the 2 ½ hour delay. While also forcing fans to leave the race track while offering no refund.