British Formula One driver George Russell was victorious in Las Vegas after an exciting race under the lights. He’d previously finished P8 in 2023, when the Las Vegas Strip Circuit made its debut in Formula One.

Off to a strong start

Kicking off the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, George and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team spent Thursday evening getting to grips with the circuit. The surface was slippery, resulting in limited grip, and low temperatures meant the conditions were tricky.

Setting the fastest lap towards the start of the session on Medium tyres, George had a strong start to the weekend, and he continued to make positive progress as the session went on.

George finished FP1 in second, with the team securing a one-two finish in the weekend’s first Free Practice session.

WATCH: 2024 LAS VEGAS FP1 HIGHLIGHTS

More promising results in FP2

Working on gathering more data, George started on Medium tyres before switching to Softs with 40 minutes to go.

Continuing his promising results, George finished FP2 in third.

WATCH: 2024 LAS VEGAS FP2 HIGHLIGHTS

First in Free Practice

Circuit conditions continued to be slippery.

Ten minutes into the session, George did a single lap on the Hard compound. He then pitted before coming back out on the Soft tyre with over 30 minutes to go.

A red flag towards the end of the session resulted in a pause to running. The session was resumed with one minute left, allowing George to do some practice starts ahead of the Grand Prix tomorrow.

He finished the session in P1, securing another strong result.

WATCH: 2024 LAS VEGAS FP3 HIGHLIGHTS

George puts it on pole

In Q1, George secured P1 with a time of 1:33.186, putting him safely through to the next Qualifying segment.

George got straight out in Q2 and immediately set a solid time. He held onto P1 for much of Q2 but ultimately finished the segment in P3, through to Q3.

The final Qualifying segment was delayed due to a barrier repair. Once the session was back underway, George came out to set a lap.

At the halfway point of Q3, George had provisional pole with a time of 1:32.811.

Towards the end of Qualifying, the session began to ramp up. Several drivers began to set faster times, including George who secured a fastest overall Sector One. After setting personal bests for Sectors Two and Three, George crossed the line and claimed pole.

WATCH: 2024 LAS VEGAS QUALIFYING HIGHLIGHTS

George takes victory in Las Vegas

Starting from P1, George had a great getaway on Medium tyres.

On Lap 4, Charles Leclerc behind began to put pressure on George and got within DRS range, but George was able to hold the Ferrari off.

Pitting from P1 at the end of Lap 12, George changed to Hard tyres and rejoined the track in P2 behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

When Hamilton pitted, George was back in P1 and began lengthening his lead. By Lap 17, he was over 10 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen behind.

On Lap 32, Mercedes was running one-two with Hamilton in P2. Over 32 seconds separated the Mercedes drivers, allowing George to pit at the end of the lap without losing his position.

On new Hard tyres, George led a controlled race and secured victory in Sin City in a one-two finish for the team.

The 2024 F1 season will resume on 29 November – 1 December for the Qatar Grand Prix.

WATCH: 2024 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX HIGHLIGHTS

George Russell, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One™ Team driver:

To win in Las Vegas feels incredible! I’m so thankful for the team and happy for them that we got this win. We had great pace throughout and we were comfortable in the lead. You are always thinking that something might happen though, such as a safety car, but it was clean throughout. It was almost a perfect weekend as we took pole position, led almost every lap and took the 1-2. It was great to be up on the podium with Lewis; he drove a fantastic race to come through from P10. We couldn’t ask for more.

I was meant to be flying out of here tonight but that’s not going to happen now! We will enjoy this night as a team as everyone deserves it. We will then sit down on Monday and go through the data to understand why we were so quick this weekend. Hopefully that can help us as we go into the final two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Finally, I’d like to say congratulations to Max on his fourth title. He is a deserving champion, has driven at an incredible level all year, and is the man we will all be chasing in 2025.