Verstappen equals Vettel’s win tally, Stroll finishes in the top five at successive races for the first time and Norris records his first retirement of the 2023 season. Here are the facts and statistics from the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN WINS 2023 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX
In Formula 1’s first race in Las Vegas in over 40 years, Max Verstappen took victory at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. This was the 53rd victory of Verstappen’s career, equalling Sebastian Vettel for third in Formula 1’s all-time win list.
Verstappen’s victory marked Red Bull’s 20th Grand Prix win of 2023, setting a new record for most team wins in a year. They surpassed Mercedes’ former record of 19 victories during the 2016 season.
Verstappen is the first driver to record two streaks of six or more victories during a single season, having previously won ten races in a row between the Miami and Italian Grands Prix. Verstappen is the second driver to record two separate streaks of six or more consecutive wins during his career, after Michael Schumacher.
Recording his 20th podium finish of the year, Verstappen extended the record for most top three results in a single season.
Las Vegas Strip Circuit is the 31st different circuit on which Verstappen has taken a podium finish, which sees him overtake Kimi Raikkonen as the driver to have taken podiums at the second-most different circuits in Formula 1.
The 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix was the 40th consecutive race in which Verstappen scored points, becoming only the second driver – after Lewis Hamilton – to have picked up points in as many as 40 races in a row. Verstappen has scored at every race since the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Leading the championship for the 38th consecutive race after the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Verstappen set a new record for the most consecutive races at the top of the championship standings. He eclipsed Michael Schumacher’s former record of 37 consecutive races in the lead, from the 2000 United States Grand Prix to the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix.
The 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix was the 150th race in which Verstappen scored a point. He is the ninth driver to have scored in 150 races in Formula 1.
ON THE PODIUM
Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez joined Max Verstappen on the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix podium, with Leclerc passing Perez in the final sector on the final lap to secure second place. It’s the fourth time in 2023 that this trio has shared the podium positions. It last happened at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Leclerc recorded his 29th podium finish, overtaking Clay Regazzoni for 37th on the all-time list of most podiums in Formula 1.
The 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix was the second time this year that Leclerc has finished as runner-up, after the Austrian Grand Prix.
This was the 12th race in a row for which Leclerc took pole position that he has failed to win. It’s the second longest run of consecutive career poles without a win. In total, it is the 19th time Leclerc has failed to win from pole position. That sees him equal Nelson Piquet for fifth in the list of most races at which a driver has taken pole but has not won the race.
Leclerc won the Driver Of The Day vote for the first time since the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix.
With his 35th top three finish, Perez equalled Juan Manuel Fangio and Emerson Fittipaldi for 26th on F1’s all-time podium list. This was Perez’s first podium finish since the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.
Perez’s third place finish secured him second place in the Drivers’ Championship. With team-mate Verstappen having won the title, 2023 is therefore the first time Red Bull drivers have finished 1-2 in the final standings.
Perez recorded the first podium finish from 11th on the grid since Sebastian Vettel finished as runner-up having started 11th in the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
This was the third Formula 1 race in which the drivers starting first, second and 11th finished on the podium. It also happened at the 1994 Spanish Grand Prix and the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
IN THE POINTS
Having started 16th, Esteban Ocon finished fourth in the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. It was his first top six finish since his podium at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix.
Fourth is the best result recorded from 16th on the grid since Max Verstappen finished on the podium having started 16th at the 2017 Chinese Grand Prix.
Lance Stroll finished fifth at the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, recording his second consecutive fifth place finish. This is the first time Stroll has scored in consecutive Grands Prix since the 2023 Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix, as well as the first time in his career that he has recorded top five results at two races in a row.
Stroll started 19th and gained 14 positions over the course of the race. It’s the most positions he’s gained in a single Grand Prix during his career to date.
With ninth place, Fernando Alonso become the first driver to finish 300 Formula 1 races in the sport’s history.
Finishing 10th, Oscar Piastri recorded the fastest lap of a race for the second time in his career. He also set the fastest lap at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.
This was the first time McLaren secured fastest laps at successive races since the 2021 Italian and Russian Grands Prix.
THE OTHER FINISHERS
Kevin Magnussen lost five positions over the course of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix to finish 13th. It’s the first time he’s finished in a worse position than where he started since the Singapore Grand Prix.
After starting sixth, Logan Sargeant finished only 16th in the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. He became the third driver – after Eddie Cheever in 1982 and Antonio Giovinazzi in 2020 – to make three home race appearances in a single season.
Sargeant lost ten positions over the course of the race – the first time he has fallen back more than two places from where he has started in the 14 races which he has finished in his rookie season.
With Zhou Guanyu 15th and Valtteri Bottas 17th, Alfa Romeo failed to score for a fourth consecutive Grand Prix.
THE RETIREES
Lando Norris retired on the third lap of the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, ending a run of 21 consecutive Grand Prix finishes. Norris’ DNF means that Max Verstappen is now the only driver to have completed every race in the 2023 season.
Nico Hulkenberg’s late-race retirement made the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix the third consecutive race in which the driver starting 13th failed to finish – the longest run of retirements from this grid position since 2020.
This was Hulkenberg’s first DNF since the 2023 Austrian Grand Prix.
Yuki Tsunoda was the third and final driver to retire from the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix. He recorded his third non-finish of the year.
