It was an entertaining Saturday night Grand Prix under the impressive city lights, which started with incidents in the early stages. Esteban gained eight positions on the opening lap to occupy eighth, with Pierre maintaining his starting spot of fourth.
Pierre pitted on lap 17 for new Hards with Esteban in three laps later for his mandatory stop. From there, it was about managing the tyres to the end of the race. Both drivers fairly battled for position on lap 34 with Esteban able to pass Pierre to slot into fifth place. Eventually, Esteban inherited fourth after Oscar Piastri’s late pit-stop before conceding fourth on the road to George Russell whose five-second penalty led to Esteban claiming a deserved 12 points. Pierre struggled to manage the Hard tyres as he finished in eleventh place.
The team now heads to Abu Dhabi for the final race of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Esteban Ocon, started P16, finished P4:
“What a night in Las Vegas to be outside of the points to finishing in fourth place! I would like to say a massive congratulations to the team for this great result and amazing recovery. It was a chaotic start and we managed to keep it clean and gain eight positions on lap one. After that, we had to be patient, execute a clean race and managing the tyres was really the key. I made some good overtakes along the way and to finish fourth at this amazing venue is really a great result, especially considering how I was left feeling after Qualifying. There is one more race to go in Abu Dhabi next week and we will aim to carry this momentum into the season finale”
