Las Vegas Grand Prix: Race Recap

Magnussen started from eighth place on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires and briefly moved up to sixth through the opening stages, before cycling through to the lower stages of the top 10. 

Magnussen came into the pit lane on lap 14 for White hard tires before stopping once more, for the same tire compound, on lap 26 when the safety car was deployed for debris. Magnussen completed the 50-lap grand prix in 13^th position. 

Hulkenberg took the start from 13^th on the grid, also on medium tires, and gained positions through the opening stint prior to pitting on lap 12 for hard tires. 

Like Magnussen, Hulkenberg took the opportunity to come into the pits behind the safety car on lap 26, sticking with another set of hard tires, but had to pull to the side of the track a handful of laps from the checkered flag with a power unit issue on the VF-23. 

Up front World Champion Max Verstappen claimed a record-extending 18^th victory of the 2023 season, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.

Kevin Magnussen:

“I feel like we had the degradation and pace to score points, but we didn’t so I need to review it and see how we could’ve done better. It feels like we had good degradation for once and pace in the race, even at the end of the stints. There was lots of track evolution throughout the race, which was fine and part of the challenge. I’ve enjoyed it.”

 

Nico Hulkenberg: 

“Something happened and I lost power, so we’ll look into it. I thought race pace wasn’t too bad actually, I had a good start but with the accident in Turn 1 I had to go wide around the outside and lost a lot of places, so then was behind already. After that, I felt pretty comfortable in the car, and I felt we had more pace but there was always traffic and for graining protection you couldn’t push as much as you wanted, so that was limiting. All in all, I would say it was one of the better races though.”

 

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal:

“Both drivers fought hard today to get the best out of the car, and I think they did, and we stayed in front of our normal opponents. We couldn’t get close to the big guys and both cars got stuck behind a Williams – they’re very fast down the straights – so we couldn’t get through. For Nico, unfortunately something happened with the engine and Kevin came home P13. I don’t think we did anything wrong.”

 

Today's Data

Event: Las Vegas Grand Prix – Saturday November 18
Location: Las Vegas Strip Circuit, Las Vegas, USA
Layout: 6.201-kilometer (3.853-mile), 17-turn circuit
Weather: Clear
Air Temps: 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 degrees Fahrenheit)
Race Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing
Team Result: Kevin Magnussen – Started 8^th / Finished 13^th (Running – completed 50/50 laps)
Nico Hulkenberg – Started 13^th / Retired (Power Unit Issue – completed 45/50 laps)