The glitz and glamour of Vegas continued as the race arrived.  The gloriously-named Bruce Buffer introduced the drivers on to the parade and when the cars had finally reached the grid, it was so packed no one could move.

Interviewed on the grid, Albon said that the race would be: "all about the graining."  If you can manage the tyres you will have a good race and if you can't you will go backwards.  As was proven later.

Alonso made a prediction about the race too: "You will enjoy it."  He certainly won't have enjoyed the start.  Or the middle or end probably.

It was the biggest of disappointments at the start with Verstappen immediately overtaking LeClerc for the lead.  The track was especially slippery.  Sargeant lost a place to Magnussen off the start but the Williams had great pace on the straight and he was able to retake the place.  There was some debris on the track from something, possibly a spin by Sainz and a Virtual Safety Car was called for.  Alonso, Perez and Bottas pitted.  The cause of the incident was Alonso spinning in the middle of the pack, bouncing off Bottas like bumper cars.

Then, 3 laps in, in a blink of an eye, we saw Norris disappear off the track.  It took him a while to get out of the car but he did radio in that he was okay.  He didn't look okay when he did get out of the car (unaided).  He lost the rear and left the track backwards, nearly taking out his team mate.  The debris showered Hamilton.

LeClerc was sleeping at the rolling start and Verstappen sailed away.  Rookie Piastri showed the grid how it was done and made a sweet move on Tsunoda.

The stewards finally made a decision about Verstappen's opening pass and awarded him a 5 second penalty, which is nothing to the driver this year.  The glib response from him proved this.  As they were running first and second, they should have been made to swap the places.  It turned out that Verstappen damaged his tyres dashing away after the Safety Car, which meant that on Lap 16 LeClerc retook the lead, with the Red Bull pitting immediately.

Piastri and Hamilton had a little bump which gave Piastri a long stop and Hamilton a puncture.

Then it was LeClerc's pit stop and Ferrari only delivered a slow stop but at least they did know he was coming in, had tyres ready, the crew knew it was happening and they overcame all those little hurdles they usually succumb to.

Verstappen was trying to make his way back up to the front of the pack, then on Lap 26 he and Russell made contact, with damage to both cars and a lot of debris on the track.  On a street track debris equals Safety Car, so lots of drivers including Russell and Verstappen made a cheap pit stop.

Russell was given a 5 second penalty for the incident.  Piastri did well again at the restart and found himself in 3rd.  Verstappen was briefly investigated for an unsafe release but nothing came of it.

Somehow, Perez managed to catch and overtake LeClerc for the lead on Lap 32.  Piastri was unable to hold off Verstappen for third place.  Behind them Gasly and Ocon went wheel to wheel and without team orders they battled for 5th and 6th, however someone came swiftly over the radio to put pay to that.  Perez stuck true to form and, when he had it all, fell asleep, took it fore-granted and lost the lead back to LeClerc.  Also swiftly past Perez was his team mate Verstappen.  It wasn't long until he was back in the lead again.

Toto Wolff radioed to Russell urging him to push forward and make some overtakes; he clearly wasn't bothered with encouraging his other driver, Hamilton, to score some points.  Rhianna will be very disappointed in Lewis.

With 7 laps to go, LeClerc made a mistake and gave second place to Perez.  A Red Bull one-two was now on the cards.  However, LeClerc repeated Alonso's Brazil feat and overtook Perez on the last lap for second position.  Disappointingly, Williams were not able to convert their qualifying position into any points at all.  Poor Gasly went backwards too.

Having moaned about the whole event, Verstappen was played Elvis over team radio and he sang along.  Whilst wearing an Elvis tribute race suit.

Instead of the cool down room, the top three drivers were driven in a Rolls Royce to the podium.  They sat uncomfortably thigh-to-thigh, with Perez in his tribute Ferrari race suit.  I'm sure that will be questioned back at HQ the next day.

Finally, they made it to the podium, where their presence was announced with a fruit machine spin.  The lost of the dice this season will be in a week's time in Abu Dhabi.