HINCH'S HEROES: Which drivers most impressed IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe under the Las Vegas lights?

The second Las Vegas Grand Prix served up plenty more exciting action over the weekend – and saw Max Verstappen clinch his fourth consecutive drivers' championship crown. As ever, IndyCar star and F1 TV pundit James Hinchcliffe was watching closely, and has picked out the five drivers who impressed him most over the weekend...

George Russell – Winner

From the green light at the start of first practice, Mercedes were unstoppable, and Russell’s lights-to-flag victory was quite possibly the best drive of his F1 career to date.

READ MORE: Russell overjoyed with ‘dream of a weekend’ after claiming first Mercedes pole and win in four months

With low temperatures and a smooth circuit, it looked on paper to be somewhere that the team could excel, and excel they did leading every practice session, qualifying on pole and securing a 1-2 in the race.

Russell’s drive was superb all night, having started from P1 after a bold call from the cockpit to be last on track at a place where a yellow or red flag could easily have scuppered his final run.

He got a great launch and defended perfectly from Charles Leclerc’s early attack – one which destroyed the Monegasque’s tyres. With the way you warm up the rubber having such a big effect on their subsequent performance, Russell’s control and restraint in fending off Leclerc’s challenge without pushing the tyres too hard was incredibly impressive.

Many others struggled to strike that balance, but lap after lap, stint after stint, Russell controlled the race with authority. Even when Hamilton was clawing back seconds in the final 10 laps, he kept his head, drove his pace, and was the big winner at the end of a beautifully driven night.

Lewis Hamilton – P2

What we saw on Saturday night was a glimpse of the old Hamilton – the seven-time champion who can mercilessly scythe his way through the field seemingly on command. This is the kind of drive we get when he’s truly in harmony with his race car.

Mercedes’ struggles in the ground effects era have meant the frequency with which he feels this way have been few and far between, but the way he made up for his qualifying errors by putting on a clinic on race day should make every Hamilton fan salivate at the thought of him in a regularly competitive car in 2025.

He no doubt went to bed wondering what could have been if he had nailed his Q3 attempt, but I love seeing the Lewis Hamilton who’s disappointed with second place.

READ MORE: Hamilton lauds ‘phenomenal’ team result in Las Vegas as he recovers from P10 to P2

Nico Hulkenberg – P8

With the regularity we’ve seen Hulkenberg on this list in 2024 you might think he was fighting for the drivers' title. While the Haas may not have had the pace to do that, Hulkenberg is regularly driving the car to within an inch of it’s capability, putting Haas back in front of the midfield constructors battle.

After Alpine’s shock double podium in Brazil, Haas must have been lamenting that one race seemed to undo almost all the hard work and good races that had got them to sixth, with a little buffer over RB.

READ MORE: 6 Winners and 5 Losers from Las Vegas – Whose gamble paid off under the lights?

As the closest of the constructors battles looks set to continue all the way to Abu Dhabi, all three of the teams in that fight – Haas, Alpine and RB – managed to get a car into the top 10 in qualifying, with Alpine once again the leaders with Pierre Gasly in third.

Points were not just wanted, but needed for the team to keep touch with Alpine, and Hulkenberg duly delivered with a strong, smart drive in difficult conditions. The late race pass on Yuki Tsunoda must have felt extra rewarding, as now Haas are back in sixth, though the three teams are still only separated by four points.

Fernando Alonso – P11

It was a fairly quiet weekend for Alonso, but that’s not to say it wasn’t a strong drive on Saturday night. He looked decent in FP1, and was well inside the top 10, but it’s clear that was him out driving the Aston Martin in tricky conditions.

He slipped further down the order in each subsequent session, before eventually falling at the first hurdle in qualifying and starting 16th (courtesy of Franco Colapinto's pit lane start).

READ MORE: Alonso plots ‘revenge’ in Qatar after just getting pipped to P10 in Las Vegas while Stroll rues lack of radio

On a night when there were questions going in if it was a one or two stopper, Aston committed to the two stop with Alonso, going soft-hard-hard. He made some ground on the softs and pitted on Lap 5 before carrying on two lengthy hard stints.

Even though he came up just short of the points, 11th was a solid effort from 17th and showed a great understanding of how to manage the tyres on a night when many others – in superior equipment – struggled.

Max Verstappen – P5

It’s true what they say: championships are often won on your bad days. It almost feels easy when the car is strong and the breaks fall your way. We’ve certainly seen Verstappen win many races in this way.

In 2024, however, there have been far more days when the RB20 has not been a match for its rivals. These are the days that Verstappen has shown his true greatness and his championship worthiness.

With the Australia DNF aside, Verstappen has never been outside the top six at the end of a Grand Prix this year. And you have never felt like he did not bring home the maximum number of points the package allowed. In fact, quite often you can’t believe how he ended up winning or landed on the podium.

Through the down days he never lost sight of the big picture, and together with the incredible execution from the team itself, he has out performed his package – and ultimately every other driver in the field – more often than not, and he leaves Las Vegas a very worthy four-time champion.

READ NEXT: Our writers on Verstappen’s standout moments in 2024, his place amongst the F1 greats – and if he can get even better