
A second safety car stint in the Vegas race occurred to clear debris from the track after Max Verstappen and George Russell clashed on lap 25 of 50 – the Mercedes driver picked up a five-second penalty and he admitted to not seeing the Red Bull driver’s lunge at Turn 12.
While the safety car gave Sergio Perez a cheap second pitstop, as he pitted from the lead for fresh hards to return in second place behind Leclerc, Red Bull also pitted Verstappen for new hard tyres and he came out in fifth.