Follow all the Formula One action – which included Aussies Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo – in our rolling coverage below.

5.40PM: PIASTRI SUFFERS DAMAGE BUT STILL PRODUCES PB

Oscar Piastri’s team boss has confirmed the Australian’s car is damaged.

However, said damage can’t be too bad given he just notched his best lap of the race.

Piastri and Lewis Hamilton made contact on lap 17 with Hamilton suffering a puncture, although stewards took no action over the incident.

Piastri is currently 10th after a pit stop but was as high as sixth.

“It’s an amazing drive,” said McLaren boss Zak Brown.

5.35PM: 11 SPOTS IN 16 LAPS!!!! PIASTRI ON FIRE

Australian Oscar Piastri is on a tear.

After starting 17th and narrowly avoiding a crash that saw Lando Norris retire, Piastri has surged through the field to sixth after just 16 laps.

5.29PM: VERSTAPPEN COPS FIVE SECOND PENALTY

The Dutchman has received a five-second time penalty for a turn one, lap one incident in which he forced pole position Charles Leclerc off the track.

5.13PM: AUSSIE NARROWLY AVOIDS DISASTER, INTO THE POINTS

Australian Oscar Piastri is lucky to still be racing in the Las Vegas Grand Prix after avoiding a horror crash that saw Lando Norris retire.

Norris lost it in a high-speed section and went within a whisker of taking out Piastri before crashing into the barriers.

The race has been marred by safety cars as drivers struggle for grip in a city not used for F1 in 40 years.

Piastri is now up into the points after a crucial pass.

4.40PM: UFC STAR’S AWKWARD F1 RUN-IN

It’s enough to make your skin crawl. Think awkward handshakes, uncomfortable silences, and confusing interactions.

Roll all three into one and you have UFC announcer Bruce Buffer screaming at Red Bull racing star Sergio Perez on the grid at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Delivering one of his famous introductions to Perez, the bemused Mexican driver appeared unsure how to accept what looked more like a challenge from the UFC staple.

The pair then squared off in awkward silence in yet another bemusing incident which have plagued the GP over the weekend.

4.29PM: OIL SPILLS ROCK F1 START

“Look how dirty the left side of the track is.”

Oil leaks from three Parade cars will play havoc with drivers starting on the left side of the grid, most notably Max Verstappen.

MAX CRACKS LAS VEGAS GP

– AFP

The Las Vegas Grand Prix has promised to “light up the sports and entertainment capital of the world”, claiming the “stakes have never been higher” than for the first street race in the casino dominated city.

But while F1’s American owners Liberty Media have invested millions in the glitzy event, their hype machine has been unable to win over the man who has utterly dominated the sport this year.

Triple world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who has 17 wins this season, began the week by criticising the event as “99 per cent show and one per cent sporting event”. In his final comments before the race, he showed he hadn’t been won over.

Asked to compare the Vegas event with the classic street race in Monaco, he chose a football analogy: “Monaco is Champions League and this is National League,” he said, referring scathingly to the fifth-tier of English football.

But it isn’t the usual driver moan about course lay-out or other competitive factors that lies behind the Dutchman’s hostility towards the Vegas event, rather the whole idea of putting on a race as part of a long weekend of partying.

“I feel like the show is important, but I like emotion. When I was a little kid it was all about the emotion of the sport that I fell in love with and not the show. As a real racer the show shouldn’t matter,” he said.

“An F1 car does not come alive on a street circuit. It is not that exciting. It is about proper race tracks. And when you go to Monza and Spa, these kinds of places have a lot of emotion and passion, and for me seeing the fans there is incredible. When I jump in the car, I am fired up. I love driving at these kind of places,” he said.

What will surely annoy the American promoters is Verstappen’s suggestion that the new wave of F1 fans partying in Vegas as the cars speed past iconic landmarks on the famous ‘strip’ don’t appreciated what they are paying hundreds of dollars to see.

“I understand fans need things to do around the track, but it is more important that they understand what we do as a sport. Most of them just come to have a party, drink, see a DJ, or a performance act.

“I can do that all over the world. I can go to Ibiza and get completely (drunk) and have a good time. People come here, but they become a fan of what? They want to see maybe their favourite artist and have a few drinks with their mates, and then go out and have a crazy night.

“But they don’t understand what we are doing, and they don’t understand what we are putting on the line to perform,” he said.

“The sport should explain what the team has done throughout the season, and what they are working for. That’s way more important than having these random shows all over the place,” he added.

Those fans who turned up for the opening night of practice on Thursday would certainly have been wondering what they had invested their time and money in when the first session was abandoned after just nine minutes as loose drain covers caused damage to Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

The spectators were then forced to leave the venue before the delayed second session at 2.30 am local time, leading to a storm of criticism that upset Verstappen’s rival Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who starts the race in pole position.

“I was sad to see how much criticism there was around the track. Of course, it wasn’t good enough and that is clear to everybody. But obviously, we must not forget also how much work there has been for many, many people in order to make this event work, and I think it looks amazing,” he said.

Originally published as Formula One 2023: live updates and news from the Las Vegas Grand Prix