For Gabriel Bortoleto, the Las Vegas Grand Prix turned into a disaster almost straight away. Starting from 18th on the grid, the Sauber rookie tried to make up places on the opening lap, but his race fell apart at the very first corner. As he dived down the inside to pass several cars, he braked far too late and ran into the back of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. The hit pushed Stroll forward and he then clipped Pierre Gasly, sending the Alpine driver into a spin and dropping him to the back of the field. Stroll’s own car was badly damaged and he retired immediately.

Bortoleto continued for one more lap, but his Sauber was too damaged, and he also retired. The stewards reviewed the incident and ruled the Brazilian fully at fault. As he could not serve the original 10-second time penalty during the race, he will instead take a five-place grid drop for the Qatar Grand Prix and has been given two penalty points on his licence.

After the race, Bortoleto admitted the mistake, saying he misjudged both the grip and his braking point by around five metres after making a strong start. With his car positioned too far on the inside, he had no proper angle to make the corner. “It was my fault,” he said simply. “I just misjudged it.”

Stroll did not dwell on the crash and called it a racing incident, even though it ended his race immediately. Gasly recovered and continued, but the spin left him fighting from the back. In the end he managed to finish only 13th after McLaren's double disqualification.