How Hulkenberg out-ran Hamilton for the third time this year: Interactive data

Halfway through the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg had the works Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton filling his mirrors.

They both started on the same strategies and Hamilton appeared poised to leapfrog his rival. His race engineer Ricardo Adami told him he was potentially on course to finish sixth.

Instead, for the third time this year, Hamilton followed Hulkenberg home. What went wrong?

After the blunder in qualifying which left him 19th on the grid, Hamilton could hardly have hoped for a better start to the grand prix. A multi-car tangle at the first corner propelled him to 13th place and he gained another spot when Liam Lawson dropped back with front wing damage.

But Hamilton was running a relatively steep rear wing on his Ferrari and found overtaking difficult. He came under attack from Alexander Albon at one stage.

Ferrari started him on the hard tyres and it took him until lap 20 to find his way past Esteban Ocon’s medium-shod Haas. From there he began to edge his way towards Hulkenberg, who was also on hards.

It took Hamilton eight laps to creep within DRS range of Hulkenberg. Ferrari were poised to bring him in early, hoping to pit before the Sauber and jump Hamilton ahead.

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Ferrari appeared to try to dupe Sauber into pitting too early, telling Hamilton to “box opposite Sauber” at one point, then cancelling the order as he neared the pit lane entrance. Soon afterwards came the real call: Hulkenberg stayed out and Hamilton arrived in for a fresh set of medium rubber.

He expressed concern about the length of stint that would leave him with on the mediums. Adami told him to introduce his tyres carefully. “Priority is tyres,” he said, “slow intro, two laps.”

That would obviously make it more difficult for Hamilton to ‘undercut’ Hulkenberg. Moreover, he emerged from the pits a short distance ahead of Fernando Alonso. The Aston Martin driver caught Hamilton’s DRS on the Strip and forced him to defend at turn 14, costing him vital time.

Hamilton pointed out Ferrari hadn’t warned him about the threat: “Didn’t realise I had Alonso behind me.”

Sauber reacted on the following lap, bringing Hulkenberg in. It wasn’t among the quicker stops, though nor was Hamilton’s. Even though Hulkenberg spent around seven tenths of a second longer in the pits, he still emerged comfortably ahead of Hamilton.

If Ferrari hoped Hamilton would have the pace to attack the Sauber on the medium tyre compound they were swiftly disappointed. He never got within range of Hulkenberg and instead dropped back close to Ocon. Just as in Catalunya and Silverstone, Hulkenberg had seen off Hamilton’s Ferrari.

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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix

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