George Russell wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix

George Russell hit the jackpot after a dominant display secured victory in the Las Vegas Grand Prix over the weekend.

The Formula One driver, who hails from Tydd St Giles, led Mercedes to their 60th one-two finish after coming home ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

It was the first time in his career that Russell had converted a pole position from qualifying into a race win having led every lap as his Mercedes car was perfectly suited to the Las Vegas street circuit.

Russell said: "To win in Las Vegas felt incredible.

"I was so thankful for the team and happy for them that we got this win. We had great pace throughout and we were comfortable in the lead.

"You are always thinking that something might happen though, such as a safety car, but it was clean throughout.

"It was almost a perfect weekend as we took pole position, led almost every lap and took the one-two.

"It was great to be up on the podium with Lewis - he drove a fantastic race to come through from 10th place. We couldn’t ask for more."

The victory moves a jubilant Russell up into sixth spot in the standings ahead of the final two rounds of the season.

He added: "I was meant to be flying out on Sunday night but that didn't happen. We enjoyed the night as a team as everyone deserved it.

"We will then sit down and go through the data to understand why we were so quick this weekend.

"Hopefully that can help us as we go into the final two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi."

The cards were stacked in favour of Russell from the outset as he came in the top three for all of the weekend's practice sessions - even being the leader in the final runs before qualifying.

In the opening stage of qualifying, the 26-year-old was the class of the field as he sailed through into the next session at the top of the timesheets.

This novel level of dominance for the Mercedes driver continued as Russell progressed to the top 10 shootout in first place thus making him a safe bet for pole position.

After the preliminary runs, Russell was on top but a last throw of the dice paid off as his brazen decision to be the final car to set their lap time ensured that he had the best of the track conditions which sealed his fate at the front of the grid.

Starting alongside Ferrari's Carlos Sainz on the medium tyre, Russell had a splendid start and held the lead of the race throughout the early stages of the race.

However, in the time before Russell had established a lead, he came under intense pressure from the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc which threatened to jeopradise his chance of a race win.

But, having lost out on four potential race wins this season, Russell was not going down without a fight and held off Leclerc's challenges in a defensive display described as 'spectacular' by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.

Once the early skirmishes with Leclerc were out of the way, the race became easier for Russell as he retained the lead after his pit stop and focused on maintaining the gap to the cars behind.

In the final stages of the race, Hamilton attempted to close in on his lead, however, Russell had the measure of his team-mate and successfully balanced conserving his tyres with maintaining the pace to secure his third career win.

The 2024 Formula One season continues this weekend (November 29-December 1) for the Qatar Grand Prix.