Watch: Lewis Hamilton’s superb overtake against Fernando Alonso in the Las Vegas GP

Veteran F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were pitted against each other in the final laps of the Las Vegas GP. The Mercedes ace eventually pulled off a superb move on his old rival, earning widespread acclaim from fans and experts.

Alonso lined up ninth on the grid for the 50-lap race, with Hamilton starting beside him. The Aston Martin driver had a sensational getaway but his efforts went in vain as he spun around in the first corner.

After a slow launch, Lewis Hamilton had to avoid the first corner melee and ended up dropping down a few positions. Midway through the race, he was also involved in an incident with McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, with a puncture forcing him to pit.

Hamilton made a sensational recovery though, rallying from the back of the grid into the top 10 with five laps left in the race. After starting on the same row as Alonso, he overtook the Spaniard down the Strip in the final laps for the eighth position.

Lewis Hamilton, however, was classified seventh at the end of the 50-lap Las Vegas GP. His teammate George Russell took a five-second time penalty for a collision with race winner Max Verstappen and dropped to eighth in the order.

Alonso settled for the ninth position, after making a recovery himself from his first-lap mishap. At the other end, his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll had a sensational race, finishing fifth after having started on the last row.

Hamilton has secured third place in the drivers' standings, with Sergio Perez in second out of reach given that there's only one race left in the season.

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Lewis Hamilton reckons Las Vegas proved the critics wrong

Given the farcical start to the most-anticipated motorsports event of the year, there were plenty of question marks hovering over the Grand Prix on the streets of the Sin City. However, the Saturday night race provided plenty of thrilling action, with the drivers having multiple overtaking opportunities on the 3.8 mile (6.2 km) track.

Lewis Hamilton admitted he enjoyed his race and took an indirect jibe at those who were skeptical about the event.

“I am really happy, I had a positive race,” Hamilton told Sky. “I’m grateful that the race was so good, there was so much overtaking, like Baku but better! I wasn’t expecting the track to be so great. There were lots of overtaking opportunities."

“I think for all those who were so negative about the weekend, saying it was all about the show blah blah blah, I think Vegas proved them wrong,” he added.

The Yas Marina circuit will host the final race of the 2023 F1 season, which is scheduled for the November 24- 26 weekend.