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Many wondered if Mercedes's strong pace across practice and qualifying would fall away in Formula 1's Las Vegas Grand Prix.
But a dominant one-two finish - including a charge from 10th on the grid to second from Lewis Hamilton - proves Mercedes really had the car to beat in Vegas.
What does that mean amid a rollercoaster season and for its chances of succeeding in 2025? Our writers have their say...
This changes nothing
Glenn Freeman
By now surely we're all used to the fact that Mercedes is confused by this car regardless of if it's winning or struggling. And I doubt what's happened this weekend will change that.
This is a weird track, run in weird conditions at a weird time of day. I suspect nobody at Mercedes will be naive enough to believe this is a definitive turning of a corner.
Once the joy of such a dominant one-two wears off, I imagine there will be an underlying frustration of 'why can't the car do this all the time?'.
It doesn't really matter if this performance can't be repeated in the final two rounds of 2024. What matters is if Mercedes understands this rules set enough to make the changes it needs to with next year's car so it can be considered a factor in what we all hope will be a multi-team year-long title fight in 2025.
Enjoy it for what it is
Scott Mitchell-Malm
Vegas being the anomaly that it is, there’s probably not too much to read into this performance beyond what we’ve already seen from the team’s highlights this season.
Toto Wolf has said it shows what Mercedes needs to aim for in terms of its improving its weaknesses for next year. George Russell was slightly revealing about the sweet spot that the car can operate in but often gets taken out of by certain circuits set-up demands.
Beyond that I just enjoy this for what it is - a surprise victor based on pre-weekend expectations. That is always fun. And in terms of what the drivers were able to do, it’s a nice end of season bonus for them given how difficult the trajectory has been over the last couple of months.
Russell was absolutely inch perfect in this race. It’s his best win so far and he’s looking really really convincing at the end of this season. It’s also good to see Hamilton on the charge and looking confident for a change, given how the last races have gone, even though he’ll be kicking himself for the mistakes in qualifying that have very possibly cost him a win.
Further proof Russell’s ready to lead
Jack Benyon
Give him back his Spa win and George Russell would be close to Carlos Sainz, who is driving a car that might still win the constructors’ title this year, in the points.
When you think how bad the Mercedes has been at times this year, that’s bonkers.
And it’s Russell who has led that charge. Hamilton - who has been very adaptable to new cars in the past - has not done as good a job as Russell this year at doing what he needs to get the best from the car. And mistakes like in qualifying in Vegas show that.
Russell’s made fewer high-profile errors this year too - a criticism of him in the past - and just looks like a driver ready to lead and perform at the highest level even under intense pressure.
When the car’s in the right window, I’d still take Hamilton. But for a leader you need to adapt and perform through the tough times, Russell has proven he can do that as good or better than his seven-time champion team-mate, at least at this point in their careers.
And Mercedes can build around this version of Russell.
It has a title-challenging car to unlock
Josh Suttill
The key question that a race like this poses for me is can Mercedes actually find a balance for 2025 that doesn't sacrifice the peaks of Silverstone-Spa-Las Vegas?
Because if Mercedes can be this good everywhere - or at the very least improve everywhere else and retain an edge in these outlier conditions - then it has a 2025 title-challenging car if it's able to make the breakthrough it's been trying to make for three years.
Ferrari is probably the greatest template of hope. It started the year as king of the outliers and through a very difficult mid-season patch, came out the other side with a car capable of challenging for race wins every weekend.
It's far from a guarantee but that means there is hope there for Mercedes to find a balance while still retaining a frontrunning edge.
But the team just has to realise it very quickly or it will be a case of why waste development time in 2025 trying to fix a car when there's going to be a whole new ruleset debuting one year later?
BODES WELL FOR ANTONELLI
Matt Beer
Given its anomalous layout, temperatures and conditions, there was always potential for someone to nail what Vegas needed and dominate. And it's not totally shocking that it was Mercedes.
This is still a team that took three wins on the bounce pretty recently, didn't fade that far since then really and also doesn't quite seem to understand its car so probably has a high chance of a random jackpot set-up success!
The main reason I'm relieved Mercedes has interrupted its slide is for the 2025 storylines.
Picking a teenage rookie to replace Hamilton when there were so many more established options is such a leap of faith for Mercedes and I want the Kimi Antonelli tale to capture the public's imagination in the way such a bold commitment deserves to.
That's much more likely with a peaky car that can offer some huge highs than if Mercedes was heading into 2025 in a 'podium-ish at best' fourth-fastest no man's land. Antonelli's namesake Raikkonen's first McLaren season, for instance, ended up 90% too anonymous behind dominant Ferraris and punchy Williams in 2002. Imagine Raikkonen in the Williams-BMW that year...
Red Bull vs McLaren take two and Ferrari with added Hamilton are big enough storylines already. Being a bit more confident now that Mercedes can intervene in the narrative now too is very welcome.
