The Las Vegas Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen ahead of the two Mercedes drivers.
Photo: Mark Thompson
Lando Norris started from pole position, but he lost the lead already in the first corner. When the lights went out, he tried to cut across Max Verstappen, but then failed to brake early and hard enough for Turn 1, costing him the lead. He then dropped to third after George Russell overtook him. Toward the end of the race, Lando managed to get back ahead of George, finishing in second place. His teammate Oscar Piastri also suffered because of Turn 1, after being hit by Liam Lawson.
Piastri eventually finished in fifth. These results stood until FIA stewards announced the disqualification of both McLaren cars due to excessive wear of the skid block under the floor. The maximum allowed wear is 1 mm. For Piastri, measurements showed 8.96 mm at the front right and 8.74 mm at the rear right; for Lando, the values were 8.88 mm front right and 8.93 mm rear right — all exceeding the 1 mm limit.
For Max Verstappen, it turned into a dream weekend. He gained 25 points on his main title rival. He is now tied on points with Oscar Piastri at 366, and sits 24 points behind Lando Norris. There are still 2 × 25 points available for the remaining two races, plus 8 points for the sprint win in Qatar.
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| Photo: Clive Rose |
Mercedes benefited greatly from the double McLaren disqualification — George Russell moved from third to second, and Kimi Antonelli from fourth to third. Keep in mind that Kimi started all the way from 17th, and despite a 5-second penalty he climbed onto the podium. It is already his third podium of the season, after P3 in Canada and P2 in Brazil.
Ferrari had hoped for a strong weekend, but the opposite happened. Lewis Hamilton was eliminated already in Q1 and had to start from last — becoming the first Ferrari driver to start from the very back since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc started from ninth. The race wasn’t much brighter: Lewis finished only tenth and Leclerc sixth. After the McLaren disqualifications, Lewis was promoted to eighth and Charles to fourth.
Spanish “Smooth Operator” Carlos Sainz delivered magic in his Williams — taking P3 in qualifying and P5 in the race. Another excellent midfield performance came from Frenchman Isack Hadjar, who finished sixth, followed by Nico Hülkenberg in seventh. The points-paying top ten was rounded out by the Haas duo: Ocon in ninth and Bearman in tenth.
The season is slowly approaching its end. Ahead of us is the sprint weekend in Qatar, and next week the big finale in Abu Dhabi.