F1 title in sight for Norris as he jokes about error that handed Verstappen Las Vegas win

Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix after an error from Lando Norris handed him the lead at the start of the race. But the McLaren driver was visibly upbeat after finishing second, having tightened his grip on the world championship with two rounds remaining.

Norris even joked about the error that saw him brake too late into Turn 1, leaving the way clear for Verstappen to cruise into first place, followed by George Russell.

“I let Max have a win, let him have a nice race. I wanted to put on a show, right?” laughed Norris, who has tended to be highly self-critical after mistakes. “No, I just braked too late… Not my best performance out there. Still some good points so I’m not too disappointed.”

The championship table provides all the consolation that Norris might need: he took more points from his closest challenger, Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth with some damage after a startline clash with Liam Lawson.

Norris is now 30 points ahead of Piastri and 42 in front of Verstappen; he’ll be champion unless Piastri can close the gap by five points next Sunday in Qatar. Verstappen will need to claw back 18 points over the course of the sprint weekend.

Even without the early mistake, Norris would have had his work cut out defending against Verstappen, who finished 20sec ahead of the McLaren driver.

The gap was largely due to Norris having to save fuel at the end of the race, but he was unable to mount a challenge any earlier. He was behind Russell in the first stage of the race, then passed him after pitting, when a power steering issue that had affected Mercedes in qualifying reappeared.

“Normally the race is always a tough one for us,” said Verstappen who talked of being able to manage his tyres more effectively. “I could push a little bit more. The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking.”

Behind the top three was a battle for fourth place between Piastri, who had initially dropped into seventh place after the contact with Lawson; Charles Leclerc, having battled through from ninth on the grid; and Kimi Antonelli who pitted on lap two under a virtual safety car then ran the rest of the race on a set of hard tyres.

The strategy would have paid off for the Mercedes driver, who crossed the line fourth, but was demoted to fifth due to a 5sec penalty for a “slight” movement on the grid before the lights went out.

Carlos Sainz, who started third, didn’t appear to have the pace to join the fight for fourth and finished seventh.

Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag in tenth, after starting 19th on the grid. He was hit by Alex Albon during the race; he Williams driver then retiring with damage, having also crashed in qualifying.

Drama at Turn 1

The decisive moment in the race came in Turn 1 at the start for more than half of the drivers in the race.

Norris swept to the left in an aggressive move across Verstappen’s path, but immediately ran wide at the first corner, giving the reigning champion a clear path into the lead. He was followed by Russell.

Behind them, Antonelli had already made the jump start that would cost him fourth place and Lawson had swiped Piastri — the debris resulting in a virtual safety car that prompted Antonelli’s pitstop, and dropping the Racing Bulls driver down the rankings.

From 18th on the grid, Gabriel Bortoleto spied a chance to make progress off the grid, as a narrow corridor opened on the inside of the run into Turn 1. But —inevitably — the gap narrowed as drivers turned in ahead of him and the the Sauber driver was two slow on the brakes. He slammed into the side of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, taking both cars out of the race, and spinning Pierre Gasly around.

Avoiding the chaos was Hamilton, who moved up to 12th as a result, going on to pass both Haas cars later in the race to claim his single championship point.

Russell’s struggles

Russell, reporting a repeat of Saturday’s power steering issue pitted early from second but wasn’t a threat to the race leader, as he lapped at the same pace as Verstappen, despite fresher tyres.

He then sealed his fate when he tried to make his move when  Verstappen pitted. “I saw that opportunity to to attack and just push really hard for two laps, and I destroyed my tyres.” said Russell. “I wasn’t sure they would make it to the end.

“I thought Max was going to struggle a bit more on his out lap, and I had to go for it. And if I nursed my tyres in those laps, I’d be sitting here still in P3, maybe wondering if only I could have attacked when I had the opportunity.”

It meant that Norris had little difficulty in passing Russell for second when he pitted. He was told to “go and get Max,” but wasn’t able to close in, even before being told to save fuel.

When a guy wins by 20sec, it’s because he’s done a better job,” said Norris. “I’m pretty thankful George was also having issues. Otherwise today would have been even worse.”

After his initial verdict that he wasn’t too disappointed with second place, Norris retreated into introspection after the podium ceremony and declared that he was “pretty disappointed” with not winning the race.

He’ll probably stomach the same result next weekend in Qatar, however, as it would make him world champion.

2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix result