Max Verstappen wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Lando Norris closes in on 2025 F1 title

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Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen kept his faint title hopes alive by winning the Las Vegas Grand Prix from McLaren star Lando Norris.

The opening lap of the Las Vegas Grand Prix proved to be pivotal to how the result played out.

McLaren driver Lando Norris immediately moved to cut off Max Verstappen, but out-braked himself and ended up slipping to third behind George Russell.

Behind Norris, his teammate Oscar Piastri was hit by Liam Lawson, while there was chaos further back on the grid.

Gabriel Bortoleto failed to stop in time, careening into Lance Stroll, who spun Alpine driver Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman carried on, but Bortoleto and Stroll were forced to retire.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was handed what appeared to be a harsh five-second penalty for a false start, with replays showing the tiniest bit of movement before the lights went out.

The rest of the race played out exactly how Max Verstappen would have wanted, as he crossed the line with a 20-second advantage over Lando Norris.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Max Verstappen wins from Lando Norris at the Las Vegas Grand Prix who suffered late issue

It proved to be a one-stop race for all of the frontrunners, with Verstappen keeping Russell at bay before pitting eight laps later than the Mercedes driver to give him a tyre advantage for the rest of the race.

Norris eventually got the better of Russell, but in the closing stages of the race, he lost a significant amount of time, only holding off his fellow Brit by less than three seconds as he crossed the finish line.

Antonelli did a 48-lap stint, which earned him plenty of plaudits and took the chequered flag in fourth, only to drop to fifth after his five-second penalty was applied.

However, he did enough to eke out a 0.1-second advantage over Charles Leclerc, who had to settle for sixth.

Lewis Hamilton recovered from his awful qualifying performance to take the final point in 10th, finishing behind Carlos Sainz, Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg, who made up the other points-paying positions.

Alex Albon was the only other driver to retire, picking up a five-second penalty for hitting Hamilton and going through the race without any radio communications.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Max Verstappen admits feeling comfortable throughout his Las Vegas Grand Prix win

Verstappen was asked after the race about his performance. He said: “It was good, in practice we didn’t really know what the tyres were going to do.

“In the race, you could just see that everyone was just trying to find the rhythm and see how much you can push, especially in the first stint, because you’re on the more fragile tyre. It worked really well.

“Normally, the race is always a tough one for us; we are not normally that great on tyres, but today it seemed like we were more in control, and I could push a little bit more.

“We had a lot more pace, and I could stay out a little bit longer and split the race in half, and that definitely helped a lot.

“The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking and at the end it was quite a decent lap. Every lap I was just feeling comfortable and not taking too much out of the tyre.”

The final two rounds of the 2025 Formula 1 season will determine the championship, with back-to-back races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi rounding off the joint-longest campaign in the sport’s history.