Max Verstappen took a dominance Las Vegas Grand Prix to keep his title hopes alive, as Lando Norris crossed the line in second ahead of George Russell and Oscar Piastri to extend his title lead with just two rounds remaining. 

After powering past pole sitter in Turn 1 when McLaren driver Norris was too aggressive under braking and went wide, the Red Bull driver gradually built a lead across his first stint. After switching to Hard tyres at the halfway point, the Dutchman pulled away and when Norris was forced into fuel saving in the final laps, Verstappen pushed on to cross the line 20 seconds clear of the championship leader with Russell a further three seconds behind. 

“it helped to get into the lead in Turn 1,” said Verstappen afterwards. “I do think in the first stint, we were all finding our feet a bit with how much to push or not, how much we had to manage, because I do think we were all quite close up until the pit stops. So we were just trying to get a good balance, because we didn't really get to have a good understanding on Thursday. But yeah, it felt better than expected, I would say, already on that compound. And then, when we got onto the hard compound, I think already because we did quite a decent first stint, it made the second stint a little bit easier. We did well. Good communication with the pit wall as well. So yeah, actually very enjoyable, very nice, relaxed. So it was great.”

When the lights went out at the start, Norris got away well from pole but Verstappen threatened and Norris overcooked it into the first corner and the Dutch driver powered through to take the lead 

Behind him, Norris was also passed by Russell but further back there were incidents involving Liam Lawson and Piastri with the Australian dropping to sixth and also involving Gabriel Bortoleto and Lance Stroll with both exiting the race. 

At the front, Russell was able to stay with Verstappen but as the stint evolved the Dutchman gradually began to pull away and on lap 8, he broke out of DRS range and what had been a gap of just under a second soon grew to 1.4s. 

Behind the leaders, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had started in P9, was on the move, and after telling his team he was “pushing like an animal”, he powered past Piastri at the end of lap 12 and then muscled his way past Hadjar to claim sixth place. 

Ahead, Verstappen was starting to stretch his legs and on lap 17 he was 2.5s clear of Russell. The Mercedes driver was complaining that he has lost power steering and he was being reeled in by Norris. 

As the race headed towards half distance the front runners all made their way to pit lane for fresh tyres, with Verstappen the last in on lap 25. He rejoined 1.2s clear of Russell and again began to pull away. 

On lap 32, Russell informed his team that he was struggling to keep Norris at bay and that he would rather take P3 on the podium than risk a potentially tricky battle and two laps later the McLaren driver was allowed to sweep past to take P2.  Norris was then told to “go get Max” but the threat simply prompted the Dutchman to increase his pace and stretched the gap to Norris to a comfortable 5.5s with 13 laps remaining.

Behind them, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli had made a one-stop race work to climb from 17th on the grid to fourth but with his tyres fading he was being chased down by both Piastri and Leclerc. The Italian rookie was driving well, however, and despite nursing fading tyres he managed to keep both tucked up in a DRS train. 

With a handful of laps to go, Norris began to slow and it soon became clear that the McLaren driver was having to save fuel. As he dropped back Verstappen could relax but only until the final lap when he punched in the fastest lap of the race before crossing the line to take his 69th career win. 

Norris took the flag 20 seconds behind the Dutchman with Russell three seconds further back. Antonelli’s strong drive saw him cross the line in P4 but a five-second time penalty for jumping the start, dropped him behind Piastri who took fourth. Leclerc was sixth behind Antonelli, with Sainz in P7 ahead of Hadjar Hülkenberg and Hamilton. 

Verstappen’s sixth win of the season puts him 366 points, 12 behind Piastri and 42 adrift of Norris with two races and a final Sprint remaining. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 50 1:21'08.429 
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 50 1:21'29.170 20.741
3 George Russell Mercedes 50 1:21'31.975 23.546
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 50 1:21'36.079 27.650
5 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 50 1:21'38.917 30.488
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 50 1:21'39.107 30.678
7 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 50 1:21'43.353 34.924
8 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 50 1:21'53.686 45.257
9 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 50 1:21'59.563 51.134
10 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 50 1:22'07.798 59.369
11 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 50 1:22'09.064 1'00.635
12 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 50 1:22'18.978 1'10.549
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 50 1:22'33.737 1'25.308
14 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 50 1:22'35.403 1'26.974
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 50 1:22'40.131 1'31.702
16 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 49 1:21'11.720 1 lap /3.291
17 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 49 1:21'18.888 1 lap /10.459
     Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 35 59'28.001 Withdrew
     Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 2 4'52.053 Accident damage
     Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 0 - Accident damage