Las Vegas Grand Prix: Verstappen - Norris - Russell
Dark. Dry. Air +17…16°C, track +18…16°C
The 2025 weekend in Las Vegas turned out to be more racing than glamorous. Two years ago Verstappen said the Vegas race is 99% show and 1% sport. Since then the proportions have changed.
Previously, to suit European broadcasts all sessions in Vegas were held at night, but Liberty Media backtracked and this year shifted the schedule two hours earlier. Effectively, it became a repeat of the Australian GP timetable.
In practice it became clear that last year's Mercedes dominance would not be repeated. On Friday (Thursday local time, but below — Moscow time) Leclerc and Norris led, Russell set the fastest lap on Saturday morning, and qualifying turned out to be very unusual.
At the start of qualifying it was raining; everyone expected many crashes and red flags on the waterlogged street track, but there were no incidents. Even the rookies showed well, and if you did not know about the rain, the grid order would have looked familiar.
But there were differences. McLaren performed better than expected — a year ago the track did not suit them at all. Ferrari, however, traditionally looked poor on a wet track — both drivers failed to make the top eight, Leclerc was ninth and criticized the team, and Hamilton — for the first time in his career — was twentieth.
Norris and Verstappen took the front row, Sainz and Russell the second, Piastri and Lawson the third. Yuki Tsunoda's car had its power unit changed in parc fermé and he started from the pit lane.
Pirelli brought a "soft" trio of compounds to the event — C3, C4 and C5 as Hard, Medium and Soft. In the race Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Albon, Bortoleto and Hamilton started on Hard, Antonelli on Soft, the rest chose Medium.
At the start Verstappen attacked Norris; Lando went off the track, letting Max through and yielding to Russell. Bortoleto collided with Stroll; both drivers were out of the race. Gasly spun. Berman and Hamilton gained six positions each. Antonelli made a false start and received a five-second penalty.
Top ten on lap 2: Verstappen - Russell - Norris - Sainz - Hadjar - Piastri - Berman - Leclerc - Alonso - Hulkenberg.
While marshals were removing Stroll's car, race control announced a VSC; Antonelli, Gasly, Lawson with a front wing broken in a battle with Piastri, and Bortoleto pitted.
Russell pressed Verstappen for several laps for the lead, but Max increased the pace and managed to pull away.
On lap 11 Antonelli passed Colapinto in a battle for 14th.
On lap 13 Leclerc overtook Piastri for sixth, and on lap 14 he passed Hadjar.
Albon attacked Hamilton, the cars touched, Albon lost a piece of aerodynamic bodywork and pitted to change tires. The stewards gave Albon a five-second penalty.
On lap 16 the VSC was announced again — debris needed to be cleared.
On lap 17 the drivers were able to resume racing. Piastri passed Hadjar for fifth, Alonso changed tires.
On lap 18 Russell and Berman made their pit stops.
Top ten on lap 20: Verstappen - Norris - Sainz - Leclerc - Piastri - Hadjar - Russell - Hulkenberg - Ocon - Hamilton.
On lap 21 Russell passed Hadjar — and Isaac pitted. Hamilton passed Ocon.
On lap 22 Piastri pitted. Alonso overtook Tsunoda for 13th.
On lap 23 Norris and Sainz changed tires. After his stop Piastri passed Carlos.
On lap 24 Berman passed Tsunoda for 14th.
On lap 25 Leclerc pitted. Antonelli passed Ocon for sixth.
On lap 26 Verstappen and Colapinto changed tires. There was a slight delay servicing Max's car, but he retained the lead.
On lap 28 Ocon and Tsunoda changed tires; on lap 29 Lawson; on lap 30 Hamilton; on lap 31 Hulkenberg.
On lap 32 Berman passed Alonso for 11th.
Top ten on lap 33: Verstappen - Russell - Norris - Antonelli - Piastri - Leclerc - Sainz - Hadjar - Hulkenberg - Hamilton.
On lap 33 Ocon passed Alonso for 12th.
On lap 35 Norris passed Russell for second.
On lap 37 Albon stopped his car in the pits and retired.
Piastri and Leclerc pressed Antonelli for a long time, but Kimi did not make mistakes, and they did not attack — Kimi was penalized anyway.
On lap 46 Tsunoda passed Gasly for 14th.
On lap 47 Norris's car lost pace — his engineer asked him to save fuel, as his gap to Russell was large enough.
Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season and the 69th of his career.
Lando Norris rose to second on the podium, George Russell finished third.
The battle continues next week in Qatar.
Race results
Driver
Team
Time
Speed
Pit
1. M. Verstappen
Red Bull
1:21:08.429
229.201
1
2. L. Norris
McLaren
+20.741
228.228
1
3. G. Russell
Mercedes
+23.546
228.097
1
4. O. Piastri
McLaren
+27.650
227.906
1
5. K. Antonelli*
Mercedes
+30.488
227.774
1
6. S. Leclerc
Ferrari
+30.678
227.765
1
7. C. Sainz
Williams
+34.924
227.568
1
8. A. Hadjar
Racing Bulls
+45.257
227.089
1
9. N. Hulkenberg
Sauber
+51.134
226.818
1
10. L. Hamilton
Ferrari
+59.369
226.439
1
11. E. Ocon
Haas
+60.635
226.381
1
12. O. Berman
Haas
+70.549
225.927
1
13. F. Alonso
Aston Martin
+85.308
225.253
1
14. Y. Tsunoda
Red Bull
+86.974
225.178
2
15. P. Gasly
Alpine
+91.702
224.963
1
16. L. Lawson
Racing Bulls
+1 lap
224.463
2
17. F. Colapinto
Alpine
+1 lap
224.134
1
* Kimi Antonelli penalized with a 5-second addition for a false start
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) - 1:33.365 (lap 50, 239.100 km/h).
Reasons for retirements
Driver
Team
Laps
Reason
L. Stroll
Aston Martin
0
crash
G. Bortoleto
Sauber
2
crash
A. Albon
Williams
35
mechanical problems
Championship standings: Drivers
Driver
Country
Team
Points
=
1. L. Norris
McLaren F1 Team
408
=
2. O. Piastri
McLaren F1 Team
378
=
3. M. Verstappen
Oracle Red Bull Racing
366
=
4. G. Russell
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
291
=
5. S. Leclerc
Scuderia Ferrari HP
222
=
6. L. Hamilton
Scuderia Ferrari HP
149
=
7. K. Antonelli
Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
132
=
8. A. Albon
Atlassian Williams Racing
73
9. A. Hadjar
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
47
10. N. Hulkenberg
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
45
11. C. Sainz
Atlassian Williams Racing
44
12. O. Berman
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
40
13. F. Alonso
Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
40
=
14. L. Lawson
Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
36
=
15. L. Stroll
Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
32
=
16. E. Ocon
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
30
=
17. Y. Tsunoda
Oracle Red Bull Racing
28
=
18. P. Gasly
BWT Alpine F1 Team
22
=
19. G. Bortoleto
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
19
Championship standings: Constructors
Team
Engine
Points
=
1. McLaren F1 Team
Mercedes
786
=
2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team
Mercedes
423
=
3. Oracle Red Bull Racing
Honda RBPT
391
=
4. Scuderia Ferrari HP
Ferrari
371
=
5. Atlassian Williams Racing
Mercedes
117
=
6. Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 Team
Honda RBPT
86
=
7. Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team
Mercedes
72
=
8. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team
Ferrari
70
=
9. Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber
Ferrari
64
=
10. BWT Alpine F1 Team
Renault
22
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