Las Vegas Grand Prix: Verstappen denies Norris, stays in the game
F1 NewsSunday, 23 November 2025 at 06:29
Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen won the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix ahead of Formula 1 Title rival Lando Norris who finished second for McLaren after starting from pole.
Verstappen had a decent start from second, but Norris went aggressive with his defense veering to the left and closing the road on the #1 Red Bull RB21, but then went on to miss his braking point, running wide, and opening the door for his rival to take the lead.
One error at the start meant that Norris threw all the good he did in a tricky qualifying as he also lost out to George Russell who was starting from fourth and passed him, as well as third-starting Carlos Sainz to take second place.
Behind them, there was a bit of a mess where Liam Lawson, starting from sixth, understeered into Oscar Piastri who dropped to seventh while the Kiwi suffered from front wing damage.
Further behind, Gabriel Bortoleto had a good start from 18th which turned out to be too good for his own good as he could not brake properly and speared into Aston Martin's Lance Stroll taking both out. Pierre Gasly was also sending spinning as a result.
Back to the front and with Verstappen leading, the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) came out to clear debris from the Lawson/Piastri incident as racing resumed on Lap 4.
Russell went on the offensive, attacking Verstappen for the lead, but could not make a move as the Dutchman was in control while Norris seemed to be saving tyres dropping back in third while another driver, Charles Leclerc was not saving an effort, on the move from 11th and up to P7 by Lap 5.
Soon after that, Russell dropped back and was complaining about his power steering which was apparently freezing in the corners and decided to to for the undercut on Verstappen pitting on Lap 18 despite another VSC on Lap 16 to clear debris from an incident between Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton, the former rear-ending the Ferrari while attempting a pass.
Russell pitted on Lap 18 but Red Bull and Verstappen did not blink and stayed out while Norris attempted to close the gap while now in clean air.
Five laps later, Norris pitted while Verstappen boxed two laps after that and emerged ahead of Russell who was not under pressure from Norris who managed to pass him for second on Lap 33 to take second and set off chasing the race leader.
But Verstappen managed to keep Norris at arms length till the end of the race and managed to take the chequered flag, 20s ahead of McLaren driver who was nursing an issue towards the end, the team instructing him to lift and coast in order to save fuel.
Russell managed to driver around his steering issue to finish P3 in a venue where he won last year while Verstappen walks away still in Championship contention despite still needing a miracle to secure a fifth consecutive F1 Drivers' Crown.
Verstappen is now 42 points behind Norris in the title fight and 12 points behind second-placed Piastri. There are still two Grand Prix weekends to go in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the former being a Sprint weekend.
Behind the top three
Speaking of Piastri, he started the race from fifth on the grid after another weekend where he could not take the fight to his teammate.
He was later compromised when tagged by Lawson and fell back to seventh. He fought his way back up to fifth at the flag as he was attempting to pass Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli but could not.
However, the Italian rookie had to serve a five-second time penalty for jumping the start and dropped to fifth with the Australian inheriting fourth place.
Behind Antonelli, Leclerc came home in sixth place, the best he could muster after starting from ninth on the grid, and not due to lack of effort as he was all out from lights out.
Sainz finished seventh in the Williams, a disappointing result after starting from third while his teammate Albon retired after going the pains of penalties and car damage.
It was a frustrating weekend for Williams who were looking forward to Las Vegas as the venue which would be well suited to their FW47.
Isack Hadjar finished in the points, in eighth place while his teammate, Lawson, was down in 16th, never recovering from the Lap 1 incident with Piastri.
Nico Hulkenberg managed to make two places in the end, finishing ninth after starting from 11th while Lewis Hamilton, starting from last, managed to finish in the points in tenth.
What the top three said
After a ride in a convertible pink Cadillac made out of Lego, typical modern F1 fashion, the top three finishers made their way to the Bellagio fountains for their post-race interviews.
After taking his sixth win this season, Verstappen said: "Normally the race is a tough one for us. We are normally not that great on tyres, but today it seemed like we had it a bit more under control and I could push a little bit more.
"That unlocked a little more pace and I could stay out a little bit longer and split the race in half. That helped a lot. The car was working well and much more to my liking.
"In the end it was quite a decent gap," he maintained.
And when asked about his Title chances, the Red Bull ace responded: "It's still a big gap but we always just try to maximize everything that we've got and this weekend that was first.
"In the upcoming weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we end up," he concluded.
Norris, on the other hand, reflected on his error at the start that gifted Verstappen the lead; he said: "Obviously I've had a good run. I think the pace was still good today. Max just drove a good race. They were quick.
"I made the mistake into Turn One. You've got to be punchy into Turn One, I was just a bit too punchy. That cost me, so that's the way it is sometimes.
"Still a good result, second, and still good points so it's not like I'm too disappointed. I've got to congrats Max and Red Bull, they drove a good race, so onto the next one," the Briton concluded.
As for Russell, he admitted that he hurt his tyres with his early Verstappen chase; he commented: "When Max came out of the pits I thought I had a chance. He had cold tyres and I really pushed hard.
"I damaged the tyres and from there on in I was on the radio saying I'm not sure if the tyres were going to make it to the end.
"It was really difficult. It wasn't a great race on our side and a podium is probably the maximum we could have achieved," the Mercedes driver concluded.
Las Vegas Grand Prix Provisional Classification
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