Formula One made its final trip to the United States, to the city that never sleeps, for the FORMULA 1 HEINEKEN LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2025. The iconic Las Vegas Strip was taken over by the blazingly fast Formula One cars, piloted by 20 of the best drivers in the world.
With such a short run into the first corner, reaction time was critical at the start of the race. Lando Norris got away well from pole position, moving over aggressively to chop off Max Verstappen on the inside. Perhaps too focused on defending against Verstappen, Norris ran wide into the first corner, losing the lead. George Russell also capitalized on the opportunity to overtake the McLaren.
Further back, Oscar Piastri was lucky to escape damage in the first corner. Liam Lawson locked up and collided with the McLaren, but it was wheel-to-wheel contact. Lawson sustained some damage that would manifest on the second lap, bringing out the virtual safety car to clear debris.
Only some of the debris was from the Racing Bulls. A large portion of the debris came from another first corner incident. Gabriel Bortoleto misjudged his braking, attempting to overtake multiple cars on the inside. He slammed into Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, taking the Canadian and himself out of the race.
When the race resumed, Russell did a good job sticking within DRS range of Verstappen in the opening laps. However, he couldn’t get close enough to challenge for the lead and fell out of range after the ninth lap.
Having lost positions at the start after colliding with Lawson, Piastri lost another position early on as Charles Leclerc charged through on lap 13. Leclerc went on to overtake Isack Hadjar a lap later. Ferrari was performing much better in the race compared to the wet qualifying session that put him in P9.
Even his teammate Lewis Hamilton was recovering from what was a horrific qualifying session for the Brit, who qualified in last position. He benefited hugely from the chaos on the first lap, climbing to P13 by the time the first virtual safety car was deployed. He was at the center of a second VSC, getting hit by Alex Albon, who had misjudged the slipstream when trying to overtake. This shed some debris on the circuit.
Although the VSC fell in the pit window, the timing and short duration prevented drivers from taking advantage of the cheap pit stop. Piastri was the only driver to benefit from the VSC, perfectly timing the restart to overtake Hadjar.
Russell was the first of the leaders to pit for hard tyres on lap 18, while Piastri pitted on lap 22. Norris and Carlos Sainz, who was under extreme pressure from Leclerc, pitted the following lap. Sainz rejoined narrowly ahead of Piastri, but the McLaren’s tyres were already up to temperature, making it an easy overtake.
Verstappen pitted from the lead on lap 26. It wasn’t the fastest pit stop by Red Bull standards, but it was enough to keep the lead from Russell. Russell, who had been nursing some steering issues since early in the race, didn’t put up much of a fight against Norris, allowing the fellow Brit to promote himself to P2.
In the closing laps, Kimi Antonelli faced pressure from Piastri and Leclerc in a battle for P4. Having started the race in P17, Antonelli did an excellent job to find himself in P4, having pitted on the second lap. But he had a five-second time penalty looming over him for a jump start after being caught creeping the car forward in his grid slot. Antonelli was able to keep everyone behind him, although he dropped below Piastri on the timing sheet after the penalty was applied, having to settle with P5.
Verstappen took the victory in Las Vegas, having led the race for every lap, despite not starting on pole position. Norris had to settle for P2, nursing an issue across the line. Russell joined them in the pink Lego Cadillac for the ride to the podium.
Now, there are only two race weekends in the final stint to the end of the 2025 season. Next up is the Qatar Grand Prix, which is a sprint weekend, offering more points for the three title contenders. The sprint will be on November 29, with the main race being held on November 30.
UPDATE: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified from the race after it was discovered that the rearmost skid wear was higher than permitted under the regulations. With that change, Max Verstappen is now tied with Oscar Piastri for second in the championship, very much making it a three-way battle for the title.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 50 | 1:21:08.429 | 25 |  | |
| DSQ | 50 | +20.741 | |||
| 2 | 50 | +23.546 | 18 | ||
| DSQ | 50 | +27.650 | |||
| 3 | 50 | +30.488 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 50 | +30.678 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 50 | +34.924 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 50 | +45.257 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 50 | +51.134 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 50 | +59.369 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 50 | +60.635 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 50 | +70.549 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 50 | +85.308 | |||
| 12 | 50 | +86.974 | |||
| 13 | 50 | +91.702 | |||
| 14 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 49 | +1 Lap | |||
| DNF | 35 | ||||
| DNF | 2 | ||||
| DNF | 0 |
| 1 | L. Norris | 390 |  | |
| 2 | O. Piastri | 366 | -24 | |
| 3 | M. Verstappen | 366 | -24 | |
| 4 | G. Russell | 294 | -96 | |
| 5 | C. Leclerc | 226 | -164 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 756 |  | |
| 2 | Mercedes | 431 | -325 | |
| 3 | Red Bull | 391 | -365 | |
| 4 | Ferrari | 378 | -378 | |
| 5 | Williams | 121 | -635 | |
