The Las Vegas Grand Prix could have been an unlikely turning point in the closing stages of the 2025 F1 season. To be precise: in the first 200 meters after the start, when both McLarens ran into problems and Max Verstappen took the lead. With a victory and a significant loss of points to his direct rivals, the Dutchman could seriously participate again in the battle for the world title.
Only Lando Norris recovered from a significant braking error and Oscar Piastri survived a crash from another driver without damage. What ifs you have in every sports match: fun to speculate about, but what counts is the score. So the fact that Verstappen drove with superior force to his sixth triumph of the year in the next hour and a half kept his title chances alive; with Norris in second place and Piastri in fourth, those chances are now even more theoretical than before.
Verstappen did not relinquish the lead on Saturday evening (local time) on the street circuit in the American desert city after that first corner. At the finish he was twenty seconds ahead of Norris, who had to slow down considerably in the final laps because his fuel tank was almost empty. George Russell (Mercedes) finished third, ahead of Piastri, who actually finished fifth, but benefited from a time penalty from Russell’s teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
It was a small stroke of luck for the Australian, who again failed to get out of the slump he has been struggling with for more than two months in Las Vegas. Piastri seemed to be on course for the title until his victory in Zandvoort at the end of August, but has only reached the podium once since. This weekend too, he was simply slower than Norris and Verstappen.
Rare rain shower
It could have been worse for Piastri, as his race was almost over in the first corner. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) had to swerve from another car and rammed Piastri sideways into his wheels. Piastri was lucky that he did not suffer a broken suspension or a flat tire.
Unlike his teammate, Norris has been in top form in recent weeks. He showed this again on Friday evening by achieving his third pole position in a row in the most treacherous conditions the drivers have faced all year.
It rains an average of 21 days a year in Las Vegas, and one of those rare rain showers fell during qualifying. So there was a lot of water on the circuit, which normally offers very little grip, due to the low asphalt temperatures in the desert night, the normal traffic that pollutes the track between the F1 sessions and the long straight stretches where so little force acts on the tires that the rubber cools down quickly. “It was really very smooth,” Verstappen said later against the press. “I love driving in the rain, but this was excessive.”
A day later, Norris immediately undid his hard work. At the start he quickly cut off Verstappen, who started second, but then misjudged the braking point of the first corner and shot out of the corner. Not only Verstappen but also Russell passed him. Later in the race he was able to catch Russell again, but Verstappen had already flown by then.
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Unprotected marshals
The most controversial moment of the race did not happen on, but next to the track. After the commotion in the first corner, where a few more cars collided in addition to Piastri and Lawson, marshals were sent onto the track to remove debris. A normal course of events – except that there were at least eight officials dressed in orange overalls walking around in the run-off lane when the field came rushing through the last bend at full speed, straight towards the completely unprotected marshals.
What went wrong – miscommunication with the race management, an error of judgment on the part of the marshals involved – is still unclear. But the motorsport association FIA will almost certainly investigate the dangerous incident thoroughly. Not least because things almost went wrong in Mexico last month, when Liam Lawson narrowly avoided two officials who walked across the track.
After the race, Norris openly admitted that he had thrown away the victory. „I fucked up”, he cursed, undoubtedly to the horror of the puritanical F1 organization, but to the great amusement of Verstappen, who was standing next to him.
At the same time, Norris is actually also the biggest winner in Las Vegas. After all, Verstappen not only needed a win, but also an enormous dose of luck in the form of major bad luck at McLaren – and that did not come. In turn, thanks to his second place, Norris has a good chance of becoming champion next week in Qatar. He is 30 points ahead of Piastri and 42 ahead of Verstappen, while there are still 58 points to be shared in Qatar and the final race in Abu Dhabi. If Norris finishes ahead of his rivals next Sunday, the title will be won.
Verstappen’s chances are therefore virtually gone. He is not dramatic about it, as became clear after the race in Las Vegas. “We try to win the races. Then we will see where we stand after Abu Dhabi.”
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