LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 22: Max Verstappen of Oracle Red Bull Racing (1) competes at the race as he won the first place for F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Max Verstappen didn’t just win the Las Vegas Grand Prix—he treated the Strip like it owed him money. He muscled past Lando Norris in Turn 1 after the McLaren man came in a little too hot, missed the apex by a zip code, and essentially handed Verstappen the keys to the race. From there, Max did what Max does: drove off into the neon-lit distance while everyone else tried to remember where the brake pedal was.
Once he bolted on the Hard compound at halfway, Verstappen pulled away like he’d been uncorked. Norris, on the other hand, spent the final laps being told to save fuel, which is never the radio message you want when you’re trying to chase down the most relentless driver on the planet. Verstappen crossed the line 20 seconds ahead—half a sitcom episode—while George Russell came home another three seconds back.
“It helped to get into the lead in Turn 1,” Verstappen said, in the understatement of the evening. He admitted the early laps were a feeling-out session, given the lack of meaningful running on Thursday, but once he landed on the Hard tire, the race turned into a straight-line march to win No. 69. “Very enjoyable, very nice, relaxed,” he added. When Max says a race was “relaxed,” it usually means he only lapped half the field.
Norris had launched well from pole, but cooked Turn 1 and let Verstappen slip by. Russell followed suit, mugging Norris for second while chaos brewed behind: Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri came together, and Gabriel Bortoleto and Lance Stroll promptly ended their evenings early.
Up front, Russell hung with Verstappen for a handful of laps before Max stretched the gap beyond DRS range. Behind them, Charles Leclerc was driving like he’d had four espressos and a dare, clawing through the field after starting P9 and declaring to his team he was “pushing like an animal.”
The pit stops changed nothing: Verstappen emerged still in the lead, still quick, and still looking like the only man in Nevada who hadn’t lost money this weekend.
By lap 32, Russell was on the radio essentially asking Mercedes if he could please stop trying to hold off Norris. Two laps later, McLaren sent Lando after Verstappen—never mind that Verstappen responded by immediately going faster.
But then came the final twist: Norris started slowing dramatically, ordered to save fuel, while Verstappen punched in the fastest lap on the final tour just because he could.
The finishing order looked straightforward enough: Verstappen by a mile, Norris in second, Russell third. Kimi Antonelli dragged his one-stop gamble to fourth on the road, only to pick up a five-second penalty for jumping the start. Piastri moved up, Leclerc followed him home, and the rest of the midfield was the usual mix of elbows and desperation.
And then—because this is Formula 1 in 2025—McLaren detonated their own evening after the race was already over.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 22: Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren and Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren wave on the drivers parade prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Both Norris and Piastri were disqualified after post-race scrutineering revealed their skid blocks had worn below the minimum 9mm thickness. In other words, the floors of both MCL39s had been filed down like a cheap pair of rental shoes.
The stewards re-measured the skids with McLaren present. They were thinner. Considerably thinner. McLaren argued that unexpected porpoising, bad weather, and shortened practice sessions had put them in this mess. The FIA politely responded: nice try, lads, but rules are rules.
No intent to cheat was found, but intent doesn’t matter when your floor looks like it spent the weekend sanding down the Las Vegas boulevard.
In a heartbeat, Norris lost second, Piastri lost fourth, and Verstappen suddenly found himself level with Piastri in the championship at 366 points. Norris still leads, but now by 24 instead of a much healthier margin. With two races and a Sprint left, the title fight just got shoved into a pressure cooker.
Norris, speaking before he learned his podium had been vaporized, said he’d had “some problems” and needed to “speak to the team.” He’s going to need more than a meeting now.
Piastri, who’d described his first lap as “eventful to say the least,” also saw his recovery wiped from the books.
McLaren isn’t the first team caught out by skid wear this year—Hamilton and Hülkenberg were both nabbed for the same infraction earlier in the season. But Vegas was the worst possible time for a team in the middle of a title fight to effectively DQ themselves.
Verstappen dominated the race. McLaren dominated the aftermath—for all the wrong reasons.
And that’s the Las Vegas Grand Prix: Max cruising, McLaren bruising, and a championship fight now tighter than a blackjack dealer’s smile.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 22: Second placed Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas at Las Vegas Strip Circuit on November 22, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
F1 LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2025 – RACE RESULT
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time / Retired | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 50 | 1:21:08.429 | 25 |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 50 | +23.546s | 18 |
| 3 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 50 | +30.488s | 15 |
| 4 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 50 | +30.678s | 12 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 50 | +34.924s | 10 |
| 6 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 50 | +45.257s | 8 |
| 7 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 50 | +51.134s | 6 |
| 8 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 50 | +59.369s | 4 |
| 9 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 50 | +60.635s | 2 |
| 10 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 50 | +70.549s | 1 |
| 11 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 50 | +85.308s | 0 |
| 12 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 50 | +86.974s | 0 |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 50 | +91.702s | 0 |
| 14 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 15 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 49 | +1 lap | 0 |
| NC | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 35 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 2 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 0 | DNF | 0 |
| DQ | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | DSQ | 0 | |
| DQ | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | DSQ | 0 |
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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