LAS VEGAS — Max Verstappen claimed his second Las Vegas Grand Prix win ahead of championship leader Lando Norris to keep his slim championship chances alive.
Second position helped Norris inch closer to his first world championship, meaning he goes to the penultimate Qatar Grand Prix 30 points clear of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and 42 clear of Verstappen with 58 points to play for over the next two weeks.
Verstappen won by almost 21 seconds as Norris hit late car trouble, but that was not enough to allow Mercedes driver George Russell to steal second position away from Norris.
Piastri had to settle for a distant fourth position as his run of failing to finish ahead of teammate Norris, which stretches back to his win at the Dutch Grand Prix in late August, continued.
Norris’ lead means he can wrap up the championship at next week’s Qatar Grand Prix if his championship lead is 25 points or more when that race finishes on Dec. 30, but Verstappen’s Sin City victory keeps his tantalizing wild-card title bid alive for at least one more week.
Liam Lawson at Turn 1.
At one point, Piastri was running seventh, but a smartly timed pit stop and a five-second jump start penalty for Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli saw Piastri climb to fourth position by race’s end.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished sixth behind Antonelli. And although Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton charged from the back of the grid to 10th, it was another bitterly disappointing weekend for the Scuderia at what most predicted would be its final opportunity to get a grand prix victory in 2025.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz finished seventh, ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar and Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg.
