Verstappen victorious in Vegas as McLaren duo disqualified

Max Verstappen claimed an impressive victory in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with the Dutchman denying Lando Norris in a race that later saw both Norris and McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri disqualified from the results.

Verstappen was left in control of the 50-lap race on the streets of Las Vegas after the opening corners, passing poleman Norris when the Drivers’ Championship leader ran wide through Turn 1 having initially chopped across his title rival off the line.

Norris also slipped behind George Russell and only re-passed the Mercedes driver in the latter stages but was unable to mount a challenge on Verstappen, eventually limping home nearly 21 seconds adrift after nursing a late problem.

However, following the race it was confirmed that Norris – along with Piastri, who had originally taken fourth place – had been disqualified due to the rearmost skid wear on both cars being found to be below the minimum thickness required in the technical regulations.

This promoted Russell – who had held on for the podium despite complaining of his own issues with his Mercedes’ steering – up into P2 ahead of team mate Kimi Antonelli, the Italian having put in a fighting drive to finish fourth on-the-road after starting P17.

The rookie had held off a charging Piastri and Charles Leclerc in the closing stages, but a five-second penalty for a false start dropped Antonelli behind Piastri in the classification, just one-tenth ahead of Leclerc who fell back in the final laps.

While Piastri originally claimed P4 – having slipped as low as seventh at one stage in the early running after being hit by Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls in the opening turn – the Australian’s DSQ, alongside that of his team mate, boosted Charles Leclerc to P4, the Monegasque having made an early charge from P9, with Carlos Sainz completing the top-five having put in a measured drive aboard his Williams from Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls.

Nico Hulkenberg’s Kick Sauber claimed seventh ahead of Lewis Hamilton, the Ferrari driver taking points having started at the back of the grid and utilising an opening stint on the hard tyre, as did Hulkenberg.

The Haas pairing of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman were moved up into a double points finish, the latter having run inside the top-10 initially along with Fernando Alonso, the Aston Martin driver finishing just behind in P11.

The Spaniard headed Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull, which started from the pit lane, and Pierre Gasly, who found his Alpine facing the wrong way at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

Lawson was P14 after picking up damage on the second lap which required a pit stop, as Franco Colapinto’s Alpine completed the classification of finishers.

Alex Albon (Williams) retired having at one stage collided with the back of Hamilton which required a new front wing, while Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) both retired with damage after contact at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

With the stage set in Las Vegas after a captivating Qualifying session in the wet saw Norris claim pole, there was drama right from the get go as the lights went out.

Off the line, Norris aggressively moved across to block fellow front-row starter Verstappen on the short run to Turn 1 but the poleman ran deep into the corner, skirting the edge of the track and rejoining alongside Verstappen but having to back off into the next corner.

The loss of momentum allowed Russell to move around the outside of Turn 3 before completing the pass down the next straight into Turn 5, as Sainz shadowed the leading trio after starting P3.

Behind, both Hadjar and Lawson had moved ahead of Piastri, the latter of the Racing Bulls making wheel-to-wheel contact with the McLaren into Turn 1 but the stewards deemed no further action was needed.

There was more significant contact further down in the pack, Bortoleto having sent it up the inside of several cars and eventually into the side of Stroll as both retired due to damage, with the incident earning the Brazilian a five-place grid penalty next time out, while Gasly was also sent into a spin before rejoining.

Piastri’s fightback was helped on the second lap as Lawson picked up damage and was forced to crawl back to the pits under a VSC, and once full racing speed resumed, Leclerc was on the move, passing Bearman for P7 into Turn 14.

Out front, Russell began to challenge Verstappen for the lead of the race and the Mercedes driver found himself in the DRS zone for several laps before Verstappen eked out a margin of just over one second on Lap 8, extending that margin to 1.6s by Lap 11.

Norris remained over 2s in arrears but well clear of Sainz, who was starting to be caught by Hadjar, Piastri and Leclerc, with Bearman, Alonso and Hulkenberg, on the hard tyre compared with the medium runners ahead, completing the top-10.

Pushing to attack Hadjar ahead, a small lock-up into Turn 12 from Piastri allowed Leclerc a run down the back straight before completing the move into Turn 14 for P6 on Lap 12.

The Ferrari driver had claimed on the radio he was “charging like an animal”, and immediately started to pressure Hadjar ahead, diving up the inside of the Frenchman on the following tour for another spot.

While Leclerc was charging, behind team mate Hamilton, who had started at the very back, ran slightly deep at Turn 12, with Albon behind having a run on the Briton but clipping the rear of the Ferrari.

It damaged the Williams’ front wing and forced Albon to pit for repairs as well as being handed a five-second penalty for the incident.

Russell, meanwhile, reported over the radio “steering again” as he dropped to 2s adrift of Verstappen by the start of Lap 15, with Mercedes team mate Antonelli handed a five-second penalty for a false start.

The Italian had started outside the points in P17 but had already pitted to replace his soft tyres for hards as a VSC was briefly called to retrieve debris from Albon’s front wing on the back straight on Lap 16.

The resumption of green flag running gave Piastri the chance to jump Hadjar on the back straight for P6, as Alonso became the first driver from inside the top-10 to pit for a new set of tyres, swapping the medium compound for hard tyres.

Russell pitted on the next tour from P2 for the same compound and rejoined in P7, several seconds behind Hadjar, while Norris, who had closed to within one second of Russell, was told to pick up the pace in free air and now found himself three seconds behind Verstappen.

Piastri was called into the pits at the end of Lap 21 from P6, rejoining in P10 but ahead of Hadjar who had stopped earlier, with Norris doing the same on the next tour and rejoining just behind Russell.

Sainz also pitted having been under intense pressure from Leclerc, but found himself defending from Piastri on the pit exit, eventually losing the position to the Australian on the run to Turn 5, with Leclerc pitting at the end of Lap 24 and slotting between Piastri and Sainz, the trio now running P8-10.

At the halfway point of the 50-lap race, Verstappen pitted from the lead, switching from the medium to the hard tyre, but maintained his position at the front by just over one second from Russell, with Norris in third from Hulkenberg, who had yet to pit and change from his hard tyres along with Hamilton just behind.

The Ferrari driver was soon challenging the Sauber driver ahead before peeling into the pit lane at the end of Lap 29 and rejoiining P10 on the medium tyre, with Hulkenberg doing the same the next lap.

But the German rejoined ahead, Hamilton having made a mistake into Turn 14 on his out-lap which put him under intense pressure from Alonso and Bearman behind, the Haas driver passing the Aston Martin on the next lap.

Out front, Verstappen had established a lead of three seconds by Lap 32 from Russell as Norris was quickly closing in behind, with Antonelli adrift in P4 from Piastri, Leclerc, Sainz, Hadjar, Hulkenberg and Hamilton.

Norris was soon in DRS zone of Russell and told by his engineer to overtake in order to chase Verstappen for the lead, overtaking down the back straight before the brazing zone into Turn 14.

The gap to Verstappen at the end of Lap 34 stood at five seconds but the margin soon increased at the end with Norris told to nurse his car home, a suspected fuel problem being the cause.

It meant the margin at the chequered flag stood at more than 20s, with Norris holding on from Russell by less than three seconds as the Mercedes driver struggled with tyre wear having pushed hard at the start of his second stint.

The main focus turned to Piastri behind, who was challenging Antonelli for P4 but in turn was also coming under immense pressure from Leclerc.

The McLaren driver attempted an overtake into the braking zone of Turn 14 on the outside line but was rebuffed as Leclerc threatened, but with Antonelli set to suffer his 5s penalty post-race, Piastri sat in his wheel tracks until the chequered flag.

Antonelli’s pace had been strong over the final stint, however, and meant he was classified ahead of Leclerc in the order by just one-tenth. However, this result changed when the disqualifications of Norris and Piastri were confirmed post-race, boosting Russell up to second while Antonelli and Leclerc moved up to third and fourth respectively.

Sainz capitalised on his strong Qualifying by finishing fifth, just 4s behind Leclerc and more than 10s clear of Hadjar. They were followed by Hulkenberg and Hamilton, both of whom had optimised their hard-medium strategy.

Ocon and Bearman had originally just missed out on the points for Haas, but the change to the classification hoisted both up into the top-10. Alonso, whose early pit stop put him down the pecking order, claimed 11th and put him just ahead of Tsunoda, who had started from the pits.

Gasly recovered from his Turn 1 spin for P13 from Lawson and Alpine team mate Colapinto, as Albon, Bortoleto and Stroll were classified as retirements.

For the next stop in a season-closing triple header of races, F1 will travel straight to Lusail for the Qatar Grand Prix from November 28-30.