Verstappen Wins in Las Vegas, Norris Close to F1 Title, McLaren at Risk

Verstappen Wins in Las Vegas, Norris in Championship Focus

Max Verstappen conquered his second victory in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, surpassing Lando Norris and keeping his hopes alive in the championship. Norris, with his second place, is approaching his first world championship. He arrives at the penultimate Qatar Grand Prix with a 30-point lead over his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, and 42 points over Verstappen, with 58 points still up for grabs in the next two weeks. However, a dramatic turn could change the course: Norris and Piastri’s McLarens are under investigation for issues with the wear of their car’s skids, which could result in their disqualification. Verstappen won with almost 21 seconds of advantage, while Norris suffered problems at the end of the race, although this was not enough for George Russell, from Mercedes, to snatch second place. Piastri settled for a distant fourth place, extending his streak of not outperforming Norris, which dates back to his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August. Norris could secure the championship at next week’s Qatar Grand Prix if his lead is 25 points or more at the end of the race on December 30th. Verstappen’s victory in Las Vegas keeps the possibility of an exciting season finale alive.

Max Verstappen, on the left, on the podium with his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase. The Dutch driver achieved his number 69 victory and the sixth of the season.Verstappen, after a complicated start after the summer break, has resurfaced with an impressive series of victories, winning four of the seven races since then. Verstappen took control of the race on the first lap. Norris, who started from pole position, defended aggressively, but went off track at turn 1. This allowed Verstappen to overtake him at the next turn and Russell to move up to second place.

Despite a brief period in which Russell was in Verstappen’s DRS range, his lead never seemed to be in danger. McLaren seemed confident of catching Verstappen in the final laps, but a late problem on Norris’s car delayed him, although not enough for Russell to catch him.

Piastri, who started fifth, could have had a better position if he hadn’t had a bad start. The Australian narrowly escaped an incident with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson at Turn 1. In one moment, Piastri was running in seventh place, but a timely pit stop and a five-second penalty for a jump start for Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, allowed him to move up to fourth place at the end of the race. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished sixth, behind Antonelli. Lewis Hamilton, also of Ferrari, recovered from the back of the grid to tenth place, but it was another disappointing weekend for the Scuderia. Carlos Sainz from Williams finished seventh, ahead of Isack Hadjar from Racing Bulls and Nico Hülkenberg from Sauber.