Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday to keep his Formula 1 title hopes alive, defeating Lando Norris and George Russell after seizing the lead in the opening corner.
Verstappen’s rapid launch forced Norris into a firm defence into Turn 1, but the McLaren driver braked too late and ran wide, surrendering momentum and allowing Russell to slip past Carlos Sainz and into third. Russell briefly threatened Verstappen in the early laps, but once the Red Bull driver restored a buffer outside DRS range the pressure faded and the Mercedes began to drift back.
That offered Norris a chance to recover ground, although Russell’s early stop for hard tyres gave him an undercut that delayed any McLaren attack until after the leaders had completed their pit cycles. Verstappen rejoined a little over a second ahead of Russell, then stretched clear with fresher rubber to reassert control at the front.
Russell soon had more to worry about behind than ahead. Norris closed in and made a simple move at Turn 14 on lap 34, with Russell admitting he was unwilling to jeopardise a podium by defending too aggressively. Norris was instructed to chase Verstappen, but the champion responded with a run of quick laps that shut down any hope of a late lead change. When Norris’ pace faded sharply in the closing stages, the contest was settled.
A need to save fuel in the final four laps cost Norris around 14 seconds, but his margin over Russell was sufficient to secure second place. Russell, still dealing with the steering issues that troubled him in qualifying, faced no late threat thanks to the long-running Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who acted as a buffer after an early stop for hard tyres. Antonelli had climbed from 17th to run as high as fourth, but a five second penalty for a marginal jump start dropped him to fifth.
Oscar Piastri inherited fourth to limit the damage in the standings and now sits 30 points behind Norris after holding off Charles Leclerc while running in Antonelli’s wake. Sainz finished seventh, comfortably ahead of Isack Hadjar, as both converted strong qualifying sessions into points. Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten, with Hamilton climbing from 19th despite surviving contact with Alex Albon on lap 13.
