The 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix had everything: a wet-weather pole, a bruising opening lap and a double disqualification that could rewrite the Championship. Under the neon glare, Max Verstappen struck back, McLaren lost a race it thought it had banked, and what looked like a controlled title march has turned into a three-way knife fight.
The Chronicle Headlines
- Verstappen wins as Vegas strikes back at Norris.
- Double McLaren disqualification detonates title race.
- Wet-weather masterclass: Norris pulls off pole in the deluge.
- Russell and Antonelli turn Mercedes into double-podium winners.
- Ferrari’s fightback: Leclerc charges, Hamilton struggles.
- Bortoleto’s Turn 1 lunge earns Qatar grid drop.
Your complete 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend recap.
Practice Recap: 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix
The 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix opened with a circuit that changed by the minute and a field still adjusting to the Las Vegas Strip’s cold asphalt and unstable grip. Each session told a different story. Ferrari fired first in FP1, McLaren answered in FP2, and Mercedes seized control in FP3 as rain, evolving track conditions and technical issues shuffled the order.
FP1: Leclerc lights up the Strip, McLaren plays it safe
Under the neon glare of the Las Vegas Strip, Charles Leclerc stamped his authority in Free Practice 1, blasting a 1:34.802 on soft tyres to top the timesheet. His late surge peeled under last year’s benchmark and left Williams’ Alex Albon just 0.166s behind in second.
Third went to Yuki Tsunoda, who nudged ahead of his own team-mate, world champion Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, the reigning title protagonists, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, remained off the pace, settling sixth and eighth as the low-grip, dusty street layout bit hard.
The session proved to be anything but a mere warm-up. The 6.201 km Strip circuit showed its teeth: sliding drivers, cautious acclimatisation and a surface that cleaned up only in the final quarter-hour. Leclerc’s benchmark run came on the soft compound, timed perfectly as the track evolved.
For the teams, the takeaway is clear: tyre warm-up and track-position matter now more than raw speed. Leclerc’s Ferrari nailed the sweet-spot; the rest must chase for Race Day. As the night deepened in Vegas, the true pace came only once the asphalt cooled and the lights reflected off the cars.
Charles Leclerc during Free Practice at Las Vegas Circuit, Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
FP2: Norris responds as red flags hide the true pecking order
Under cooling desert air and a lightly dampened circuit, Lando Norris delivered the statement lap of Free Practice 2, firing in a 1:33.602 to end the session on top before a pair of red flags froze the running. His early soft-tyre push became untouchable once concerns over a loose drain cover at Turn 17 halted the final third of the hour.
The opening minutes were cautious. A brief sprinkle between sessions left the 6.2 km Strip Circuit slick, and teams waited almost five minutes before venturing out. Grip was scarce. Lap times sat several seconds shy of FP1 benchmarks, with drivers reporting a mix of cold asphalt and damp lines. Yet as rubber accumulated, the pace rose quickly.
Oscar Piastri drew first blood by beating Charles Leclerc’s FP1 best during medium-tyre phases, but Leclerc soon restored Ferrari’s authority with a 1:33.763. That stood as the target until Kimi Antonelli vaulted Mercedes to P1 on his first soft-tyre lap.
Then came Norris. The Championship leader pieced together a flowing lap, clean in the first sector, aggressive into Turn 14 and edged Antonelli by 0.029s, setting the fastest time before the session unraveled. The first red flag arrived with 21 minutes left. After a lengthy inspection, the field re-emerged for a final burst, only for Leclerc’s gearbox failure to trigger another stoppage moments later. That sealed the order.
Behind the top three, Nico Hülkenberg impressed in fourth, followed by Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten, while Piastri languished in 14th, unable to log a representative soft-tyre lap.
FP3: Russell finds grip while McLaren unravels
Under sudden showers and rapid drying, George Russell topped Free Practice 3 with a brilliant 1:34.054, snatching the session from Max Verstappen by just 0.227 seconds on the treacherous Las Vegas surface.
The session started on intermediates as the Strip Circuit still held damp patches from overnight rain. Times were sluggish, up to ten seconds off dry-pace benchmarks. Many drivers waited for the slick window as the track evolved.
Meanwhile, the title protagonists suffered. Lando Norris, fresh from topping FP2, and Oscar Piastri both hit technical trouble. Norris’s telemetry issue and Piastri’s electrical problem locked them at 19th and 20th, unable to deliver a late flyer on soft tyres.
Back at the sharp end: Alexander Albon stunned in third for Williams, Isack Hadjar fourth for Racing Bulls, and Lewis Hamilton recovering to fifth despite a hairy moment at Turn 14.
The drama confirmed it: the 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend would be decided not just by outright speed but by timing, grip, and resilience as the night sets and the Strip froze.
Qualifying Report
Q1 and Q2: Full-wet chaos and early casualties
Q1 arrived like a punch to the visor. Heavy rain turned the Las Vegas Strip into a sheet of standing water, visibility collapsed, and drivers tip-toed into the session on full wets. The opening minutes became a test of instinct rather than craft. Lewis Hamilton never found any grip – he clipped a bollard at Turn 14, slid through the braking zones and ended up 20th, nearly four seconds off George Russell’s early benchmark. It was the worst possible start for Ferrari.
Alex Albon looked fast, purple in sector one, before brushing the outside wall at Turn 16. The light contact snapped his front-right suspension and ended his night. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Gabriel Bortoleto and Yuki Tsunoda also failed to escape the drop zone, each struggling to extract performance as the water level rose and the clock wound down.
Q2 wasn’t any cleaner. Every car stayed on wets. Grip improved in patches, but the racing line changed every lap, leaving little room for rhythm. Russell topped the segment again with a 1:50.935, while Isack Hadjar continued to overperform in second. Sainz, Norris, Verstappen and Lawson completed the top six with laps that were committed but cautious.
The final Q2 slots were even tighter. Pierre Gasly nailed his lap to jump to P7. Alonso and Leclerc followed. Piastri only just survived in P10 after a moment at Turn 15 nearly tossed him out.
The unlucky group included Nico Hülkenberg, who missed Q3 by six tenths, Lance Stroll, whose switch to intermediates backfired instantly, and both Haas drivers. Franco Colapinto saved a huge slide at the final sector but could not move out of P15.
Q3: Norris goes all-in for Las Vegas pole
Q3 opened with a fragile drying line and ten drivers gambling on the intermediate tyre. The track was still wet enough to punish hesitation, yet dry enough to tempt aggression. From the moment the green light blinked, the faster laps belonged to those willing to lean hardest on the unknown.
Carlos Sainz struck first, taking provisional pole with a clean opening lap. Charles Leclerc then ran deep at Turn 14. Oscar Piastri, pushing on the same run, slid wide at Turn 12 and lost the chance to build rhythm. That opened the door. Soon after, Piastri reset the board with a 1:49.136.
The times tumbled again. Liam Lawson delivered a monster middle sector. Max Verstappen arrived with a sharp 1:48.2 to reclaim provisional pole. George Russell, who had topped both earlier sessions, looked poised to challenge but left fractions on the table in the final sector.
And then came Lando Norris. The McLaren was already comfortable in the damp, but his last attempt was on another level. Norris held a nearly one-second advantage at sector two, attacking the kerbs with rally-style confidence. Then the car snapped, a huge slide through the final complex, tyres lit, rear stepping out toward the barrier. The lap should have died. Instead, Norris caught it and threw the car toward the line.
1:47.934. Pole.
Verstappen ended nearly three tenths behind. Sainz secured third after a superb recovery. Russell took fourth. Piastri’s off left him stuck in fifth, where he will start behind his championship rival.
Lawson earned sixth. Alonso, Hadjar, Leclerc and Gasly completed the top ten.
Race & Fallout
Race Start: Verstappen seizes control as Vegas bites back
The Las Vegas GP 2025 exploded immediately under the lights. From pole, Lando Norris chopped hard across Max Verstappen on the dash to Turn 1, forcing the Red Bull onto the inside line. Norris then ran deep, skated over the runoff and had to concede. Verstappen grabbed the lead, with George Russell sweeping around the outside a few corners later to demote Norris to third.
Behind them, chaos. Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson both jumped Oscar Piastri, with Lawson tagging the McLaren at Turn 1. Piastri survived but dropped to seventh. Further back, Gabriel Bortoleto sent his Sauber down the inside of several cars and misjudged the grip. He slammed into Lance Stroll, destroying the Aston Martin’s rear wing and triggering an immediate retirement for both.
The early VSC for debris and stranded cars reset the rhythm. Once green flags flew again, Russell sat in DRS on Verstappen, probing for a pass but never quite close enough. Verstappen edged the gap out to over a second, then 1.6s, as he settled into his familiar metronomic rhythm. Norris hovered a couple of seconds back, safely clear of Carlos Sainz, who was soon under attack from a charging Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc was ruthless. He dove past Piastri and Hadjar in consecutive laps, radioing that he was “charging like an animal” as he dragged Ferrari into the lead pack. Hamilton, recovering from the back, clipped by Alex Albon at Turn 14, added another subplot as the Williams lost its front wing and picked up a five-second penalty.
By Lap 15, the pattern was set: Verstappen leading, Russell clinging on, Norris regrouping, and the midfield already bruised.
Strategy & Stints: Fuel alarms, tyre calls and a podium on feel
The Las Vegas GP 2025 settled into a high-speed chess match once the pit window opened. Fernando Alonso blinked first from the top ten, switching from mediums to hards. Russell then pitted from second for the same compound, rejoining in traffic but locking in the undercut threat.
McLaren reacted. Oscar Piastri boxed from P6, re-emerging just ahead of Hadjar. Norris stopped a lap later, dropping behind Russell but onto fresher tyres. Out front, Max Verstappen extended his medium stint long enough to split the race neatly in half. When he finally pitted, he rejoined still ahead of Russell by just over a second, then immediately rebuilt the lead.
Behind them, Kimi Antonelli was quietly turning the race into a statement drive. The Mercedes rookie had pitted early from P17, switching from softs to hards under a brief VSC. Even with a five-second penalty for a false start, he rose into the top six and then latched onto the back of the frontrunners.
Norris, freed from traffic, hunted Russell. Once in DRS he needed only one clean shot. He launched past on the run to Turn 14 and reclaimed second, exactly as McLaren had scripted. At that point, the gap to Verstappen was around five seconds and growing.
From there the fight compressed into two main stories. Verstappen managed the hard tyre to perfection, turning laps that were fast but never frantic. Norris tried to respond but was soon told to lift and coast heavily, as McLaren worried about fuel usage and reliability. Behind them, Piastri attacked Antonelli for fourth as Leclerc stalked both, the trio running nose-to-tail into the closing laps.
At the flag, on-the-road, it was Verstappen P1, Norris P2, Russell P3, Antonelli P4, Piastri P5, Leclerc P6 – a result that lasted only a few hours.
After the Flag: Double DQ shock and Qatar penalties
The real twist of the Las Vegas GP 2025 came long after the fireworks stopped. In post-race scrutineering, both McLarens failed the plank wear checks. The rearmost skid blocks on Norris’ and Piastri’s MCL39s were measured below the minimum 9mm thickness allowed by Article 3.5.9 of the technical regulations.
The FIA re-measured the skids in the presence of team representatives and the stewards. The result was the same, with some readings even lower than the initial inspection. McLaren argued there were mitigating factors. They pointed to unexpected porpoising, reduced running in wet practice and a compressed weekend. The stewards accepted that the breach was unintentional but stressed that technical infringements are strict liability. The verdict was brutal but simple: both cars disqualified.
That single decision detonated the classification. Norris lost second place, Piastri lost fifth, and everyone behind moved up. The final podium became Verstappen P1, Russell P2, Antonelli P3, with Leclerc P4, Sainz P5, and Hadjar P6. Nico Hülkenberg and Lewis Hamilton were elevated to seventh and eighth, while Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman were promoted into the points for Haas.
The championship picture flipped. Norris now sits on 390 points, with Verstappen and Piastri tied on 366 heading into Qatar, the gap slashed to 24. What had looked like a controlled march to the crown is now a three-way knife fight with two rounds left including one sprint.
Penalties extended beyond Woking. Bortoleto’s Lap 1 lunge on Stroll earned that five-place grid drop for Qatar plus two penalty points.
What next?
No time to rest. With the 2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix done and dusted, the battle heads straight into the final double-header. First up: a sprint weekend in Doha Corniche Circuit (Qatar, 28–30 Nov), followed by the season finale at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi (5–7 Dec). The title will be decided not by a single race, but by momentum, strategy and nerves across two weekends where anything can happen.
Feature Image: Red Bull Content Pool