2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
6 days ago
4 min read

Verstappen’s Vegas Delight as Both McLarens Disqualified

Not only was it victory in Las Vegas for Max Verstappen, but a Post-Race Double Disqualification for the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri means that Max finds himself within a Race Win of the Championship lead with two weekends left to go! George Russell continued his cracking season with another appearance on the rostrum, whilst McLaren’s woes promoted Andrea Kimi Antonelli onto the Podium after a sterling drive from P17!

The Biggest Talking Points

As the lights went out, Lando Norris aggressively covered off Max Verstappen into Turn 1, but he misjudged the braking zone, meaning he lost places to both Verstappen and George Russell! Behind all of this, Liam Lawson banged wheels with Oscar Piastri, damaging the front wing of Lawson’s Racing Bull, and both Lance Stroll and Gabriel Bortoleto found themselves out at Turn 1 after Bortoleto completely wrecked Lance from miles back (this impact also ruined Pierre Gasly’s chances)! After the Virtual Safety Car came back in, George pushed hard to try and put pressure on Max, but Verstappen had it covered as Charles Leclerc was starting to make progress (including overtaking Oscar Piastri)! Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon then came together, with Albon receiving both damage and a 5-second time penalty, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s progress was slightly halted by his own 5-second time penalty for jumping the start!

After the first round of pit stops, Max Verstappen continued to lead out front, but Lando Norris was starting to catch George Russell (who was struggling on his tyres)! Both Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc were also able to successfully jump ahead of Carlos Sainz during the pitstop phase, and Lewis Hamilton found himself inside the points after overcutting a number of midfield drivers! Lando was then able to clear George for P2, but he wouldn’t come close to Verstappen, whilst Oscar Piastri failed to overtake the other Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli! Speaking of Antonelli, he drove so insanely quickly on his final stint that he managed to stay ahead of Charles Leclerc, even with the penalty, and that was before we knew of the fate of the McLarens! The Race ended with Max Verstappen crossing the line to take his 69th career victory, whilst Lando Norris limped home in an attempt to save fuel (interestingly, this wasn’t the reason that he was disqualified)!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Max Verstappen! Max once again shone brightest when he had the opportunity to do so, taking the lead at Turn 1 and never looking back! Max legitimately won this Race on pure pace, and he’ll certainly have his eyes set firmly on McLaren and, in particular, Lando Norris! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and I’ve honestly been going back-and-forth on this because not only did he jump the start, but he also gained two places due to disqualifications! However, having said that, Kimi’s pace was absolutely incredible, especially at the end, and the fact that he’s ended up in the Top 3 instead of Charles Leclerc is actually pretty amazing! The other driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Carlos Sainz, and I was always going to give Carlos a 10 even if he’d finished 7th because not only was he easily best of the rest, but he wasn’t that far off the faster cars ahead! However, Carlos ended up finishing 5th, so it’s an even bigger and better weekend for The Smooth Operator! Elsewhere, George Russell drove another really clean weekend to end up on the Podium, whilst both Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg deserve special mentions for scoring big points for their teams! Oh, and well done to Haas on earning a double points finish!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

In total, I’ve given out two 1’s for today’s Race, and the first one unfortunately has to be to Alex Albon! I know Alex was struggling with his radio all day, but that doesn’t change the fact that he had a starting grid infringement, drove into the back of Lewis Hamilton (which gave him a 5-second time penalty), and he sped in the pitlane! Like, Albon’s form has completely died at the end of this year! The other driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Gabriel Bortoleto, and this is 100% valid as Bortoleto just smashed into the side of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin, ruining both of their Races (as well as Pierre Gasly)! Also, just like Albon, Gabby is really struggling right now! Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson, and Franco Colapinto also weren’t exactly very good, but this is where we have to talk about McLaren! When you’re leading by as comfortable of a margin as they are, you cannot be making these types of misjudgements, which is what today was! It was a miscalculation on the side of McLaren, and it means that Oscar Piastri’s run of results continues to look worse and worse with every passing week, whilst Lando Norris has gone from basically having this Championship wrapped up to people discussing Max Verstappen’s chances! The fact that there is even a discussion after the car that those two teams have had speaks volumes about McLaren's inability to be impressive Champions!