LAS VEGAS — Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday night, capturing the lead from championship leader Lando Norris at the start and never looking back.
The F1 cars blasted down the Las Vegas Strip at breathtaking speeds of over 215 miles per hour, delivering thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing under the bright lights for the third year.
Yet despite finishing in second place, it was a good outcome for Norris in the battle for the 2025 world championship because he extended his lead over his nearest rival Oscar Piastri, who also drives for McLaren and finished fourth.
Norris now has 408 points, while Piastri has 378. Verstappen, who races for Red Bull, sits third in the standings with 366.
“I’m just pretty disappointed with today,” Norris said, while acknowledging the silver lining. “Even when I feel like I had a bad day, today was still relatively a good day.”
There are just two Grand Prix left in a 2025 season full of twists and turns — next weekend in Qatar and the weekend after in Abu Dhabi. The Qatar race features a shortened “sprint” race, too, so there are a maximum of 58 points still up for grabs.
“It’s still a big gap,” Verstappen said of the title fight in a post-race interview. “The upcoming weekends we’ll again, try to win the race, and at the end of Abu Dhabi we’ll see where we end up.”
Norris started first but lost two positions in the opening corners after making an aggressive move to defend his lead, but ran wide on the first turn and got overtaken by Verstappen and George Russell. He eventually overtook Russell of Mercedes but couldn’t get close to Verstappen, and he was forced to slow his pace toward the end due to an issue with the car. Russell finished third.
“I messed it up and made my life tougher into turn one,” Norris said. “But even after that, we just weren’t quick enough … I was pushing flat out and Max was still pulling away.”
Piastri said he isn’t out of the title race yet.
“It’s obviously now in the position where I can’t just win it by winning races. But what I can do is put myself in the best position to capitalize on if something does happen,” he told reporters. “So for my own pride, ego and opportunities, I want to win the next two races… And if things go my way, things go my way, and if they don’t, then it is what it is.”
An economic boost for Las Vegas
Local leaders hope the race weekend will provide a much-needed boost to the Las Vegas economy, which has struggled this year due to high costs and declining tourism, among other issues. Last year’s Las Vegas Grand Prix delivered an economic impact of $934 million, according to one estimate.
“It’s a very important event. And I fully support all of our special events. We’re not just the entertainment capital, we’re the entertainment and sports capital,” U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., who represents parts of the city, told NBC News ahead of the race. “So having a marquee event like this on the Las Vegas Strip is great, and it does a lot for our economy.”
F1 is looking to build on its momentum with American fans, having secured the races in Miami and Las Vegas — in addition to the longstanding Grand Prix in Austin — on the calendar for the long haul. It signed a five-year deal with Apple, which will take over the U.S. broadcast rights from ESPN starting next year.
Celebrity sightings included musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z, actors Ben Affleck, Michael Douglas and Naomi Campbell, NBA all-stars Magic Johnson and Jimmy Butler, and tennis player Taylor Fritz. Actor Catherine Zeta-Jones waved the checkered flag.
The top three finishers were driven to the podium, which is located on the Strip at the Bellagio Fountain Club, in a pink LEGO-built Cadillac car driven by Terry Crews.
Before the race, Ferrari superstar Lewis Hamilton took Beyoncé on a hot lap around the circuit, a team spokesperson confirmed,. as she was decked out in a Louis Vuitton custom racing suit. The two stars were spotted watching the race from the Ferrari garage.
Also in attendance Saturday were Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel, who were given a tour of the paddock by F1 officials.
“I’ve always kind of been a NASCAR fan and been learning a lot about F1 the last couple of years. And we’re excited to see everybody race,” Noem said, adding that she was getting a tour of the McLaren garage. Patel called Formula 1 “one of the greatest sports,” saying he’s a McLaren fan.
Rain brings chaos in qualifying
The Friday qualifying session was thrown into chaos due to rain, which extracted every ounce of skill from the 20 drivers just to stay out of the barriers. The track, already known to have low grip even in dry conditions, was slippery and treacherous for most of the session.
“You’re just trying to keep it on the track. Not crash. Not take yourself out,” Norris said after taking pole position. “One day, I just hope — apart from having a two-seater F1 car — people can get that sensation of just how nerve-wracking and scary it can be at times. How unpredictable.”
And the Las Vegas paddock was abuzz with internal drama among several teams during the weekend.
Piastri was asked about recently reposting an Instagram post that quoted F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone claiming McLaren “prefers” Norris because of his “high star quality” and “marketing appeal.”
Asked about the repost, which was highlighted online by F1 content creators, Piastri told reporters it was an error.
“I don’t know,” he said Friday after deleting it from his feed. “I woke up this morning and saw it. So I don’t know, maybe I accidentally did it. Obviously, it was not intentional. But yeah, I didn’t know what had happened.”
Instagram has one-click reposts — unlike X, which requires users to click twice to confirm — making it easy to erroneously repost something while scrolling. Still, it added to a drama in which the Australian driver’s fans have theorized that the British team favors his British teammate, a claim that McLaren firmly denies.
Ferrari’s two drivers downplayed recent comments by Ferrari chairperson John Elkann, who said they should “talk less and focus on driving” — remarks slammed by critics as a gratuitous dig against Leclerc and Hamilton after Ferrari’s decision to build a new car for 2025 (rather than upgrade last year’s version) backfired and led to a winless season so far.
“I’m always willing to do less media,” Hamilton quipped.
The seven-time world champion told reporters it’s “not really” possible to focus any more on driving than he already is. “I wake up thinking about it. And I go to sleep thinking about it. And I think about it while I’m sleeping,” Hamilton said.
Leclerc said the comment was a product of Elkann’s ambition to maximize the team’s potential. “He loves Ferrari. I love Ferrari. We all love Ferrari,” Leclerc said. “When he called me, he told me what were the intentions of these words, and that was very clear. It was a positive message, trying to be positive.”
Ferrari currently sits fourth in a close battle for second in the team championship, behind Mercedes and Red Bull. While the driver’s title carries more glory, the constructors’ championship is the one that awards cash prizes. Ferrari finished runner-up to McLaren last year in a close battle.
Hamilton started 20th, but had a strong opening lap and fought his way back from last to 10th.
While Hamilton said he takes no positives from his comeback, he enjoys racing in Las Vegas.
“I love coming to Vegas,” he told reporters after the race. “I think it’s a really great city. Always get a great welcome here. This is the biggest crowd I think we’ve seen, even though it’s quite cold.”
And the activities of the weekend have evolved over the three years as F1 seeks a better balance between sport and show.
“I think it’s certainly better than it was a few years ago. I think that was a bit too much for everyone,” Norris said. “May as well be in Cirque du Soleil with what we were doing back then.”
