Verstappen wins Vegas GP, narrows F1 points gap

LAS VEGAS -- Max Verstappen claimed his second Las Vegas Grand Prix win ahead of championship leader Lando Norris to keep his slim championship chances alive.

Second position helped Norris inch closer to his first world championship, meaning he goes to the penultimate Qatar Grand Prix 30 points clear of McLaren's teammate Oscar Piastri and 42 clear of Verstappen with 58 points to play for over the next two weeks.

Verstappen won by almost 21 seconds as Norris hit late car trouble, but that was not enough to allow Mercedes driver George Russell to steal third position away from him.

Piastri had to settle for a distant fourth position as his run of failing to finish ahead of Norris teammate, which stretches back to his win at the Dutch Grand Prix in late August, continued.

Norris' victory means he can wrap up the championship at next week's Qatar Grand Prix if his championship lead is 25 points or more when that race finishes on Dec. 30, but Verstappen's Sin City victory keeps his tantalizing wild-card title bid alive for at least one more week.

Verstappen looked dead and buried coming out of the summer break, but he has moved back into contention with what will go down as one of F1's great late-season charges. The Dutchman has now won four of the seven races since the break.

Verstappen seized control of Saturday night's event on the opening lap of the race. Norris had started from the pole position and moved across the track aggressively to keep the Red Bull driver and reigning four-time world champion behind but then ran deep at Turn 1.

That allowed Verstappen to pass Norris at the next corner and also allowed Russell to get past him for second too. Despite a brief spell where Russell was in DRS range of Verstappen, his lead never looked to be under threat.

McLaren had sounded confident of catching Verstappen in the closing laps, but a late car issue saw Norris drop dramatically back in the closing laps, albeit not enough for Russell to catch him.

Piastri, starting fifth, might have been better placed to capitalize had he had a better start; the Australian was lucky to escape a race-ender when he was hit by Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson at Turn 1.

At one point Piastri was running seventh, but a smartly timed pit-stop and a five-second jump-start penalty for Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli saw him climb to fourth position by the end of the race.

Despite a chaotic qualifying session in the rain on Friday night and a tantalizing championship fight, the third Las Vegas race failed to live up to its new status as Formula 1's flagship event on the race schedule.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finished sixth behind Antonelli and, although teammate Lewis Hamilton charged from the back of the grid to 10th, it was another bitterly disappointing weekend for the Scuderia at what most predicted would be its final opportunity to get a grand prix victory in 2025.

Williams driver Carlos Sainz finished seventh, ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar and Sauber's Nico Hülkenberg.