It was smooth-sailing at the front for Max Verstappen, who claimed a first double-victory in the history of the Las Vegas streets. Championship leader Lando Norris settled for second best tonight, while his team mate and championship contender Oscar Piastri finished in fourth. George Russell also put his Mercedes on the podium in third.

Eyes on The Prize

Verstappen secured his race lead from the opening laps when he overtook pole sitter Lando Norris, as the two fought for the position, with the championship leader running wide at Turn 1 and slipping into third.

Issues with his McLaren have kept Norris behind Russell nearly until the end of the race, with the latter also encountering steering problems with his Mercedes. Eventually, Norris passed Russell to claim second place nearly 21 second behind Verstappen, extending his championship lead over Piastri by 42 points.

Fighting for Jackpot

The fight for fourth was getting tighter as championship contender Oscar Piastri found himself in seventh after contact with Liam Lawson and on a charge to reclaim his position. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli fought off the Australian on track, as well as Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari, who were making their way back through the pack from a P9.

However, an investigation on Antonelli about a false start has seen the young Italian take a five-second penalty, which dropped him behind Piastri in P5 in the race standings. Leclerc managed to hold on to P6

Rolling the Dice

Carlos Sainz brought a good result for his Williams team with a P7 finish, however his teammate Alex Albon had to retire his car following an earlier collision with Lewis Hamilton. Isack Hadjar also put his Racing Bulls in P8, ahead of Hulkenberg and Hamilton respectively, as the Ferrari driver fought through from the back of the grid.

Both Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman drove their Haas just outside of points and ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. Following a rougher start to the race for both Yuki Tsunoda, who started from the pit lane and Pierre Gasly who had an opening lap incident, brought had them cross the finish line in P14 and P15. An opening lap incident had Gabriel Bortoleto and Lance Stroll retire their cars, after colliding in Turn 1. Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto respectively make up the last two places on the grid.