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Despite expecting the worst, Lando Norris managed to finish in P2 at the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix a time when he's fighting to maintain the lead in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship.
Both McLaren cars were disqualified following the race for excessive plank wear, negating all points scored and promoting George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to P2 and P3 respectively. There have been updates to this article to reflect the news.
In the short history of the track, McLaren has never had an easy time at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit. In 2023, a crash took Norris out of contention while his teammate, Oscar Piastri, finished at the very back, in P18. And in 2024, despite having the fastest car on the grid, the two McLarens could only scrape up a P6 and P8 as Max Verstappen sealed his fourth title in a row.
Needless to say, Norris was entirely optimistic about their chances going into this year’s race. Following the São Paulo Grand Prix, on how he saw the final three rounds of the season going, he commented, “I think there's plenty to look forward to. We know Abu Dhabi and Qatar are ones we are looking forward to. Las Vegas just a little bit less, because they've been probably some of our weakest races over the last two years. So let's wait and see.”
But the team had something cooking, and adjustments to the car saw both McLaren drivers get their best results in Vegas yet, with Piastri just off the podium in P4, and Norris scoring their first podium in P2, behind Verstappen. George Russell finished off the top three with his ninth podium of the season.
The biggest takeaway was that McLaren showed much better pace than it had here previously, with Norris even being encouraged by his race engineer, Will Joseph, to chase Verstappen for the lead in the second half of the race after losing out to him from pole on the race start.
"I made the mistake into Turn 1,” Norris admitted during the post-race interviews. “I was just a bit too punchy, you know, and that cost me. So it’s– that's the way it is sometimes.
“Still a good result, second, and still good points, you know, so it's not like I'm too disappointed. I gotta give congrats to Max, and Red Bull, they drove a good race, so onto the next one.”
Indeed, despite finishing behind Verstappen, Norris minimized how much the Red Bull was able to cut into his lead in the Drivers’ Championship. What’s more, hanging on to P2 became even more critical, as he faced mechanical issues with his car in the final laps of the race, forcing him to lift and coast to the finish line.
Before the disqualification, with two races left and 408 points to his name, Norris was 30 points ahead of Piastri and 42 ahead of Verstappen, putting him in a very comfortable position to secure his first F1 title. After the disqualification, Norris is just 24 points ahead of both Piastri and Verstappen who are tied at 366. Norries really has keep his head up and stay focused in the home stretch.
Cover Image via Red Bull Media Pool.
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