LAS VEGAS (AP) — For a driver who hated the Las Vegas Grand Prix before he’d ever turned a lap, Max Verstappen sure has turned the event into his own personal jackpot.
Verstappen won for the second time in four races and the four-time reigning Formula 1 champion continued to claw his way back into title picture with a Saturday night victory on the streets of Las Vegas.
It is the second time in three years the Dutchman has won on the course that utilizes a part of the famed Strip. He won the inaugural race in 2023 and clinched his fourth consecutive title here last year.
Now he has another win at an event he despised ahead of its debut because of the bright spotlight promoters placed on celebrities and parties instead of the actual competition. But when it comes time to get in the car, no matter how Verstappen feels about the event, he seems to excel.
“Simply lovely,” Verstappen said on his Red Bull team radio.
He then rushed into the arms of his waiting Red Bull crew as the skyline was illuminated by a spectacular New Year’s Eve-style fireworks display.
Verstappen took a victory lap in a pink Cadillac made of Lego driven by actor Terry Crews, who is an ambassador for the Cadillac F1 team that will debut next year.
It was the 69th victory of Verstappen’s career.
“I have to stay at 69 or go to 169 because it is actually quite a cool number,” he said on one of the two victory podiums located outside the fountains of the Bellagio casino.
It was Verstappen’s eighth consecutive podium, F1-record eighth win in the United States, and he beat points leader Lando Norris by more than 20 seconds.
Verstappen started second but took control of the race in the very first turn when Norris made an aggressive move to cut in front of him at the start but wound up sliding wide of the turn in his McLaren.
“I let Max have a win,” Norris lamented. “Let him go. Let him have a nice race. I just braked too late. It was my (mess) up.”
Verstappen moved to the lead and George Russell darted past Norris into second.
“I made the mistake in Turn 1, that cost me,” Norris said. “Sometimes a good result is second and scoring some points. I’ve had a good run and I think the pace was still good. Max just drove a good race and they were quick. I made the mistake in Turn 1, you know, you’ve got to be punchy into Turn 1.
“I was just a bit too punchy, you know, and that cost me.”
It was the 150th career start for Norris, which tied the McLaren record with David Coulthard. He will become McLaren’s most tenured driver next week in Qatar with his 151th start.
But after his slip in the first turn, Norris found himself stuck back in third, and teammate Oscar Piastri fared no better as the Australian lost two spots on the start to drop from fifth to seventh. The two McLaren drivers have swapped the lead in the driver standings all season and Norris held a 24-point lead over Piastri at the start, while Verstappen was 49 points back.
Norris finished second and Russell was third, and with two races remaining on the year Norris’ lead is 30 points over Piastri and Verstappen trimmed his deficit to 42 points.
Even so, Verstappen believes he’s still a long shot to win a fifth consecutive title.
“It’s still a big gap. We always try to maximize everything that we’ve got and this weekend, that was first,” Verstappen said. “The upcoming weekends, we’ll, again, try to win the race. And at the end of (the season finale at) Abu Dhabi, we’ll see where we end up. But I’m very proud of everyone.”
Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes crossed the finish line in fourth but a penalty dropped him a spot to fifth, which moved Piastri to fourth.
Piastri has not won since the final day of August at the Dutch Grand Prix and has just one podium finish in the seven races since. He seemed to accept that his title chances are slipping away.
“I don’t really know what to think, to be honest. The first lap was eventful, to say the least,” Piastri said. “It is what it is. I think I’m going to try my best, obviously, for the next two races and try to put myself in the best position possible. There’s still a lot of laps left to go, a lot can still happen, but I need to make sure that I’m in the best position to capitalize if that happens.
“That’s all I can do now, so I’ll set my sights on that and see how we go.”
The biggest mover of the race was seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who qualified 20th in Ferrari’s first last-place qualifying result since 2009. He actually started 19th and immediately gained six spots. Hamilton steadily picked his way through the field and finished 10th.
Charles Leclerc finished sixth for Ferrari as he and Hamilton both finished in the points one race after both failed to finish in Brazil, which drew criticism from Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann.
Carlos Sainz Jr. started third but finished seventh for Williams, while Isack Hadjar of Racing Bull was eighth. Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber and Hamilton rounded out the top 10.
