Max Verstappen is technically still ready to win the race for the Formula 1 championship.
Verstappen maintained his bid for five straight titles on Saturday with a convincing win at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
It was Verstappen's 69th career win as his luck continued on the famed Las Vegas Strip. The Red Bull driver won the inaugural race in 2023 and finished fifth last year to win his fourth world championship in a row.
Verstappen started second on the grid, with points leader Lando Norris next to him in pole position. Norris made a mistake immediately after the start when he ran into Verstappen and overshot the corner heading into Turn 1. The unforced error allowed not only Verstappen but also Mercedes driver George Russell to take advantage as McLaren dropped to third.
“I just braked too late,” Norris said on Sky Sports. “That was my (expletive) argument.”
It wasn't until lap 35 that Norris was finally able to overtake Russell and take the lead behind Verstappen by about five seconds.
However, that gap became a chasm in the final 15 laps as Norris appeared to be driving cautiously and Verstappen fired up his engines and cruised to the finish, winning by 20.741 seconds.
Russell finished third on the podium.
That remains an advantage for Norris as he leaves Las Vegas with a 32-point lead over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth, and 42 points ahead of Verstappen.
With a maximum of 58 points up for grabs in the final two races and one sprint, it could still be too little, too late for Verstappen as he will need to win and be beaten by Norris and Piastri.
Verstappen may have some luck in Vegas with Nick Pappagorgio, but will that spread to Qatar and Abu Dhabi?
Still, it's surprising to see Verstappen on the hunt. Let's go back to the Hungarian Grand Prix in early August, when Verstappen was 97 points behind Piastri. Since then, Verstappen has finished on the podium in eight consecutive races, taking four wins in the process.
It's also crazy that Verstappen single-handedly holds Red Bull to third in the Constructors' Championship, with second-place Mercedes within striking distance. It may not mean much to Verstappen, but the extra prize money makes a big difference to the counters at the team's headquarters in Milton Keynes.
The odds remain favorable for Norris to secure his first world championship.
Things were looking great for Norris on Friday as he qualified on pole for the seventh time this season and third in a row, lapping almost a full second faster than anyone else before a late slide in the final sector. Even with the oversteer, Norris still crossed the line 0.323 faster than Verstappen, which even surprised the pole-sitter himself.
“No one else has completed the lap or what?” Norris said on the team radio to race technical director Will Joseph.
It was also a landmark weekend for Norris as he became the first driver to complete his first 150 Grands Prix with the same team, as well as tying David Coulthard for the most starts with McLaren. Although Norris just turned 26 earlier this month, let's not forget this is his seventh season with the team and his dedication has been rewarded with a car worthy of the World Championship.
“It’s crazy, it’s a big number, comparable to DC in terms of the number of races with McLaren. Qatar will be 151, so – I don’t know what the word is – McLaren’s most racing driver?” Norris told reporters earlier this week.
He added: “I'm very proud of it, it's a real achievement: 150 points in Formula 1, it's my dream. This has been my dream since childhood. To come this far is incredible and time certainly flies.”
He also shared recent interview the impact that Sebastian Vettel had on his career. Norris said the four-time world champion was someone he looked up to as a kid (that should make you feel old now) and that he was “always up for a chat, a laugh, a coffee, whatever it is.”
It's funny that Piastri's manager is Mark Webber, who was Vettel's Red Bull teammate and on-track rival. The Vettel-Webber rivalry reached its boiling point in 2013 when Vettel ignored team orders and overtook Webber to take the lead en route to victory:multi 21, September” entered the history of Formula 1.
At the start of the season, there was no Vettel-Webber war on my bingo card.
Piastri may have felt like he was at Bally's as he was tripped up by Liam Lawson when the Racing Bulls driver locked up at Turn 1 on the first lap.
Luckily Piastri was undamaged – although how Lawson managed to avoid a penalty remains a mystery other than to chalk it up to an incident on the first lap.
Piastri recovered but never seemed to find his footing on the low-grip track as he languished behind Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli, who made a mega drive from 17th on the grid to finish fifth.
It's not that Piastri has been terrible, but in the last seven races he has only finished on the podium once, which, simply put, is not championship material.
It was Lewis Hamilton's career year at Ferrari for all the wrong reasons.
The seven-time world champion qualified last, marking the first time Hamilton had been the slowest race pacer in his distinguished career.
Hamilton also became the slowest Ferrari driver to qualify since Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Ugh.
The 40-year-old has a dubious team record and is also the driver who has gone the longest without a Grand Prix podium at 20 races (and counting) since his Ferrari debut. Hamilton has never gone a full season without scoring at least one podium, his last coming a year ago in Vegas when he finished second to then Mercedes teammate Russell.
Some miscommunication, an all-too-familiar refrain at Ferrari, hampered Hamilton on his final flying lap during Friday qualifying as his team informed him too late that he could continue after crossing the finish line just before the siren.
Hamilton moved up to 19th with Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda starting from the pit lane and he overcame the carnage of the first lap to finish in 12th place. He continued his climb, finishing 10th and scoring a point.
Meanwhile, Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc said on the team radio that he drove “like an animal” to finish sixth.
It's a bad sign when Ferrari executive chairman John Elkann publicly berated both drivers:focus on driving and talk less“- this could have been discussed privately – after the double DNF in Brazil two weeks ago. Maybe he was trying to motivate them?”
• We say this every year, but the Sphere needs to be loved.
• As a bonus, Terry Crews drives a pink Lego Cadillac – something that could only happen in Vegas.
• Verstappen's victory ended the streak of pole holders winning seven races in a row, one shy of the record. Fear not, 1976, your record of eight straight matches is safe for now.
• Antonelli's start was barely noticeable, but it's one of those zero-tolerance rules a rookie driver can learn. Although Antonelli lost his place after the finish due to a five-second penalty, he prevented Piastri from chasing his Mercedes teammate Russell for the final podium spot. This is teamwork.
• Canadian driver Lance Stroll had gone the entire season without retiring until Saturday night. It wasn't his fault though. Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto crashed straight into the Aston Martin at the first turn of the first lap, knocking them both out of the race.
