Lando Norris closes in on first Formula One Drivers’ championship after finishing second to Max Verstappen in Nevada.By News AgenciesPublished On 23 Nov 202523 Nov 2025Click here to share on social mediashare2ShareRed Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, but McLaren’s Lando Norris has one hand on the Formula One title after finishing second and stretching his lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 30 points.Piastri finished fourth after Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who was ahead of the Australian at the chequered flag, had five seconds added for jumping the start.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listGeorge Russell, last year’s winner of the floodlit race and, like Norris, making his 150th start, completed the podium for Mercedes.With two grands prix and a sprint remaining, worth a maximum 58 points, Norris has 408 points to Piastri’s 378 with four-time world champion Verstappen still mathematically in contention on 366.Norris finished 20.741 seconds behind but can now secure his first title in Qatar next weekend, with McLaren having already clinched the constructors’ crown for the second year in a row. McLaren’s Lando Norris, right, and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen race at the start of the Las Vegas Formula One Grand Prix [Patrick T. Fallon/AFP]Quite a decent gap“The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking,” said Verstappen, ferried to the podium with Norris and Russell in a LEGO pink Cadillac convertible driven by actor Terry Crews as fireworks lit up the sky over the strip.“It was at the end quite a decent gap.”It was the 69th win of Verstappen’s career and his sixth of the season, as well as his 125th podium and eighth in a row in the 150th Grand Prix of Red Bull’s partnership with Honda. Advertisement Norris lost the lead to Verstappen at the start, dropping to third when he ran wide at the first corner and opened the door for the Dutch driver and Russell.He retook second from Russell on the 34th of 50 laps but then had to manage fuel to the finish.“I let Max have a win,” he joked. “I let him go, let him have a nice race. No, I just braked too late,” he added, with an expletive on the live televisio …
