Max Verstappen showed his champion lineage and won in Las Vegas

The Dutchman reached the lead in the first corner and took the victory on the 22nd round and will fight until the end before giving up his crown. Lando Norris was second on the track, but then he was excluded, like Oscar Piastri, due to technical anomalies in his McLaren and the World Championship is on fire.

There is something that is very clear and has always been known: Max Verstappen will never raise the flag of surrender while he has a chance of achieving his fifth Formula 1 world title. His options are not the best after a complex start to 2025 and the onslaught at the end does not give guarantees that he will be able to close the gap that Lando Norris achieved.but the four-time champion will sell the defeat very dearly. And this was shown at the Las Vegas GP, the 22nd and penultimate event of the 76th season in which he achieved a resounding victory.

The Red Bull driver began to win the race on the Nevada street at the start itself. From the second starting box, Max started well and Norris, from pole, tried to beat Verstappen handsomely. As soon as the traffic light went out, the Englishman pulled his McLaren to the left to squeeze the RB21. Of course, upon reaching the first corner, with cold and dirty tires, the MCL39 continued ahead and Max jumped to the lead.

In that start, Norris threw away everything good he had done in the last three races. He had come from taking pole and winning in Mexico and San Pablo (in Interlagos he also won the sprint) and in Las Vegas he had managed to win in a dramatic and spectacular classification in the rain, showing himself settled and far from his times of mistakes. But those spirits from the start in the city of sin could have put in check a World Cup that he almost has in his pocket, or had… Because if the long pass had been more pronounced… The Las Vegas race had excitement in the start, with Norris’s maneuver and a carom that occurred from the middle to the back that left people injured and abandoned. The rest of the competition was bland and boring. The next moment of excitement came from Mickey and his fireworks before the podium.

Verstappen dominated the race with total authority. First he resisted George Russell’s attack (he also passed Norris in the first corner). Later, when Norris was already second after the stoppage and Mercedes were content with reaching the podium, Lando began an attack. But every time he needed it, Max pressed the accelerator of his RB21 and took a decisive distance. Norris settled for second place on the track, quite a deal up to that point. But four hours after the race, the Briton and his teammate Oscar Piastri (World Cup guard) were disqualified because the two MCL39s showed greater wear on the rear bottom area than allowed.

Norris left Las Vegas with the title in his hands. With 58 points at stake, he was 42 points ahead of Verstappen, the only real rival and he is not the closest. Because in the middle, there was Piastri, at 30, but the Australian is with a changed pace and far from being a real contender at this stage of the World Cup. But the disqualification of the McLaren couple opened an unexpected game for the final two dates of the year. Norris, finally, will arrive in Qatar with a 24-point advantage over Max and Piastri, who were tied. Norris will no longer have that enormous comfort, although winning his first title still depends on himself (with being third in Qatar, both in the sprint and in the main race, and in Abu Dhabi, he will be consecrated, even if the Red Bull man wins everything).

“There is still a big difference, we always try to make the most of everything we have. In the next few weekends we will try to win the race and at the end of Abu Dhabi we will see where we finish, but I am very proud of everyone,” said Verstappen.. “We have had a season with ups and downs and difficult moments, but also some really beautiful moments. We learned a lot throughout the season and that is always very valuable for future years. It is something we have to hold on to and simply try to improve even more and come back stronger for next year and put up a fight at the beginning of the year in the championship,” concluded Max, who clearly will not give up, especially after having deducted 25 points from a serve. The World Cup, which seemed over, will reach the Middle East in boiling water.