Terry Crews is indeed driving the podium finishers to the awards ceremony in a pink Lego Cadillac. The drivers were all given Lego sunglasses as well, and Verstappen doubles over laughing at the sight of Norris wearing his. They make F1 fun, don’t they?
Thanks for following with us tonight. Two more to go …
Updated
Final results and updated standings
1. Verstappen
2. Norris
3. Russell
4. Piastri
5. Antonelli
6. Leclerc
7. Sainz
8. Hadjar
9. Hulkenberg
10. Hamilton
11. Ocon
12. Bearman
13. Alonso
14. Tsunoda
15. Gasly
16. Lawson
17. Colapinto
DNF. Albon, Bortoleto, Stroll
Standings
1. Norris 408
2. Piastri 378
3. Verstappen 366
Oh my goodness – Antonelli stayed more than five seconds ahead of Leclerc! With the five-second penalty, he drops behind Piastri but still holds P5!
Max Verstappen wins the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Can Norris hang on for second? Yes.
Lap 50/50: Russell, meanwhile, is gaining on Norris. But it’s still five seconds with one lap left. And Antonelli is within two seconds of Russell.
Can we add a few laps here?
Lap 49/50: Antonelli is now less than three seconds behind Russell. He stopped for tires after three laps. This doesn’t make sense.
Lap 48/50: That said, Antonelli is now closing in on Russell. Surely Mercedes will tell him to slow down.
Catherine Zeta-Jones has the checkered flag in hand.
Lap 47/50: Commentators point out that Antonelli’s obstinance on the track has kept Piastri from making a run at his Mercedes teammate Russell, who is losing time all the way through here.
Lap 46/50: Is Ocon gaining on Hamilton for 10th?
Everything else is static … oh, wait, Tsunoda passed Gasly!
Lap 45/50: Oooooh … Tsunoda is going after Gasly for 14th! That’s the closest battle on the track. Piastri hasn’t been close to Antonelli since his overtake attempt.
Lap 44/50: Norris team to Norris on the radio: “Just do more.” Oh, is that all?
Lap 43/50: As you were.
Standings and prospects:
1. Verstappen will win, barring catastrophe
2. Norris will stay here, barring catastrophe
3. Russell will take third, same disclaimer
4. Piastri needs to hold off Leclerc
5. Leclerc needs to finish within five seconds of Antonelli
6. Antonelli, with that penalty, might not finish ahead of
7. Sainz, who’s way ahead of
8. Hadjar, who’s even farther ahead of
9. Hulkenberg, who’s comfortably ahead of
10. Hamilton
Ocon won’t challenge. Bearman is holding off Alonso for 12th.
Updated
Lap 40/50: So your top three are just about set in stone – Verstappen, Norris and Russell.
Worth noting – Antonelli still has to serve a five-second penalty or have it added to his time. So in a virtual sense, he’s not really ahead of Piastri. But in the physical sense, he is, and his defense has allowed Leclerc to come very close to Piastri!
Lap 39/50: Piastri charges at Antonelli but can’t get past. Antonelli, who has been on these tires for something like 37 laps, is proving to be quite the pain for the title contender.
Lap 38/50: Antonelli is clinging to fourth ahead of Piastri, who isn’t that far ahead Leclerc.
Lap 37/50: Alex Albon retires from the race.
Norris is not catching up to Verstappen, who just posted the fastest lap.
Lap 35/50: Antonelli is still out there in fourth on old tires.
Verstappen radio warns the leader that Lando has been told to come get him.
And there he goes … Norris is past Russell and into second. He’s five seconds behind Verstappen but cutting into the lead on each sector.
Lap 34/50: McLaren radio encourages Norris to overtake Russell and “go get Max.” Sure. Sounds easy.
Lap 33/50: Russell has a panicky voice on the radio, saying he knows Norris will be quick and he doesn’t want to risk the podium by doing anything stupid in defense.
Lap 32/50: If you’re interested in nostalgia, enjoy the battle for 10th between Hamilton and Alonso.
Never mind – Bearman interrupts his elders and passes Alonso.
Updated
Lap 31/50: The fastest lap icon is a hot potato, and now Leclerc has it.
Hulkenberg pits, and Piastri happily moves into fifth – as he posts the fastest lap.
Lap 30/50: Norris posts the fastest lap! Can he at least get past Russell?
Hamilton finally pits. He comes out 10th, but there are still a couple of cars ahead who should pit.
Beyonce and Jay-Z are hanging with the Ferrari crew.
Updated
Lap 29/50: McLaren’s Zak Brown sounds defeated as he says Norris may have the same pace as Verstappen but isn’t quicker, which means there’s no chance of catching him.
Antonelli changed tires very early, and the commentators ask Brown if he thinks Antonelli can go the whole way without pitting again. possibly finishing ahead of Piastri. Brown says he’d be surprised.
Lap 28/50: Now Verstappen posts the fastest lap, which bids ill for Russell or Norris ever getting ahead of him.
Updated
Lap 27/50: Piastri posts the fastest lap. He surely can’t wait for the gaggle of cars in front of him to pit and let him get into the top four?
Verstappen’s pit time is 3.0, a hair slower than a lot of teams. He makes it out ahead of Russell, but Russell just posted the fastest lap.
The people in places 4-7 have not pitted: Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Antonelli, Ocon.
Lap 26/50: Verstappen goes to pit road. Will he come out ahead of Russell and Norris?
Lap 25/50: Leclerc pits. He’ll come out well behind Russell and Norris. The McLaren radio buzzes as they tell Norris they want to have better tires than Russell at the end of the race.
Lap 24/50: Verstappen leads by more than 20 seconds, but that’ll change when he pits, possibly putting Russell and Norris right on his tail or even ahead.
Lap 23/50: Norris pits, as does Sainz. Norris returns to the track in fourth.
Piastri zips past Sainz like Usain Bolt passing a traffic cone.
Updated
Lap 22/50: Piastri pits and will drop to 10th, but he’ll easily pick off a few cars after when they come in for tires themselves.
Updated
Lap 21/50: Hamilton is up to ninth.
Leclerc is about to break Sainz’s grip on the podium.
Lap 20/50: Hamilton has his eyes on ninth.
Albon gets a five-second penalty for his run-in with Hamilton. He’s already last among the 18 cars still running.
Lap 19/50: Antonelli is surprised to learn of his penalty. His team says they’re investigating.
Norris is enjoying the clean air in Russell’s absence. He posts the fastest lap of the race and gains a bit on Verstappen.
Lap 18/50: Russell pits. Then Bearman.
Top 10
1. Verstappen
2. Russell
3. Norris
4. Sainz
5. Leclerz
6. Piastri
7. Hadjuk
8. Bearman
9. Hulkenberg
10. Ocon
Hamilton is lurking in 11th.
Lap 17/50: Piastri’s car spits out sparks as he passes Hadjar, who fights to regain the space but can’t do it.
How long will Sainz stay in front of Leclerc and Piastri?
Updated
Lap 16/50: NOW we have the Virtual Safety Car to pick up some pieces of car.
We have debris on the track again, and it looks like it involved Albon.
Virtual Safety Car time? Pit lane is humming.
Antonelli does indeed get a five-second penalty.
Lap 14/50: Leclerc lunges past Hadjar for fifth. Can Piastri get back?
Alex Albon has pitted.
Russell is on the radio saying, “Steering, steering.”
Lap 13/50: Norris posts the fastest lap. Any chance he could reel in Russell?
Lap 12/50: Hadjar is on the radio telling his team he wants to be aggressive. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri is on his rear bumper. But Leclerc comes up and passes Piastri!
Updated
Lap 11/50: Finally, something on the radio. Leclerc says he’s pushing like an animal. That doesn’t narrow it down.
Lap 10/50: Verstappen posts the fastest lap as he cruises to an inevitable victory. Yes, there are 40 laps left. But when he and his car are on form like this, forget it. Russell is losing contact.
Oh my – Albon is facing an investigation from the start. Did anyone behind the top three not bump into someone or start too early?
Oops – maybe I spoke too soon. Kimi Antonelli is being investigated for a false start.
Lap 9/50: No penalties so far for the start shenanigans.
The top nine are all on medium tires. The bottom seven are on hard tires.
Top 10
1. Verstappen
2. Russell
3. Norris
4. Sainz
5. Hadjar (??!!)
6. Piastri
7. Leclerc
8. Bearman
9. Alonso
10. Hulkenberg
Hamilton has moved up to 12th.
Updated
Lap 7/50: Russell is chasing Verstappen like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner, but he’s not getting close enough to pass.
Norris is more than two seconds behind them, so something’s wrong beyond a possible error at the start.
Lap 6/50: Alex Albon’s radio isn’t working.
Leclerc passes Bearman for seventh.
Up front, will this be interesting? Actually, yes. Russell has just posted the fastest lap and has Verstappen in his sights.
Updated
Lap 5/50: Bortoleto and Lawson have both visited the pits to fix things up, and Bortoleto isn’t coming back out. That’s two cars out.
Some race marshals were, at one point, out on the track with incoming cars. That’s something they’d prefer to avoid.
Lap 4/50: Stewards are looking at a Piastri-Lawson incident at the start, but it looks like Lawson was at fault and has very much paid the price.
Virtual Safety Car is out. There are pieces of car on the track.
Replay shows Bortoleto at the start charging past several cars but then running into Stroll, who appears to be out of the race.
Lap 2/50: Bearman and Hamilton each gained six places. Piastri, like his teammate Norris, lost two, but he immediately takes one back from Lawson, whose car is definitely dinged up.
Lap 1/50: What on earth happened to Norris? Verstappen and Russell flew past him.
There’s a yellow flag, maybe for damage to Lawson.
Lights out
And Norris runs wide in Turn 1, opening the door for Verstappen to sail into the lead!
The formation lap is winding up … here we go …
The Sphere is bringing out the animations for this one, breaking into a cartoon face that looks like it’s following the drivers. Freaky.
Lewis Hamilton will not start 20th. Red Bull changed out the power unit on Yuki Tsunoda’s car, so he’ll start from pit lane.
Neat! Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall, the US Olympic/Paralympic couple. Tara is a Red Bull fan and supporting Verstappen.
Now it’s Damron Idris, one of the stars of the recent F1 film and frequent grid-walker. He’s working on a bio of Miles Davis. Is he possibly the coolest person on the planet right now?
Updated
Kravitz, after talking with Crews, extols the virtues of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Great show indeed. One of the last great US TV comedies.
OK, they get Terry. “Vegas was made for F1 and vice versa.”
He’s going to drive a Lego Cadillac at the end to take people to the podium. Sweet.
Terry Crews is there talking with … an ESPN reporter? Should I be watching the other ESPN stream instead of the one they pick up from Sky?
Updated
Ted Kravitz and Jenson Button are doing the walk in place of Brundle, and it looks like they’re trying to interview the asphalt.
Are we not getting a Martin Brundle grid walk for this race? This seems like the perfect scene for it. Surely some characters by the cars.
Checking the news – yes, apparently this is one of the races that Brundle skips. Odd.
Soccer’s done. Time to watch some cars go fast under the bright lights of Vegas.
Updated
I’m pulling double-duty tonight. Please check out the five minutes of stoppage time in the NWSL final:
Updated
Weather report
After yesterday’s soggy qualifying, Accuweather informs us that “a shower cannot be ruled out during the race.” Great.
Preamble
After such a long slog with plenty of breaks tossed into the mix, the F1 season wraps in rapid fashion:
Tonight: Las Vegas
Next week: Qatar
The week after: Abu Dhabi
And that’s it.
We have a legit three-way contest in the season standings, but if Lando Norris can win from the pole tonight, that may all but eliminate four-time defending champ Max Verstappen.
Tonight’s lineup and where they stand on the season is …
1. Lando Norris, McLaren (1st, 390)
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull (3rd, 341)
3. Carlos Sainz, Williams
4. George Russell, Mercedes (4th, 276)
5. Oscar Piastri, McLaren (2nd, 366)
6. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
7. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
8. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
9. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
11. Nico Hulkenberg, Kick Sauber
12. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
13. Esteban Ocon, Haas
14. Oliver Bearman, Haas
15. Franco Colapinto, Alpine
16. Alex Albon, Williams
17. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
18. Gabriel Bortoleto, Kick Sauber
19. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull
20. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Updated
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Cadillac is preparing for life in F1:
Twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Building the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight.
At the final race of the season to be staged in the United Statess, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
You can read the full article below:
