In the old days, when different people ran F1, fans would be inclined to look at the dramatic double disqualification of the McLaren drivers from the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a knowing wink. Nothing like tightening up the field with two rounds to go to set up a thrilling climax to the season for fans and broadcasters.
But these are different times and, in any case, whether a skid block is worn is a bit like being pregnant; it either is or it isn’t. It’s a matter of measurement. And it’s a gift from McLaren to the series organisers and to Red Bull.
It sets up a psychologically tense final two weeks, with two grands prix and a sprint race to decide the title. Lando Norris leads Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri by 24 points. There is a maximum of 58 points available. Verstappen is a known quantity, but the intense pressure of the next two weekends will reveal the true characters of Norris, Piastri and the McLaren management. Norris is still in the driving seat but the margin for error now is wafer thin.
Verstappen the worthy winner
He may not win the world championship in the end, but this season surely has to be considered Max Verstappen’s best in F1.
Ross Brawn used to say Michael Schumacher had the ability to “win the races he should win, but also the ones he shouldn’t,” calling that “the mark of a truly great driver.” You can certainly apply that to Verstappen this season. Sometimes, like in Vegas, the Red Bull car has been more capable of chasing race wins than earlier in the season, but it’s still not the fastest car. Yet Verstappen is always there, always dangerous and ready to take any opportunity for a win that presents itself. And in Vegas, where he scored his sixth win of the season, he was handed a golden opportunity by the polesitter, Norris.
Verstappen took the lead at the start, but on this occasion, it was not because Norris was being too cautious, rather the opposite. When the lights went out Norris channelled his inner Schumacher and went super aggressive; slicing across the track to chop the Dutchman towards the pitwall as he charged up the inside. Norris lost out spectacularly, overshooting the first corner and losing second place to George Russell. “I was too punchy,” said Norris after the race. Meanwhile his championship rival and team-mate Piastri also suffered a setback at the start, making contact with Liam Lawson and dropping from fifth to seventh. The Australian recovered to finish fourth (pre-disqualification), but more damage was done to his dwindling title hopes.
Norris still bedding in new mental process
The psychology of Norris was fascinating here. On paper his main objectives today were to keep out of trouble and stay ahead of Piastri. He didn’t need to win the race. But buoyed up with confidence after two dominant wins from pole, he went for it off the line. Like everyone in the circuit and watching around the world, he expected Verstappen would be super aggressive at the start. Rather surprisingly, given Norris’ track record in these situations, he decided to not give Max a chance to unleash that aggression. He wanted to stifle him before they’d even got out of second gear.
It reflects the new approach that Norris has adopted since the summer break. He’s had a mental reset; more determined, more resilient and far more-clear sighted in what he’s trying to do. That he exaggerated it here, leading to a mistake and the loss of a race win, indicates that it’s still not fully bedded in as a process. But he got away with it and on balance you’d have to say that it’s working well for him. How this mental process reacts to the subsequent disqualification – something that was through no fault of his own but has damaged his points advantage – will only be seen in Qatar next weekend.
Verstappen had the grand prix under control from the exit of the first corner onwards. The closest he came to any kind of challenge was at his pitstop, which was slow by Red Bull standards and brought him out a little closer to Russell than he would have wanted. But he was able to fend him off and, in any case, Russell was nursing a steering issue from early in the race that perhaps masked the true pace of the Mercedes. Russell also overcooked his tyres early in the second stint so couldn’t mount a challenge in the latter part of the race. His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli showed what might have been with extremely strong pace on worn tyres.
Antonelli catches the eye again
It’s been a patchy year for Antonelli, especially after the hype around him going into the season. But recently he has really caught the eye. He performed superbly in Brazil, a breakthrough drive to finish in second place. Here he went from 17th on the grid to fifth at the flag (and then third after the McLaren disqualifications) – and it could have been more if he hadn’t been penalised for jumping the start. We saw flashes of some great racecraft, particularly when he was defending from Piastri in the final third of the race. At this point the Italian knew he had a five-second penalty. He wasn’t going to be able to hold onto the position in the final result that he was so staunchly defending. He wasn’t doing it for himself, so much as for the team; keeping Piastri and Leclerc behind him as Russell was struggling ahead. He also showed extremely good tyre management for a rookie; taking a set of 48 lap-old hard tyres to the finish while maintaining great pace and fending off a McLaren with tyres 19 laps fresher.
Most surprisingly, given that Ferrari knew about the penalty, after five seconds were added to his finishing time, he beat Charles Leclerc by 0.1s. It was odd that Ferrari were not able to manage Leclerc to within five seconds by the chequered flag.
But once again this was not Ferrari’s weekend, despite showing some impressive pace in the dry conditions of practice and race day. They remain winless and Lewis Hamilton podium-less.
The F1 world championship rolls on to the final two rounds in the Middle East. It’s been a long season, but in less than a fortnight we will know the identity of the 2025 world champion.
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