F1 - Las Vegas GP

Race 22 of the 2025 F1 season took place under the beautiful lights of the Vegas strip. Who took a gamble that paid off in Sin City?

Performances

McLaren - pretty decent performance from Lando Norris, after a good pole lap in very tricky conditions during qualifying. He didn't manage to get the win due to making a mistake at the start, but still drove a controlled race to extend his overall championship lead, which is all he needs to be doing at this point. Oscar Piastri was closer this weekend, qualifying 5th and finishing 4th, but once again lost out on points to his championship rivals. But wait. Ignore everything I just said. Both cars got DISQUALIFIED after the race for excessive plank wear!!!!!! Oh my goodness. This is literally Ferrari levels of incompetence at this point! There is literally no point is taking that kind of risk when you have almost sealed the championship! Very very very stupid from the team. Now Max is still in contention and is level on points with Oscar and only 24 behind Lando now. Massive fumble that puts unecessary pressure on them for literally no reason. (Although lowkey it was good for Oscar because he's actually closer to Lando than without the DSQ...). Also this is the first time McLaren have ever got a double DSQ, and this season is the first since 1989 with more than 5 DSQ's.

Mercedes - what a drive from Kimi Antonelli!!! This was spectacular even before the post race drama. Starting 17th on the softs looked like an error, but he made the hard tyres last an obscene amount of laps, and was even catching his teammate by the end while keeping a faster McLaren behind to finish 5th. And because of the DSQ's it has turned into a podium in 3rd, which tbh is very deserved. George had a good race too, but just couldn't keep up with the leading two. Mercedes is looking very good for P2 in the WCC now.

Red Bull - great drive from Max today, good job to outmuscle Lando at the start and control the race in his usual fashion to win. Only 24 points behind now due to the DSQ's, and all it could take is one crash or engine failure and he'll be leading. It's been a stunning year overall for him. Once again Yuki had no pace really. Max has really needed someone up there with him to take points off the McLarens, I wonder how much closer he would have been this year if he had a competent number two in the car next to him?

Ferrari - the car looked really bad in the wet conditions for qualifying, but Charles had a pretty decent race to come P4 after all the post-race stuff occured. Still a bit disappointing though. And don't even get me started on Lewis. Qualifying last is completely unacceptable, no matter what excuse we can try to come up with. It's just not good enough, despite the recovery to the points and it needs to be fixed for 2026 please! I've just accepted that there will be no podium this season tbh. What an embarassing and dismal year to be a Lewis Hamilton fan :(

Williams - Carlos had a really good weekend, qualifying 3rd and probably maximising the race result to finish 5th. He's come alive in the second half of the year after getting used to the Williams. Albon with another very bad weekend. He hasn't scored points since Monza and he just had no pace compared to Sainz.

Racing Bulls - another very solid weekend for Hadjar, qualifying 8th and finishing 6th. Picking up those constant points for the team to solidify their P6 in the WCC, and he's P9 in the WDC as well. Having a very good rookie season. Lawson had a good quali in 6th but ruined his race with contact with Piastri at the start, and honestly was quite lucky to avoid getting a penalty for that imo. 

Sauber - nice race for Hulkenberg again, a decent qualifying in 11th and finishing 7th in the points for Sauber. He's another driver that has stepped up his game in the last few races. Bortoleto had a a pretty bad weekend, slow in qualifying and then conducted a terrible divebomb into turn 1 on the first lap which ruined his race.

Haas - solid weekend. Ocon was finally on the pace, outqualifying Bearman and finishing 9th. Bearman came home in 10th for a double points finish. Also after fact checking it appears that Bearman might be the first Haas driver to ever score 5 points finishes in a row??? Either way it's been a great last few races for him, and a good weekend for the team to move into P7 in the WCC.

Aston Martin - the car looked quick in wet conditions but the pace just evaporated in the dry. They've been overtaken by Haas in the WCC and are now 8th. It's honestly pretty bad for the money and facilities they have. It looks like they're going to change team principal and the rumor is that Christian Horner might be coming back??? Either way they better hope that Adrian Newey and Honda save this team in the 2026 regs because otherwise it's a serious failure.

Alpine - you can basically copy paste from any weekend. No pace. Rinse and repeat.

Race rating - 5/10 - it's telling when the off-track part of the weekend was more entertaining than the actual race! Not a great one.

Driver of the race - Verstappen was a strong contender, but I have to give it to Kimi Antonelli. P17 to the podium on a crazy strategy was sensational. He joins very good company in terms of rookie season podiums as well. Great drive!

Next weekend - the Qatar GP at the Lusail International Circuit. Built in 2004 for MotoGP racing, it has hosted a F1 world championship event since 2021, with a break in 2022 because of the football world cup. The main challenge of the circuit is the heat and humidity, which can severely damage or even ruin tyres and can cause drivers to dehydrate, vomit and even feel faint in the car! A limit of 25 laps on each tyre has been mandated because of the extreme energy and thermal stress of the circuit and conditions!

Also no reason really at all but here's some Nigel Mansell love, what an absolute legend of a driver!