F1 drama in Las Vegas: Piastri stutters again, Norris surges ahead, but McLaren braces for possible disqualification

OSCAR Piastri’s championship hopes took another hit in Las Vegas, where the Australian finished fourth as McLaren teammate Lando Norris extended his lead at the top of the standings. With only two grands prix and a sprint remaining – a maximum of 58 points – Piastri acknowledged the scale of the challenge ahead.

Norris’s second-place finish in Las Vegas pushed his advantage to 30 points. It continued a run of seven consecutive races in which he has finished ahead of Piastri, placing the Briton firmly on course for the title in Qatar next weekend. 

The contrast to late August was stark: when Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix, he held a 34-point lead over Norris, but has since endured a 64-point swing and has not stood on the podium in the last six races.

Asked in a television interview whether he believed he could cut Norris’s lead in Doha, Piastri said, "Obviously, I need more than that now. It would be nice to get some good results on the board to finish the year. The championship picture is what it is. We'll see what I can do."

The race itself was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose performance tightened the standings behind the McLaren pair. Verstappen now sits only 12 points behind Piastri with two rounds to go.

Technical Uncertainty for McLaren

Post-race, both McLaren drivers found themselves facing an alarming, separate and unexpected issue. The skid blocks on their cars were measured at less than the minimum permitted depth, prompting officials to refer the matter to the stewards. Such infringements would normally lead to disqualification.

If Norris and Piastri were removed from the results, Norris would carry a reduced lead of 24 points over Verstappen and Piastri into Qatar, reshaping the fight behind him. For now, McLaren offered no clarity. Team principal Andrea Stella’s scheduled news conference was delayed, and no team representative was available to address media questions.

The season’s run-in offers little breathing room. Qatar hosts a sprint weekend before the campaign concludes in Abu Dhabi on December 7, leaving limited opportunity for drivers to alter the shape of the standings.

Hamilton’s Struggles Deepen

Further down the championship order, Lewis Hamilton’s difficult year continued with a challenging weekend in Las Vegas. The seven-time world champion qualified last – the first time in his 19-year Formula 1 career that this had happened on pure pace.

Driving for Ferrari, Hamilton recovered well early in the race and climbed into the points, but he remained stuck behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg in the closing laps while running the medium tyre. He crossed the line in 10th place.

"It's a terrible result. There is nothing positive to take from today," Hamilton said. "I'm eager for it to end. I'm looking forward to it ending. I'm not looking forward to the next one."

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur suggested Hamilton’s remarks were made in the heat of the moment. "Let's calm down. To jump out of the car and to make the first comment, it's always a bit too much, and let's discuss after the debrief," Vasseur said.

"Obviously, it's been tough for Lewis the last couple of weekends, and he said it's been hard. I can understand the reaction from Lewis just after the race, but we just have to calm down to discuss and to be focused on the next two [races], because the next two we will be back.”

Hamilton remains sixth in the standings, 73 points behind teammate Charles Leclerc. He has yet to finish on the race podium for Ferrari, though he won the sprint in China in March.

Should he fail to reach the top three in the final two races of 2025, it would mark his first Formula 1 season without a podium finish.