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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?
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!
The crowd gets their phones out as the cars speed by. Photograph: Jordan McKean/Formula 1/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.34 EST
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.
Max Verstappen of Oracle Red Bull Racing leads the race. Photograph: Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 23.31 EST
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.
Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in action in Las Vegas. Photograph: Joao Filipe/DPPI/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 23.23 EST
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.
ShareLights 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?
British actor Damson Idris on the grid tour before the race. Photograph: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 22.49 EST
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?
Terry Crews on the grid. Photograph: Bryn Lennon/Formula 1/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 22.59 EST
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.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy and Mercedes before the race. Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 22.57 EST
I’m pulling double-duty tonight. Please check out the five minutes of stoppage time in the NWSL final:
Updated at 22.12 EST
Weather report
After yesterday’s soggy qualifying, Accuweather informs us that “a shower cannot be ruled out during the race.” Great.
SharePreamble
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
Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren arrives on the grid prior to the Las Vegas GP. Photograph: James Sutton/Formula 1/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 22.53 EST
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: