Lando Norris lost the lead of Saturday’s Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix on an aggressive move to block Max Verstappen driving into Turn 1 on the first lap of the race.

Norris never recovered and came to the checkered flag second, nearly 20 seconds behind Verstappen, who dominated and led all 50 laps to win the F1 race on the Strip.

It turns out it wouldn’t have mattered if Norris had pulled off the risky move.

Norris’ McLaren car was disqualified by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, because the thickness of the rearmost skid of his car was less than the required thickness. Oscar Piastri, McLaren’s other driver who finished fourth, also had his car disqualified for the same issue.

A report from the FIA said “the thickness of the plank assembly was below the permitted minimum thickness” for Norris, who was credited with a 19th-place finish, and Piastri, who finished 20th.

The FIA said in a statement on X at 11:36 p.m., nearly two hours after the race finished, that Norris’ and Piastri’s cars were being reported to race stewards for further inspection for a potential violation. Then, more than two hours later at 1:45 a.m., the FIA confirmed its findings and announced both McLaren cars were disqualified.

Title race tightens

The McLaren disqualifications and Verstappen’s win drastically changed the drivers championship standings. Norris still leads with 390 points, but Verstappen is now tied with Piastri for second with 366 with two races remaining.

Verstappen is still alive to win a fifth straight drivers title after his win. George Russell, who originally finished third, moved to second, and his Mercedes teammate, Kimi Antonelli, moved to third.

There is a maximum of 60 points left in the final two races — 25 points for a race win, eight points for the winner of the Sprint race in Qatar on Saturday and a bonus point for running the fastest lap of the race.

Verstappen and Norris had already spoken to the media in a postrace news conference before the McLaren penalties were handed down.

Before the penalties, Verstappen was third, 42 points behind Norris. Verstappen was already reserved in the fact that the championship was out of reach. But now, on a streak of eight straight podiums, the 28-year-old Dutch driver can still make a run at the title.

“It seemed like we had a bit more under control, and I could push a little bit more,” Verstappen said of his race. “That unlocked a bit more pace, and I could stay out longer (on the tires) and split the race in half (with pit stops). That helped a lot, and the car was working pretty well much more to my liking.”

It’s a DRAMATIC first corner in Las Vegas 😱

Here’s how the race start unfolded! 👀⬇️#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/MbO09PnqwI

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 23, 2025

‘We learned a lot’

It was the 69th career victory for Verstappen, who won the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, and his 125th podium finish. He has finished on the podium in the past eight races and has six wins and 13 podiums in 2025.

“I’m very proud of everyone,” Verstappen said. “We’ve had a really up and down season, and tough times, but also really beautiful moments, and we learned a lot throughout the whole season. That’s also valuable for the upcoming years.”

It wasn’t the best start to 2025 for Verstappen, who won twice and had five podiums in the first 14 races. He then hit his streak at the end of the summer, beginning at his home track in the Dutch Grand Prix on Aug. 31 with a second-place finish.

Red Bull made a change midseason, releasing longtime team principal Christian Horner — who led Red Bull to six constructors championships and eight drivers titles — on July 9 and replacing him with Laurent Mekies.

“That’s something we can cling on to and just try to improve even more to come back stronger for next year to put up a fight from the start of the year in the championship,” Verstappen said. “We’re enjoying it now, and then we’ll see next week what we could do again.”

‘There were some issues’

Before the penalties, Norris, the pole winner, made an aggressive block on Verstappen on the standing start to the race, going into Turn 1. Norris missed the corner, went wide and lost the lead to Verstappen.

Norris, after his first turn incident, fell to third behind Russell. Norris passed Russell on Lap 34, driving down Las Vegas Boulevard heading into Turn 14. Norris was less than 5 seconds behind Verstappen with under 15 laps to go, but his car couldn’t keep up with Verstappen’s pace.

“There were some issues with the car the team was telling me on the radio, so just had to back off,” Norris said of why he slowed down about three hours before his car was disqualified.

Verstappen ran the fastest lap of the race (1 minute, 33.365 seconds) on the final lap.

Russell’s strong run, paired with teammate Antonelli’s finish in fifth after starting 17th, helped Mercedes (431 points) hold a 40-point advantage over Red Bull for second place in the constructors championship. McLaren (756 points) clinched the constructors championship Oct. 5.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.