Las Vegas Grand Prix

The race happened after the race

The actual 50 laps of racing were largely uneventful. Verstappen took the lead at turn 1 when Norris overcooked it, and that was basically the race decided. He won by 20 seconds. The only real drama came hours later when both McLarens were disqualified for excessive skid block wear. That single decision wiped out 18 points of Norris's lead and turned the final two races into a genuine three-way title fight. The most consequential post-race scrutineering in years.

A soulless track for a soulless race

Verstappen ran away with it after the first corner and nobody could touch him. The McLaren disqualification made it interesting after the fact but that doesn't change what we actually watched. Hamilton qualifying dead last on pure pace tells you everything about Ferrari's season. The TV direction was poor again, missing the first-corner crash for three laps. This circuit has no business being on the calendar. Third year running of forgettable racing on the Strip.

McLaren's technical catastrophe

From an engineering perspective, the double DQ was stunning. The skid block wear violation suggests McLaren were running the car too low to extract maximum downforce. The risk-reward calculation failed spectacularly. They entered the weekend with a comfortable margin and left with nothing, the gap to Verstappen halved to 24 points. Andrea Stella's team had been running near-perfect reliability all season and this was the worst possible moment for a technical infringement. Verstappen drove a clean, controlled race from the front. Nothing flashy, just ruthlessly efficient.

Never again

Set an alarm for 3 AM for this. Verstappen led every lap. Norris was invisible. I want my sleep back.

Max is inevitable

Verstappen did what Verstappen does. The McLaren pit call was horrific but even without it, Max had the pace all weekend. And then the hammer dropped – both McLarens disqualified for skid block wear. The gap is now 24 points with two races to go. Verstappen level with Piastri. This title fight is far from over.