I came into the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix expecting the race to be the deciding factor in the Driver’s Championship. Current championship leader Lando Norris held a major lead over both his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen, and there was a very real chance the victory would be his by next week as long as he could keep the two at bay. This did not happen. Instead, in what I can only attribute to an incredible change of luck (that could only happen in Vegas, of course), the Driver’s Championship is still a three-way sprint to the finish. To better understand the results of the 22nd F1 Grand Prix of 2025, let’s take a look at each team’s showing, starting with the Constructor’s Champions.

McLaren Formula 1 Team

Everything was looking up for McLaren heading into Vegas. Lando Norris had a healthy lead in the championship and Oscar Piastri was comfortably sitting in second place. The team already clinched the team championship back in Singapore, so all they needed to do was keep their form up and they would be sitting pretty for the weekend. Of course, the way I’m writing this insinuates something happened to change this.

The race wasn’t the team’s ideal outcome, with Norris losing first position heading into turn one. Verstappen was hot on his heels and he misjudged his defense against the Dutchman, causing him to turn wide into the first turn and fall into third, before getting back up into second where he finished. His teammate struggled even more with a P5 start that he fought tirelessly to defend. Piastri was still able to finish fourth because of a penalty on Kimi Antonelli, but wasn’t what he was looking for to keep his runner-up position in the Driver’s Championship.

Then post-race inspections flipped the race on its head. Race stewards found that the plank wear on the bottom of the McLaren’s was below regulations (meaning the cars were too low to the ground) which called for a disqualification of both vehicles, no if’s, and’s, or but’s. While the FiA understood the issue was almost certainly unintentional, the only course of action was to eliminate the drivers from the race. 30 points for Team Papaya, now gone. While Norris still leads by 24 points, Piastri and Verstappen are both sitting at 266 points going into the Qatar Grand Prix, the second race of the season’s triple-header finale.

Race outcome for McLaren Formula 1 Team: 0/10

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team

The fight for second in the Constructor’s Championship is still a very important battle. The prize pool for the teams is estimated at $1 billion for the 2025 season, which means there is a significant amount of money to gain with a second-place finish. Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull are all able to collect this spot, but Mercedes is the clear favorite. A double DNF for the Ferrari team at Interlagos hurt their chances significantly, and Mercedes extended their lead with two podium finishes (after Norris and Piastri’s disqualifications). Red Bull sits in third, but with only one real point-scoring car, they need a miracle to take runner-up. Thus, Mercedes finds themselves in an excellent position for the end of the season—not to mention two stellar drivers.

Russell has proven himself as worthy of leading the team after Hamilton’s exit, with nine podium finishes post-Vegas and only one non-pointscoring finish in 2025. Vegas was a tricky race for the Brit, who started fourth on the grid. He found himself ahead of Piastri, who needed as many points as he could get, and behind Sainz, eager to convert his flying qualifying session into a race podium. The race started well with an early gain into second, though around Lap 5 he began experiencing steering issues that started in Qualifying the day prior. Twenty laps later he made a risky move as Verstappen pitted, attempting to get ahead of Dutchman and potentially grab a second P1 finish in Vegas. His front-right tire disagreed with the plan and started graining, which continued the rest of the race. A P3 (now P2) finish on bad tires is yet another impressive showing for Mercedes.

Antonelli didn’t find the race much easier than his teammate. Starting back in 16th, he would need to cover a lot of ground to make it into the points (though it might’ve helped that Hamilton in the Ferrari shared his experience). He was the only driver to start on soft tires, a bold move that I’m not quite sure would’ve worked any other time. After two laps on the softs he pitted into hard tires under a Virtual Safety Car and gained solid ground. The FiA had other plans, finding he had a false start and must serve a five-second time penalty. While these are often served while pitting, Mercedes kept him out and his car (on 48-lap-old tires) finished fourth overall. He fell to fifth due to the penalty before eventually finding himself in third behind Verstappen and Russell.

Race outcome for Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team: 9/10

Oracle Red Bull Racing

This section is about Red Bull, which does not mean it is only about Max Verstappen (but in true Red Bull fashion it basically is). Verstappen headed into this weekend in an incredibly tight spot. The four-time World Champion’s form post-summer break is inspiring to say the least. However Norris’ consistent form the past few races was enough to put him ahead of his teammate and maintain a lead over Verstappen. As long as Norris scored nine points over his rival in Vegas, Piastri would be the only other driver in contention. But, that did not happen. Instead Verstappen helmed the race by a healthy lead (so much so that he pitted halfway through and kept his position) and converted that to a P1 finish with little resistance.

Things went considerably worse for the second Red Bull. Yuki Tsunoda was off to an incredible start in the first practice session, holding the third fastest time and outpacing his teammate. By FP3 his form slowed down, translating to a finish in 18th which slipped even further in Qualifying to a P19 start for race day. After finishing 14th in the race he moved up to 12th in light of the double McLaren DNF. While it wasn’t the weekend Tsunoda wanted (or needed), there is a silver lining: he still finished ahead of Liam Lawson in the Racing Bull, one of the contenders for the second Red Bull seat next year. It seems increasingly likely that spot is going to Lawson’s counterpart in Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar, but Tsunoda will take any chance he can get to prove himself worthy of at least a spot in the junior team.

Race outcome for Oracle Red Bull Racing: 7/10

Scuderia Ferrari HP

For Ferrari, it would’ve been harder to get a worse result than at Interlagos. So thankfully they only put up a mediocre showing. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have relentlessly bemoaned the issues of the SF-25 (much to John Elkann’s chagrin), which showed yet again at Vegas. Leclerc found himself at a good pace throughout the weekend which converted to a fourth-place finish, but his teammate didn’t have it so easy.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have found common ground in Vegas. Both he and Antonelli started in the back of the pack after a messy qualifying session, where he (much like Russell) found many issues with his tires not working like they should. However he didn’t see the same success as Antonelli as his car crossed the finish line in P10, barely making it into the points before moving into P8. If Ferrari can find more points in Qatar and Abu Dhabi then third place in the championship is a real possibility, but more importantly they need to have a car in 2026 that works for their drivers.

Race outcome for Scuderia Ferrari HP: 4/10

Atlassian Williams Racing

Williams, up from a ninth-place finish in 2024, is seeing much more midfield play and even a few glimpses of the front of the pack. The Vegas Grand Prix is a perfect example of their duality as a team with potential to start fighting the major players as well as a team who is still combating serious issues that hold them back. Carlos Sainz had incredible form in the rainy Qualifying Session, placing third overall. If he could fend off Russell, Piastri, and the rest behind him, he could pick up a podium finish for the team. Meanwhile, Alex Albon needed to fight his way up from P16.

Albon was penalized for a scuffle between him and Hamilton, and without the pace to get ahead of anyone else, his car was retired for the race. Sainz also faced troubles with both Mercedes, Piastri, and Leclerc passing him by, though was able to convert his P3 start into a P5 finish earning his team 10 points for the weekend. While Albon retiring was a disappointment for the team, the race still provided a lot of value for Williams.

Race outcome for Atlassian Williams Racing: 6/10

VCARB, MoneyGram Haas, and Aston Martin Aramco

Vegas was very important for every team, but Racing Bulls needed to see results. With the second Red Bull seat wide open and the possible introduction of rookie Arvid Lindblad to the junior team. Hadjar looks like the favorite for the Red Bull, but he, Lawson, or Tsunoda could either be promoted or dropped entirely. Both Racing Bulls found success in Qualifying, but the race played out much differently for the two. Lawson dropped from sixth to 14th, being the second-to-last car to finish the race ahead of Franco Colapinto. Hadjar improved from eighth to sixth overall, solidifying him as a good choice for the Red Bull.

Race outcome for Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Formula One Team: 5/10

Haas had high expectations coming into this weekend with solid showings from Esteban Ocon the past few races and incredible results by rookie Oliver Bearman. Unfortunately Bearman struggled in Vegas, and qualified 14th behind Ocon in 13th. The race was rather peaceful for the Haas drivers, who both placed in the points with Bearman in P9 and his teammate in P10. While the team may have hoped for more, the team is surely still happy to get anything—and more than Aston Martin.

Race outcome for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team: 6/10

Aston Martin, unlike Haas, wasn’t expecting anything exceptional from Lance Stroll or Fernando Alonso until the rain started coming down. Both drivers were thriving on the wet tires in Q1 of Qualifying, which led them into Q2 where the track started drying up. Stroll was still able to place P12, but Alonso continued his form into Q3 for a P7 start. Unfortunately for them, the rain shored up by race day, and their qualifying results didn’t translate to race results. Stroll and Bortoleto accidentally crashed leading to both of them ending the race after just one lap, and Alonso fell just out of the points with a race finish of 13th. After Vegas they are now trailing Haas by one point, and the next two races will be a fierce fight between seventh and ninth place.

Race outcome for Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team: 2/10

Kick Sauber and Alpine

Much like Williams, Kick Sauber found two very different results in their drivers. Gabriel Bortoleto’s crash with Stroll took him out of his second Grand Prix in a row and became his fifth DNF of the season. Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg found himself in seventh after a P11 start. Those six points bring them ever closer to Aston Martin, who they are only four points behind. The two drivers, while confirmed as the 2026 Audi lineup, still need to prove themselves valuable to their new team. Vegas definitely didn’t help Bortoleto’s prospects, so it’s important he comes into Qatar swinging. Hulkenberg, the veteran of the lineup, has less pressure on him but still has to show he can convert his experience into points for the team.

Race outcome for Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber: 5/10

Both Alpine drivers finished the race, something Kick Sauber can’t say, but neither driver was able to collect points. The team, which is dead last in the Constructor’s Championship (at 22 points to Kick Sauber’s 68), just confirmed both Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are back for the 2026 season. Alpine said Colapinto turned his form around and showed his worth to the team, but Vegas didn’t do anything to help his case. His P15 start led to a P15 finish, being the last car to finish the race. Gasly qualified much higher, making it to Q3 for a P10 start. He wasn’t able to keep that spot and finished in P13. At least they both finished.

Race outcome for BWT Alpine Formula One Team: 1/10

LUKE FANN

Editor-in-Chief at The City Voice | fann-l@students.grps.org

Editor-in-Chief Luke Fann is a junior at City and freelances for Rapid Growth Media's Voices of Youth program. He also attends Michigan State University's MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop, receiving the Sparty Award in Journalistic Storytelling and the Art of Storytelling. Additionally, he recieved an Award of Excellence in the Level Up: Leadership for Media program in 2025 and earned an honorable mention for his piece on AI and LLMs at the 2024 MIPA Spring Awards.

Luke began writing in 7th grade and became an editor by the following year. By his sophomore year, he was Managing Editor and then Editor-in-Chief. As for writing, he focuses on business and technology news, taking a deeper dive into topics rather than focusing solely on breaking news. He also covers personal interests, and his weekly editorials offer unique takes on timely issues.

If you're interested in writing for The City Voice, especially as a middle schooler or Underclassman, reach out to Luke or attend a meeting. Journalism is a great way to express your passions. No matter your background, The City Voice wants to hear your voice.