2025 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix: As it happened - Verstappen hits the jackpot, Norris extends lead

Only Kimi Antonelli in the top ten has pitted in this cycle - technically he pitted right at the start to go onto the hard tyre and he hasn't come in for mediums yet.

He will eventually but for the time being, he has done well to claw his way up from 17th to fourth place - though he does have that five-secs penalty to take at his stop.

Hang on, what year is it...?

Hamilton and Alonso have their elbows out in a feisty manner that has us getting all misty-eyed for seasons gone by. 

Shame then that it is only for 10th place right now

Hold up, Beyonce and Jay-Z are here.

The USA doesn't have a royal couple, but they are probably about as close as you'll get to the King and Queen of America

They're down at Ferrari, if you wondering...

Verstappen pits from the lead of the race right on the half-way point of the race.

He is the last of the leaders to come in, so he retains the lead from Russell - the gap is 1.4s, so pretty as you were then.

Charles Leclerc pits from second place, he returns to the track in ninth place - ahead of Sainz, but behind Piastri.

Two positions gained through the first cycle of pit-stops for Piastri there, he is now running an effective fourth place once the strategy shakes out

Norris pipes from second place and returns to there track much closer to Russell than he was before the pit-stops.

Sainz, meanwhile, has ducked out of that battle with Leclerc by pitting. He returns to the track right in front of Piastri, but he can't resist the Aussie over the first stint.

A position gained for Piastri - a de facto fifth place now

Piastri pits from fifth place (de facto sixth), returns to the track in 10th place.

Meanwhile, a cracking battle is brewing for third place as Leclerc crawls over the back of Sainz's Williams for third on the road (fourth place once they pit)

A five-second penalty to rub salt into the wounds for Alex Albon after stewards judge him at fault for clipping Hamilton's Ferrari ahead of him while trying to overtake him.

In fairness, the stewards set a precedent with a penalty for Hamilton last time out in São Paulo for a similar incident.

Albon is already running last after having to pit to replace his damaged front-wing.

No sign of responding to Russell's pit-stop for Verstappen and Norris just yet.

Norris, incidentally, has upped his pace in the clearer air created by Russell ahead pitting. 

He is still three seconds behind Verstappen though, the Dutchman looking his consummate rock-solid best when in control of a race

Russell bites first to pit from second place, returning to the track in seventh place after Bearman helpfully also pitted out of that place

VSC has ended and Piastri wastes no time in getting up to speed, dispatching of Hadjar to move back into sixth place

If proceedings stay as they are to the end, Norris (third) would extend his points' lead by seven points over Piastri (sixth)

A second VSC of the evening for a plucky marshal to sprint onto track down the long final straight to pick up some discarded Williams bodywork

They had been attached to Alex Albon's car but clipped Hamilton's Ferrari while attempting to overtake, necessitating an unscheduled stop and some global television coverage role for a fast-moving marshal

We may be 15 laps into this race already - which is almost a third of the way - but stewards are still willing to hand out a penalty for a jump-start.

Kimi Antonelli is the unlucky recipient, the Italian judged to have moved before the lights went out.

He's down in 13th having started 17th and already completed a pit-stop in the initial laps to ditch his soft tyres

Problems for Russell?

The Briton is rather fraught as he bellows down the radio that he has an issue with the steering - 'the same thing with the steering' he declares. Followed by a customary expletive...

He remains second on the road though, 1.6secs behind leader Verstappen.

Leclerc carries his momentum all the way past Hadjar to move into the top five now - Piastri moves back onto the tail of Hadjar

Another blow for Piastri as he loses a place to Leclerc and drops to seventh place.

The title contender had been reeling Hadjar in enough to look on the cusp of a move into the top five, only for the hard-charging Leclerc to pop up and steal his sixth place spot from him instead.

Verstappen has responded to Russell's threat to stretch the lead out to more than a second once again.

Norris is running a fairly lonely third at the moment, 3.0s behind Russell, while Sainz and Hadjar are circulating closely in a comfortable fourth and fifth place at the moment.

Piastri, meanwhile, is 1.4s behind Hadjar in sixth place, the Australian circulating one position lower than where he qualified after being biffed out wide by an errant Lawson at Turn 1 on Lap 1.

Verstappen is really coming under pressure in the lead from Russell, who has beaten down the gap to just 0.6s and now means he is well within DRS range

The pair have dropped Norris, who isn't making much headway in third place after his lap one fumble - he is 2.5s behind Russell in second place

Leclerc dismisses Bearman for seventh place.

In other Ferrari news, Hamilton has climbed from 19th on the grid to be running just on the edge of the points in 11th place already. 

There were some big winners in that melee as drivers - including Norris - misjudged the level of grip available into Turn 1.

One driver who did hold his line was Ollie Bearman, who has scythed from 13th to seventh - a fifth straight top ten finish is definitely on for the rookie!

We are back racing again with Verstappen holding a 1.2s lead over Russell, putting him crucially out of DRS range.

Norris is 1.8s adrift of Russell

Bortoleto has joined Stroll on the DNF list - ironically Bortoleto retired last time out in Brazil on lap one after a collision with Stroll