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

The virtual safety car has been called towards the end of lap two heading into lap three. 

There is debris at Turn 1 after multiple incidents through the field on lap one, including Liam Lawson slapping Oscar Piastri - and losing his front wing in the process to spoil his strong qualifying effort.

Behind them, Gabriel Bortoleto missed his braking entirely and slammed into Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly, putting the former into retirement and the latter into a spin

...and that means we get a first look at the tyre compounds.

Mediums for the vast majority of the grid.

The highest-placed driver to go alternative is Gasly on the hards in 10th, while Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Albon, Bortoleto and Hamilton.

Antonelli in 17th has gone for the softs though

A quick reminder of how the three-way title race stands heading into this race.

Lando Norris heads Oscar Piastri by 24 points, while he leads Max Verstappen by 49 points.

There is a maximum of 83 points still on the table this season, including the points on offer here in Vegas today.

As such, if Norris out-scores Verstappen by nine points today, the Red Bull driver's title defence will be over and it will leave a two-man all-McLaren shootout for the 2025 F1 World Championship title

Then again, Leclerc fared better than Lewis Hamilton , who messed up the Turn 14/15 chicane on his final out-lap, which scrubbed off speed and left him just out of time to make it round to start his final lap.

It consigned him to 20th and last on the timesheets - the first time he has qualified last in his entire F1 career, though he will start 19th by way of Yuki Tsunoda taking a penalty

As for the rest of the top ten, a good showing from Racing Bulls again to qualify sixth and eighth - Lawson ahead of Hadjar - while Alonso typically kept a cool head in treacherous conditions to be rewarded with seventh.

As for Ferrari, it was a torrid Friday as Charles Leclerc suffered multiple trips into the escape road, almost hit the wall and even stalled the car while it was still rolling. He made it to Q3 but could only manage ninth once there.

George Russell had been quickest in FP3, Q1 and Q2 but would end up having to settle for fourth when it mattered, but the Mercedes driver could be a bigger factor in race trim than he has been of late...

Piastri heads up row three and he'll need to get a move on from there if wants to avoid getting mired in that mid-top-ten for too long as he did in Mexico and Brazil. 

We said the same thing in Brazil, only for Piastri to go a smidge too bold and trigger a penalty-inducing collision. Lots for him to weigh up, but he really can't afford to lose any more points to Norris today

Rain is the great leveller as they say, so well done to Carlos Sainz for getting in among the upper reaches with his run to third on the grid in the Williams.

There had been some nervy moments for the Spaniard after he was caught out rejoining the track into the path of Lance Stroll in Q1 after an early off. 

However, stewards agreed the poor visibility and the fact Stroll wasn't on a fast lap means there would be no penalty

Oh, and that Williams livery looks sharp this weekend...

Verstappen starts second knowing he needs a win to keep his slim title defence alive for another race, but Norris has already hinted he might not be willing to go wheel-to-wheel with the Dutchman through the first turns if he gets the better start from the front row.

Having pulled something special out of the bag in Mexico and São Paulo, Norris did it again in the final moments of qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

While the rain and ever-changing conditions threatened to destabilise him, instead he saved his best for last to score pole by three tenths - a margin that would have been higher had he not almost swapped the ends around on the exit of Turn 15.

There is definitely some unknown elements heading into this encounter on a weekend of ill-timed interruptions.

After FP2's loose manhole cover scuppered some crucial data-gathering on Thursday night, FP3 was a constant evolution from damp to dry and then the heavens opened again properly for qualifying.

Despite this, Norris and Verstappen first and second means the front row still has a familiar look to it... the same could be said for Oscar Piastri, who has work to do from fifth place.

There is just 40mins to go until we are lights out... more significantly, it is dry out there.

This will no doubt be a big relief for the drivers after the rainy conditions of qualifying exposed the Vegas Strip Circuit to have precious little grip in the wet.

So, the prospect of 50 long laps racing on a a high-speed ice rink doesn't bear thinking about.