The view from above Vegas!

Really interesting race!  There wasn't a ton of passing on the track but there was alot of action/strategy going on.

The Las Vegas Grand Prix is the 3rd to last race on the year.  Only 2 races left (Qatar and Abu Dhabi)!  Norris is in first place for the Driver's Championship race with his teammate Piastri in 2nd and hard charging reigning world champ Max Verstappen just behind in 3rd.

Norris had a pretty good start to the weekend and pulled a great lap to take pole position for the race with Verstappen in 2nd but something has happened to Piastri who was down in 5th.  About 4 or 5 races ago "the Papaya Rules" were in effect and they always went against Piastri and he hasn't been the same since.  Reap what you sow McLaren!

The start was pretty wild with Norris chopping down on Verstappen in a move you would expect from Verstappen.  But in doing so, Norris missed his braking point and he ran wide into Turn 1 and lost the lead to Verstappen anyway!  The really bad part was that he also got passed by a hard charging George Russell (Mercedes) to drop 2 spots in 1 turn!  And Piastri dropped 2 spots also and now down in 7th.  There were a couple fender benders too.  Liam Lawson hit Piastri to drop him down.  And Gabrielle Bortoleto ran wild and knocked 2 or 3 cars down the grid who all eventually did not finish the grand prix.

I really like rookie Kimmie Antonelli (Mercedes).  He can be somewhat erratic in that he completely missed the mark in qualifying when he was out in Q1 and started way down in 17th.  But the kid has guts.  Put on softs (tyres) to begin the race and he gained a few spots on the start.  But with the Bortoleto tossed salad he took that opportunity to pit under Yellow on Lap 2 and put on the hard tyres and he took them 48 laps all the way to the end.  He fought off cars he shouldn't have in Piastri and LeClerc (Ferrari) (both on newer tyres) and was one of the fastest cars at the end of the race.  Outstanding!  He is fun to watch!

Norris eventually passed Russell back, but instead of trying to catch Verstappen he was notified his car had a problem and he had to lift and coast some to make his fuel reach the end of the race.  So Verstappen wins with Norris in Second and Russell in third.  Piastri finished 5th.  

But that didn't turn out to be the end.  Both McLarens were disqualified from the race for a very technical issue!  WOW!  Meaning they didn't get any points from the race.  So Verstappen is now tied with Piastri for 2nd and only 24 points behind Norris!  With 2 races to go!  This is going to get good!  If I'm in Orange, I'm nervous with the World Champ on my gearbox!!!

And the best part is the next 2 races are in back-to-back weeks starting next week in Qatar (there is also a sprint race here) and Abu Dhabi.  Those tracks "should" favor McLaren much more than the cold desert of Vegas.

Going to be fun! 

From F1:

BREAKING: Both McLaren cars of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been disqualified.

This is because the thickness of the rearmost skid of both cars was less than the required thickness.

 

Big 2026 News as Aston Martin announces Adrian Newey to become Team Principal next season. This season hasn’t gone well for Aston Martin so I’d say billionaire Laurence Stoll (team owner) has gone all in on 2026. Should be interesting!

The Qatar Grand Prix started out with every car in the "slow" lane (or the cars in even number starting positions like 2, 4, and 6th) come off the standing start really slowly compared to the racing line and the cars in the odd numbered starting positions like pole, 3rd and etc.  This hurt Lando Norris who dropped to 3rd in the first few turns and also George Russell who dropped 3 spots in this timeframe as well.  That was a big deal as it's pretty tough to pass at Qatar.

But the biggest event of the race to me was at Lap 6 when Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasley hit wheels.  It caused Hulkenberg to spin and stall and bring out the Yellow Flag. Everybody driver came into pit expect both McLarens and Ocon (Haas).  This was an egregious error IMO.  The other special piece of info for this race was that Pirelli (the tire supplier) mandated a 25-lap maximum for this race due to extreme tire degradation rates typically experienced here.  Plus, there are 57 laps in the race.  So, on lap 7 you could/should pit under yellow and then only have to pit once more and you are done pitting.  McLaren, the World Championship Team, did NOT pit either driver.  WOW!  There is a piece of me that thinks if Norris were the lead driver that they would have pitted at least Norris here.  

Regardless, it put them behind the 8-ball for the rest of the race, and they really never recovered from it.

By the time they restarted the race, Verstappen in 3rd was back up to 3rd so he lost no track position and gained a full pit spot on both leaders of the race.  Couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present.  

So, McLaren is on the back foot the whole way from here on out.  They did choose to pit Piastri with about 10 laps to go so he could try to catch Verstappen.  He did pass Antonelli and Sainz, but he couldn't catch Verstappen.  Norris pitted a lap later and came out behind Antonelli and Sainz.  He caught up to Antonelli and with 2 laps to go the rookie went deep into a turn and Norris was able to get around.  But he had no time to catch Carlos Sainz (Williams) who drove a GREAT race and earned the final podium spot in 3rd.

Verstappen wins and Piastri was 2nd.  Norris comes home in 4th.

Norris has 408 points, Verstappen has 396 points and Piastri has 392 points.  Basically, if Norris gets 3rd in the last race in Abu Dhabi he is World Champion any thing below that and it gets interesting!

It's been a good season!  But there are clearly a couple teams that have packed it in for the year IMO and they are led by Ferrari who had a terrible weekend.  Kick Sauber was terrible too even with the heroics of Hulkenberg.

On to the last race of the year in 6 days!

So the Driver Championship will move on to Abu Dhabi next week for the final race of the year!

Breaking News!

Red Bull and Little Brother Racing Bulls have just announced their 2026 lineups!

For Red Bull, 4 time world champion (and an outside chance this year) Max Verstaopen is the clear best driver in the world to me. 
He will be teamed with a 2025 rookie from the Racing Bulls team Isaac Hadjar who has been brilliant this season for Racing Bulls and a rookie!

I love this promotion!  But the best part for me is that they announced it at a time to give Hadjar an opportunity to learnn the new car a bit before it’s go time!  With Lawson and then Tsunoda I just felt then never got enough time to get comfortable with the car before they were thrown in the fire with a car built for Verstaopen that only he could really drive under those conditions. 
 

In the Racing Bulls, Liam Lawson will assume the lead role with new rookie Arvid Lindblad from the Red Bull Junior team who had some great races in F2 this year and impressed in his fill in jobs at a couple free practice events this season. 
Really exciting move from Red Bull as their cars are typically very good. But 2026 will be an Epic year in F1 with new regulations to change the game again and everyone “sort of” back to even to start the 2026 season. 
 

I do feel bad for Yuki Tsunoda, who I think is a good driver but just didn’t have much luck in the last few seasons. He has been placed down in the reserve driver roll.

One other racing tidbit I wanted to share is I saw where Mick Schumacher has taken a seat in IndyCar. Good for him. Wish him luck there. I want to like IndyCar for the 500 alone but I just don’t know the drivers that well and the ones I know are vanilla at best. I will pull for Schumacher to do well there. 

This one made me laugh!

A very good F1 Season comes to a close in Abu Dhabi!

Congratulations to Lando Norris (McLaren) who wins his first World Championship!  Outstanding!

Verstappen gets the win and just ran out of time on the championship.

Here is F1's Overview points:

Overview

• Round 24 of 24 comes from the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi

• Lando Norris wins 2025 World Championship after third-placed finish

• Max Verstappen takes victory in title-deciding race, with Oscar Piastri second

• Final standings: Norris (423 points), Verstappen (421 points), Piastri (410 points)

 

Alot I could say here, but will finish with these points:

1. Lando Norris - was good all year.  Had a good car and good team.  To me, he isn't the best driver (Verstappen is) but he made it all work and it's better to be lucky than good.  He got the benefit of the "Papaya Rules", which I still don't understand, but they were always in his favor.

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - IMO the best driver.  His team had a HUGE shakeup mid-year and getting through that cost him this championship.  He nearly got it anyway.  Amazing performance.

3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - drove very well this season.  IMO if McLaren would not have implemented the "Papaya Rules" he is World Champion today.  I guess that's the rest of the story.

Other Items:

Mercedes - has a great stable of drivers (Russell and Antonelli).  Should be strong next year.

Ferrari - LeClerc drove his crankshaft off today to keep Norris honest with a car that is not good.  I believe Ferrari pitched in the tent about 8-10 races ago to focus on 2026.  IMO, no team has more pressure next year than Ferrari.

Aston Martin - Stroll drove really well today; Fernando Alonso is a GREAT driver.  The dude is 44 years old.  WAY past 99.9% of past F1 drivers.  But the guy continues to produce.  With Adrian Newey now the new Principal at AM - LOOK OUT next year for Aston Martin!

The great thing about F1 for people who like it like me is you don't have to wait long to see it come back again.  Testing begins in Barcelona in just 7 short weeks.  So have a great holiday season, take a vacation to Monaco and come back in 7 weeks to see how the brand-new cars (brand new regulations for 2026) take the track.  It promises to be the most formative season for F1 in its history IMO.

Happy Holidays F1 Fans!