Max Verstappen seals win while Norris, Piastri disqualified

Max Verstappen with the Las Vegas GP winner’s trophy on Saturday. Pic/AFP

Defending champion Max Verstappen produced a masterful drive in his Red Bull to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday, with his title hopes receiving a further boost after the McLarens of championship leader Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were both disqualified.

Norris finished the race in second with Piastri fourth, but the skid blocks on both cars were found after the race to be less than the minimum depth.

The disqualifications mean that with two race weekends remaining in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, Verstappen (366pts) is now level on points with Piastri, and just 24 points behind Norris.

The Dutchman said Red Bull's tyre strategy laid the foundation for the win. "We are not normally great on tyres, but today it seemed like we were more in control and I could push a little bit more. We had a lot more pace and I could stay out a little bit longer and split the race in half. That definitely helped a lot. The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking and I was feeling comfortable," said Verstappen.

Meanwhile, McLaren's team boss Andrea Stella apologised to his drivers and said that the problem was caused by "unexpected, high levels of porpoising" which had led to excessive contact with the ground.

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