Max Verstappen put in a controlling performance as he took the win in Las Vegas, while both McLaren drivers got disqualified.
Lando Norris made an aggressive move to try and cover off Max Verstappen into turn 1, but would go deep into the corner, losing first place to his title rival, before dropping down to third soon after, getting overtaken by George Russell.
Also at the start, Liam Lawson would hit into Oscar Piastri, causing himself front wing damage and dropping the McLaren driver down to 7th temporarily.
Lewis Hamilton would navigate the chaos of the first turn well, with other cars spinning down the pack, such as Bortoleto and Stroll. Hamilton managed to use this to climb from 19th to 12th within the first two laps.
The early laps saw Russell he pretty racey with Verstappen, showing strong pace against the reigning world champion, though he would fail to take the lead at this point.
Oscar Piastri was doing himself no favours early on in this race, locking up slightly prior to getting onto the Vegas strip on lap 12, which provided Leclerc with enough of an opportunity to get close enough and overtake the McLaren driver for 6th.
Leclerc was making some proactive moves, stating that he was pushing like an animal over the radio, which was shown not only with his overtake of Piastri, but also after overtaking Hadjar for 5th just one lap later.
Hamilton and Albon had a coming together down the Vegas strip, with Albon clipping his front wing on the Ferrari ahead, causing damage to the Williams, requiring a front wing change.
The race started to get into a processional period in the middle portion of the race, even as drivers made some pit stops, but Russell was keeping decently close to Verstappen at the fight for the front.
Lando Norris was very quick after going onto the hard tyres, and would begin looking to challenge for the win after overtaking Russell for 2nd place on lap 34.
Norris began to slow down towards the end of the race with something of an issue with his car, but he was able to keep his car going to maintain his 2nd place finish, albeit much closer to Russell behind than he would’ve liked.
However, post race, both McLaren cars were disqualified for illegal plank wear, taking away Norris’ 2nd place and Piastri’s 4th.
It means that Russell and Antonelli now join Verstappen on the podium, while Verstappen is now level on points with Piastri, 24 points each behind Norris with two races and a sprint remaining.
The next Grand Prix is the Qatar Grand Prix, which will take place on Sunday, November 30.
