Formula One: Las Vegas Grand Prix – live

5.00am GMT Lap 34/50: McLaren radio encourages Norris to overtake Russell and “go get Max.” Sure. Sounds easy. 4.59am GMT Lap 33/50: Russell has a panicky voice on the radio, saying he knows Norris will be quick and he doesn’t want to risk the podium by doing anything stupid in defense. 4.56am GMT Lap 32/50: If you’re interested in nostalgia, enjoy the battle for 10th between Hamilton and Alonso. Never mind – Bearman interrupts his elders and passes Alonso. 4.55am GMT Lap 31/50: The fastest lap icon is a hot potato, and now Leclerc has it. Hulkenberg pits, and Piastri happily moves into fifth – as he posts the fastest lap. 4.54am GMT Lap 30/50: Norris posts the fastest lap! Can he at least get past Russell? Hamilton finally pits. He comes out 10th, but there are still a couple of cars ahead who should pit. Beyonce and Jay-Z are hanging with the Ferrari crew. Updated at 4.59am GMT 4.53am GMT Lap 29/50: McLaren’s Zak Brown sounds defeated as he says Norris may have the same pace as Verstappen but isn’t quicker, which means there’s no chance of catching him. Antonelli changed tires very early, and the commentators ask Brown if he thinks Antonelli can go the whole way without pitting again. possibly finishing ahead of Piastri. Brown says he’d be surprised. 4.50am GMT Lap 28/50: Now Verstappen posts the fastest lap, which bids ill for Russell or Norris ever getting ahead of him. Updated at 4.55am GMT 4.49am GMT Lap 27/50: Piastri posts the fastest lap. He surely can’t wait for the gaggle of cars in front of him to pit and let him get into the top four? 4.47am GMT Verstappen’s pit time is 3.0, a hair slower than a lot of teams. He makes it out ahead of Russell, but Russell just posted the fastest lap. The people in places 4-7 have not pitted: Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Antonelli, Ocon. 4.46am GMT Lap 26/50: Verstappen goes to pit road. Will he come out ahead of Russell and Norris? 4.45am GMT Lap 25/50: Leclerc pits. He’ll come out well behind Russell and Norris. The McLaren radio buzzes as they tell Norris they want to have better tires than Russell at the end of the race. 4.43am GMT Lap 24/50: Verstappen leads by more than 20 seconds, but that’ll change when he pits, possibly putting Russell and Norris right on his tail or even ahead. 4.43am GMT Lap 23/50: Norris pits, as does Sainz. Norris returns to the track in fourth. Piastri zips past Sainz like Usain Bolt passing a traffic cone. Updated at 4.46am GMT 4.41am GMT Lap 22/50: Piastri pits and will drop to 10th, but he’ll easily pick off a few cars after when they come in for tires themselves. Updated at 4.41am GMT 4.40am GMT Lap 21/50: Hamilton is up to ninth. Leclerc is about to break Sainz’s grip on the podium. 4.37am GMT Lap 20/50: Hamilton has his eyes on ninth. Albon gets a five-second penalty for his run-in with Hamilton. He’s already last among the 18 cars still running. 4.36am GMT Lap 19/50: Antonelli is surprised to learn of his penalty. His team says they’re investigating. 4.35am GMT Norris is enjoying the clean air in Russell’s absence. He posts the fastest lap of the race and gains a bit on Verstappen. 4.34am GMT Lap 18/50: Russell pits. Then Bearman. 4.33am GMT Top 10 1. Verstappen2. Russell3. Norris4. Sainz5. Leclerz6. Piastri7. Hadjuk8. Bearman9. Hulkenberg10. Ocon Hamilton is lurking in 11th. 4.32am GMT Lap 17/50: Piastri’s car spits out sparks as he passes Hadjar, who fights to regain the space but can’t do it. How long will Sainz stay in front of Leclerc and Piastri? Updated at 4.43am GMT 4.30am GMT Lap 16/50: NOW we have the Virtual Safety Car to pick up some pieces of car. 4.29am GMT We have debris on the track again, and it looks like it involved Albon. Virtual Safety Car time? Pit lane is humming. Antonelli does indeed get a five-second penalty. 4.27am GMT Lap 14/50: Leclerc lunges past Hadjar for fifth. Can Piastri get back? Alex Albon has pitted. Russell is on the radio saying, “Steering, steering.” 4.26am GMT Lap 13/50: Norris posts the fastest lap. Any chance he could reel in Russell? 4.24am GMT Lap 12/50: Hadjar is on the radio telling his team he wants to be aggressive. Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri is on his rear bumper. But Leclerc comes up and passes Piastri! Updated at 4.34am GMT 4.23am GMT Lap 11/50: Finally, something on the radio. Leclerc says he’s pushing like an animal. That doesn’t narrow it down. 4.21am GMT Lap 10/50: Verstappen posts the fastest lap as he cruises to an inevitable victory. Yes, there are 40 laps left. But when he and his car are on form like this, forget it. Russell is losing contact. Oh my – Albon is facing an investigation from the start. Did anyone behind the top three not bump into someone or start too early? 4.20am GMT Oops – maybe I spoke too soon. Kimi Antonelli is being investigated for a false start. 4.19am GMT Lap 9/50: No penalties so far for the start shenanigans. The top nine are all on medium tires. The bottom seven are on hard tires. 4.17am GMT Top 10 1. Verstappen2. Russell3. Norris4. Sainz5. Hadjar (??!!)6. Piastri7. Leclerc8. Bearman9. Alonso10. Hulkenberg Hamilton has moved up to 12th. Updated at 4.31am GMT 4.16am GMT Lap 7/50: Russell is chasing Verstappen like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner, but he’s not getting close enough to pass. Norris is more than two seconds behind them, so something’s wrong beyond a possible error at the start. 4.14am GMT Lap 6/50: Alex Albon’s radio isn’t working. Leclerc passes Bearman for seventh. Up front, will this be interesting? Actually, yes. Russell has just posted the fastest lap and has Verstappen in his sights. Updated at 4.23am GMT 4.12am GMT Lap 5/50: Bortoleto and Lawson have both visited the pits to fix things up, and Bortoleto isn’t coming back out. That’s two cars out. Some race marshals were, at one point, out on the track with incoming cars. That’s something they’d prefer to avoid. 4.11am GMT Lap 4/50: Stewards are looking at a Piastri-Lawson incident at the start, but it looks like Lawson was at fault and has very much paid the price. 4.09am GMT Virtual Safety Car is out. There are pieces of car on the track. Replay shows Bortoleto at the start charging past several cars but then running into Stroll, who appears to be out of the race. 4.07am GMT Lap 2/50: Bearman and Hamilton each gained six places. Piastri, like his teammate Norris, lost two, but he immediately takes one back from Lawson, whose car is definitely dinged up. 4.06am GMT Lap 1/50: What on earth happened to Norris? Verstappen and Russell flew past him. There’s a yellow flag, maybe for damage to Lawson. 4.05am GMT Lights out And Norris runs wide in Turn 1, opening the door for Verstappen to sail into the lead! 4.03am GMT The formation lap is winding up … here we go … 4.02am GMT The Sphere is bringing out the animations for this one, breaking into a cartoon face that looks like it’s following the drivers. Freaky. 3.59am GMT Lewis Hamilton will not start 20th. Red Bull changed out the power unit on Yuki Tsunoda’s car, so he’ll start from pit lane. 3.44am GMT Neat! Tara Davis-Woodhall and Hunter Woodhall, the US Olympic/Paralympic couple. Tara is a Red Bull fan and supporting Verstappen. Now it’s Damron Idris, one of the stars of the recent F1 film and frequent grid-walker. He’s working on a bio of Miles Davis. Is he possibly the coolest person on the planet right now? Updated at 3.49am GMT 3.41am GMT Kravitz, after talking with Crews, extols the virtues of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Great show indeed. One of the last great US TV comedies. 3.40am GMT OK, they get Terry. “Vegas was made for F1 and vice versa.” He’s going to drive a Lego Cadillac at the end to take people to the podium. Sweet. 3.40am GMT Terry Crews is there talking with … an ESPN reporter? Should I be watching the other ESPN stream instead of the one they pick up from Sky? Updated at 3.59am GMT 3.38am GMT Ted Kravitz and Jenson Button are doing the walk in place of Brundle, and it looks like they’re trying to interview the asphalt. 3.35am GMT Are we not getting a Martin Brundle grid walk for this race? This seems like the perfect scene for it. Surely some characters by the cars. Checking the news – yes, apparently this is one of the races that Brundle skips. Odd. 3.24am GMT Soccer’s done. Time to watch some cars go fast under the bright lights of Vegas. Updated at 3.57am GMT 3.10am GMT I’m pulling double-duty tonight. Please check out the five minutes of stoppage time in the NWSL final: Related: NWSL Championship: Washington Spirit v Gotham FC – live Updated at 3.12am GMT 3.10am GMT Weather report After yesterday’s soggy qualifying, Accuweather informs us that “a shower cannot be ruled out during the race.” Great. 3.02am GMT Preamble After such a long slog with plenty of breaks tossed into the mix, the F1 season wraps in rapid fashion: Tonight: Las VegasNext week: QatarThe week after: Abu Dhabi And that’s it. We have a legit three-way contest in the season standings, but if Lando Norris can win from the pole tonight, that may all but eliminate four-time defending champ Max Verstappen. Tonight’s lineup and where they stand on the season is … 1. Lando Norris, McLaren (1st, 390)2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull (3rd, 341)3. Carlos Sainz, Williams4. George Russell, Mercedes (4th, 276)5. Oscar Piastri, McLaren (2nd, 366)6. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls7. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin8. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls9. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine11. Nico Hulkenberg, Kick Sauber12. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin13. Esteban Ocon, Haas14. Oliver Bearman, Haas15. Franco Colapinto, Alpine16. Alex Albon, Williams17. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes18. Gabriel Bortoleto, Kick Sauber19. Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull20. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari Updated at 3.53am GMT 3.00am GMT Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s how Cadillac is preparing for life in F1: Twelve months ago at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were finally given the green light as Formula One’s newest entry for 2026. Building the team from scratch has entailed a frenetic work rate that the team principal, Graeme Lowdon, has compared to the Apollo moon landing. As F1 descends on Vegas this weekend, Cadillac know time is getting tight. At the final race of the season to be staged in the United Statess, with just over 100 days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Melbourne at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean task, they are aware there will never be enough hours in the day. The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, joined the nascent operation in March 2023 shortly after it was formed, when the team were without even an approved entry. He has been at its heart ever since and enjoys a wry smile when considering the ride. “You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Wow, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “And then the next minute you think: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’” You can read the full article below: Related: Cadillac copy Nasa playbook to build F1 team from scratch to hit Melbourne startline