Las Vegas Grand Prix 2025

Vegas, Disqualifications, and a Championship That Refuses to End

Las Vegas delivered exactly what Las Vegas promises: spectacle, chaos, and consequences.

A large Black driver in a pink Lego Cadillac chauffeuring the podium finishers down the Strip. Neon everywhere. Celebrities everywhere. And then — hours later — the headline that actually mattered:

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri disqualified.

Just like that, a championship that should have been finished weeks ago is alive again.

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McLaren’s Self-Inflicted Drama

Let’s start here: this shouldn’t be happening.

McLaren has 756 points.

Red Bull has 391.

Max Verstappen has 366 of those 391.

And somehow, Verstappen is still in the fight.

Norris sits on 390. Piastri on 366. Verstappen just 24 points back with two races and a sprint remaining.

That is absurd.

Patrick’s point was blunt: whatever algorithm McLaren is using to calculate fuel loads, it isn’t working. Norris nearly ran dry at the line — and still failed post-race checks. A P2 became zero points. Instead of losing seven points to Verstappen, he lost twenty-five.

This championship should have been done after Austin.

Instead, McLaren is flirting with disaster.

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The Max Problem

When Mercedes dominated, no one else sniffed the Drivers’ title.

When Red Bull dominated, no one else sniffed the Drivers’ title — except 2021, when the fight was razor-thin between Verstappen and Hamilton.

This year?

McLaren has the best car.

And Verstappen is still here.

That tells you two things:

1. Max may be the greatest driver of this era — possibly any era.

2. McLaren has not operated like a ruthless championship team.

At some point, having the best car isn’t enough. You have to take the title. You can’t politely wait for it.

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The Papaya Rules Backfire

From the beginning, McLaren insisted they wouldn’t play favorites.

No team orders.

No hierarchy.

Let them race.

Sounds noble.

But Formula One isn’t a democracy. It’s a championship sport.

When Mercedes needed Valtteri Bottas to protect Lewis Hamilton, they said so. When Red Bull needed Sergio Pérez to help Max, they made it clear.

McLaren tried to stay above that.

Now they can’t ask Piastri to sacrifice anything — because officially, he was never second in the pecking order.

They built themselves a moral box. And now they’re stuck in it.

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Ferrari: A Slow-Motion Collapse

If McLaren’s story is confusion, Ferrari’s is something worse.

Lewis Hamilton arrived with enormous expectations.

He has zero podiums.

Charles Leclerc has been better — but not close to the front. Ferrari, which was second in the standings just weeks ago, has slipped to fourth.

Mercedes is valued at roughly $6 billion. Ferrari slightly more.

And yet on track, the product is nowhere near that valuation.

Patrick even floated something unthinkable: if rookie Kimi Antonelli — currently 15 points behind Hamilton — finishes ahead of Lewis in the standings, Hamilton might simply walk away.

That’s how strange this season feels.

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The Business Boom

Off track, the sport is exploding.

Toto Wolff sold a small portion of his Mercedes stake at a valuation around $6 billion — more than most NBA franchises. Teams that once changed hands for debt assumption are now multi-billion-dollar assets.

Patrick’s wild prediction: by 2035, half the grid will be worth over $10 billion. Every team worth more than Mercedes is today.

It sounds outrageous.

So did $6 billion, not long ago.

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Aston Martin and the Horner Rumors

Christian Horner’s name keeps circling.

Aston Martin fired team principal Andy Cowell. Adrian Newey is already there. Lawrence Stroll spends aggressively. The ingredients are lining up for something dramatic.

If Horner lands there?

You’d have Newey, Fernando Alonso, the Strolls, and Horner under one roof.

The most hated team on the grid.

Which, historically, is often the most interesting team.

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The Yuki Question

Yuki Tsunoda may be out.

The Red Bull seat has broken drivers not named Verstappen. Pérez is gone. Yuki hasn’t delivered. Isack Hadjar waits in the wings. Liam Lawson has staked a claim.

IndyCar might be Yuki’s reset button.

F1 is ruthless. Sentiment rarely wins.

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Should F1 Force Two Pit Stops?

There’s even talk of mandating two pit stops at certain races.

The idea: prevent 48-lap tire management marathons like Antonelli’s Vegas stint and force drivers to push.

The counterargument: strategy is part of racing. Artificially forcing tactics feels gimmicky.

It’s a fascinating tension — purity versus spectacle.

And modern F1 lives in that tension constantly.

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Qatar Looms

Last year in Qatar was chaotic — questionable race control decisions, strange penalties, confusion.

This year, it could define the championship.

If Verstappen wins and Norris falters again, we’re heading to Abu Dhabi with everything on the line.

McLaren cannot let Max take this to a final-race shootout.

You don’t give champions Game 7.

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Across the Line

Season prediction standings:

Patrick: 74

Brian: 66

Eight points back. Not impossible. Just unlikely — much like Verstappen’s title hopes.

Qatar picks:

Patrick: Norris, Antonelli, Leclerc, Piastri, Bearman

Brian: Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Sainz

If Norris finishes it cleanly, the narrative becomes dominance delayed.

If Verstappen wins?

Then this season becomes something else entirely — a case study in how not to close.

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Final Thought

There are two inexplicable stories in 2025:

1. How has Lando Norris not already won this championship?

2. What, exactly, is Ferrari doing?

McLaren has the car. Ferrari has the names. Red Bull has one man doing the work of an entire organization.

Two races remain.

If McLaren loses this title, it won’t be because they lacked pace.

It will be because they lacked conviction.