Championship Chaos, Lando's Legacy, and more ahead of the season-defining 2025 Qatar Grand Prix

What happened at the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix?

The 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix was, as expected, championship defining.

To start, Max Verstappen took home yet another Grand Prix victory and won his second full race in the United States this season. He took the lead from Norris in the first corner and held his ground throughout the night to take the checkered flag at the front of the grid. Lando Norris came home second after retaking P2 from George Russell early on in the race, but his car began to fail in the waning corners of the race. He was able to hold on to P2 through the final sector, with Mercedes's Englishman rounding out the podium.

Then, hours after the race, breaking news. McLaren's skid blocks had worn out too much, resulting in a double disqualification. Yep, a couple of milimeters of skid block may decide this year's championship. Verstappen sat 39 points behind Norris at the end of the Grand Prix, and now is even with Norris's teammate Oscar Piastri only 24 points behind the championship lead with two races and a sprint to go.

With the double DQ, Russell moved up to P2 and teenage teammate Kimi Antonelli bolted up to P3 to secure back-to-back podiums. Rookies Isack Hadjar and Ollie Bearman scored points for Racing Bulls and Haas respectively, and seven teams were able to score points on the weekend thanks to McLaren's error, namely Ferrari, Kick Sauber, Red Bull, Mercedes, Racing Bulls, Williams, and the Haas duo that moved from P11 and P12 to P9 and P10.

FP1 Breakdown

Free Practice One in Qatar was an intriguing session as all twenty drivers took to the track for the only data collection period before Sprint Qualifying later this afternoon. The main storyline was McLaren's return, as they took P1 and P2 in the session after last weekend's disaster in Vegas. Norris was only 58 hundreths off of his teammate, and was almost three tenths faster than P3.

Williams and Aston Martin were also able to place both of their drivers in the top ten of FP1 with Alonso in third, Sainz in fourth, Albon in seventh, and Stroll in ninth. Both teams have seriously struggled in the past few race weekends, so we'll see if either team can capitalize the strong practice results into points in Qatar.

Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar had about a one second gap over teammate Liam Lawson, and so did Pierre Gasly over a lackluster Franco Colapinto who floated over 2.5 seconds behind Oscar Piastri.

Podium Predictions

Here are my predictions for the podium finishers at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix:

Qatar Sprint

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - Piastri looks primed to get his first victory anywhere since Zandvoort, and McLaren look to be excellent in Qatar's tyre wear conditions.

   
   

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - Similarly, Lando Norris looks to be very quick in Qatar and will hope to capitalize this weekend to knock his fellow contenders out of the Championship.

   
   

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - Max Verstappen's car may not be as quick, but he is the quickest driver on the grid at the moment. You never know.

Qatar Grand Prix

1. Lando Norris (McLaren) - Finally. Champion. To seal the deal, Norris should feel he has to win the main race. If he does so, his odds of a championship are extremely high.

   
   

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - Max's only way of staying in the fight if Lando wins the grand prix is to finish second, but he would also need to outscore the championship leader by six points in the sprint. That won't happen if Lando is careful.

   
   

3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - He may not be in the championship fight anymore with a third place finish and his teammate taking the checkered flag, but at least Oscar would sit on a podium.

Five Spicy Hot Takes

Now, let’s spice things up with some bold hot takes for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, rated from 1 to 5 spicy pepper emojis:

1. 🌶️ - A McLaren driver wins the sprint. It's looking very likely that McLaren is dominant this weekend, and especially in a short race where tyre wear will play a major factor in determining speed, they should feel ready to take the checkered flag with one of two drivers.

   
   

2. 🌶️🌶️ - Rookie scores. I feel like this one kinda has to happen, and I'm out of ideas.

   
   

3. 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Constructors' changeover. Haas, Aston Martin, and Kick Sauber sit five points apart for the P7 battle. Something will change in that order this week.

   
   

4. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Mercedes seal second in the constructors'. I'll say it again. Mercedes should take P2 in the constructors' championship this weekend. All they need is to outscore Red Bull by four and for Ferrari to not outscore them by ten. Yes, Red Bull may have Max Verstappen, but Mercedes has two drivers capable of scoring points.

   
   

5. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Lando.

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Lando Locked, Flying Dutchman's Final Gasp, Mercedes v Red Bull v Ferrari, and more ahead of the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

What happened at the 2025 Sao Paolo Grand Prix?

The Sao Paolo Grand Prix will forever be known as Max Verstappen's stomping ground.

That's what almost everyone who tuned into this year's race at Interlagos had to say after watching the Flying Dutchman arguably topped one his best performance of all time at last year's Sao Paolo Grand Prix. Verstappen's weekend looked to be over on Saturday after he followed teammate Yuki Tsunoda out in a shock Q1 exit. Then, the FIA announced that Verstappen would instead be starting from the pit lane after an engine change.

Max channeled his 2024 Interlagos self and rose from a pit lane start to race leader on the 51st lap. If not for his pit on lap 54 when he was about ten seconds ahead of 2nd placed Lando Norris, he may have even won the race, marking by far his best race and potentially the best individual performance in F1 history. Verstappen instead pitted on lap 54 to new softs to avoid losing further ground to Norris and Kimi Antonelli, gaining back up to P3 to go from pit lane to podium in dry conditions. Max is known to be especially great in wet conditions compared to the rest of the field, so the fact that he was able to accomplish this level of position gain during a dry race with a car that went out in Q1 is astonishing.

Meanwhile, Lando Norris came home quietly to take his second consecutive win and extend his lead in the drivers' champoinship to 24 points over teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris is now also 49 points ahead of Verstappen and can eliminate the Red Bull driver if he outscores him by ten points in this weekend's race.

Elsewhere, Mercedes rookie Antonelli finished a career-high second and Haas rookie Ollie Bearman followed up his fourth place with a sixth in Brazil. Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly were both able to score for Kick Sauber and Alpine, with Gasly's point being the first in a full race in over four months. Williams, Aston Martin, and Ferrari all went scoreless, with Ferrari double DNFing after Leclerc's unfortunate collision with Piastri and Antonelli and Hamilton sustaining terminal damage after a crash with Franco Colapinto.

In the sprint, Norris took the win with Antonelli second and George Russell third, completing a double podium for Mercedes. Piastri didn't finish, giving Norris eight more points in his buffer over the Australian in the drivers' championship. Home hero Gabriel Bortoleto DNFed in both the sprint and full race, and will hope for a much better performance at home in his sophomore season in 2026.

Podium Predictions

Here are my predictions for the podium finishers at the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix:

Las Vegas Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - The Red Bull looks extremely quick, and it seems like it's Verstappen's race to lose. He was unstoppable in free practice, so he should be primed for a much better qualifying this weekend.

   
   

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - McLaren's car isn't too far off, and Norris has won the last two races. He's in form, and it seems like only Max can match him. It was a dissapointing FP3, though.

   
   

3. George Russell (Mercedes) - Mercedes went 1-2 last year in Vegas, and while that seems impossible to repeat, the car tends to perform well in colder settings. Russell is due for a redeeming result, and the defending Vegas winner will be back on the podium.

Five Spicy Hot Takes

Now, let’s spice things up with some bold hot takes for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, rated from 1 to 5 spicy pepper emojis:

1. 🌶️ - No driver is eliminated from the drivers' championship. The only way this is possible is if Lando Norris outscores Max Verstappen by ten points or more, which shouldn't occur this weekend.

   
   

2. 🌶️🌶️ - Williams finally score. The fifth-placed team in the constructors' shouldn't be struggling to score a single point. Neither Albon nor Sainz has scored in a full race in over a month, and the free practice sessions indicated that trend likely won't continue.

   
   

3. 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Alpine again. Alpine didn't score a single time between Silverstone and Interlagos. Then, Pierre Gasly scored not only during the sprint, but in the race. It may have only been a total of two points, but the back-markers will take any signs of encouragement they can get.

   
   

4. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Mercedes on the brink. Not exactly a prediction, but it has its implications. Mercedes can't technically do this points-wise anytime soon, but if they further the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend, the Silver Arrows should be shoo-ins.

   
   

5. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - No rookies in the top five. This is extremely unlikely. It may not seem that way, but we technically have six rookies and it has been multiple months since all of them missed the top five. Bearman, Antonelli, Hadjar, Lawson, Colapinto, and Bortoleto all must perform poorly.

Rain Reigns, Championship Changeover, and more as the Championship comes to a head at Interlagos for the Sao Paolo Grand Prix

What happened at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix?

After what has happened for the past couple of months, the race at Mexico was definitely a surprise. McLaren FINALLY broke through to claim their first win since Oscar Piastri took the checkered flag in August during the Dutch Grand Prix. It was also Lando Norris's first victory since Hungary in the first week of August. However, Lando's result was far from being the most impactful of the weekend.

Before we get to the rest of the results from Mexico City, I want to go over my predictions. On my hot takes, I went 0 for 5, so it obviously wasn't my best weekend. However, I was very close on a couple of them. I predicted Alex Albon to beat his teammate and return to the points, and he was able to defeat Carlos Sainz but couldn't make it to tenth. I also forecasted a bad weekend for Oscar Piastri, and he finished fifth. Unfortunately, I said he would finish outside of the top five. My other three predictions weren't close. Verstappen didn't win by over ten seconds (in fact, he didn't win at all), Racing Bulls couldn't even get a car within a lap of Lando Norris, and we surprisingly still have no announcements regarding Red Bull, Racing Bulls, or Alpine seats.

For me, the second-most exciting news comes in the drivers' championship. Lando Norris retook the lead from his teammate for the first time since April, surpassing Piastri by only a single point. With four rounds to go, Norris sits on 357, and Piastri sits on 356. Even with an underwhelming weekend, Max Verstappen managed to again gain on the Papayas for the fifth straight weekend. The gap between Verstappen and Norris is only 36 points, and 33 points are up for grabs this weekend, meaning if Verstappen wins both events and the McLarens fail to score, first-place Norris will only be ahead of third-place Verstappen by three points with three races left. Talk about exciting!

In other news, OLLIE BEARMAN P4. Yes, you heard that right. Rookie Ollie Bearman, in a Haas, a car ninth in the championship without a podium in ten seasons of existence, almost stood on the podium. The Brit capitalized on a chaotic race start to move up to P6 before overtaking Russell and Antonelli at the same time. Sitting in P5, he went wheel to wheel with his idol Max Verstappen and came out on top to take P4. Above Bearman, Hamilton received a 10-second penalty for cutting a corner on the opening lap, leaving Bearman in P3. However, a successful gamble by Red Bull took Haas's maiden podium away as Ollie finished P4 behind Norris, Leclerc, and Verstappen.

Without further ado, let's get into our predictions.

Podium Predictions

Here are my predictions for the podium finishers at the 2025 Sao Paolo Grand Prix:

Sao Paolo Grand Prix Sprint

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

   
   

2. Lando Norris (McLaren)

   
   

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

Sao Paolo Grand Prix

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)

   
   

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

   
   

3. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

Five Spicy Hot Takes

Now, let’s spice things up with some bold hot takes for the Sao Paolo Grand Prix, rated from 1 to 5 spicy pepper emojis:

1. 🌶️ - Verstappen will win the Sprint. What? Verstappen winning a sprint? Couldn't be...

   
   

2. 🌶️🌶️ - Verstappen closes in on a McLaren. Well, it has happened five straight weekends, but it seems like Lando is figuring it out. However, Oscar remains a mess, and Verstappen will hope to continue to catch up and finally get within a race win of one of the title challengers.

   
   

3. 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Red Flag on Sunday. It's actually kind of hard to think of a full race at Interlagos without a red flag, but the rain is supposed to come during the sprint. I think there will be a big crash and red flag that forces a standing restart.

   
   

4. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Someone loses their seat. Something has to happen. It has to happen.

   
   

5. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - An excelent weekend for Haas. Bearman's on a roll and should be able to score, and Ocon finished on the podium last year with Alpine. Yeah, he took that piece of garbage to the podium.