Liam Lawson in action during Las Vegas GP practice. Photo: Joao Filipe/Photosport
Kiwi Liam Lawson has finished back in the field, after an early collision damaged his Racing Bulls car at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Well placed on the third row, after qualifying sixth, Lawson entered the first turn too fast and collided with Aussie Oscar Piastri, buckling his front wing and leaving debris on the track,
While the race slowed under virtual safety car, Lawson limped to the pits for repairs and a change of tyres, and was unable to mount a challenge from there.
He eventually finished 16th.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won, with McLaren's Lando Norris stretching his championship lead over teammate Piastri to 30 points, after finishing second.
Piastri finished fourth, after a five-second penalty for Mercedes Kimi Antonelli.
George Russell, last year's winner of the floodlit race, completed the podium for Mercedes.
With two grands prix and a sprint to come, worth a maximum 58 points, Norris has 408 points to Piastri's 378, with four-time world champion Verstappen still mathematically in contention on 366.
Norris finished 20.741 seconds behind, but can now secure his first title in Qatar next weekend, with McLaren already clinching the constructors' crown for the second year in a row.
"The car was working pretty well, much more to my liking," said Verstappen, ferried to the podium, with Norris and Russell, in a LEGO pink Cadillac convertible driven by actor Terry Crews, as fireworks lit up the sky over the Strip.
"It was at the end quite a decent gap."
It was the 69th win of Verstappen's career and his sixth of the season, as well as his 125th podium and eighth in a row in the 150th grand prix of Red Bull's partnership with Honda.
Norris lost the lead to Verstappen at the start, dropping to third, when he ran wide at the first corner, and opened the door for the Dutch driver and Russell.
He retook second from Russell on the 34th of 50 laps, but then had to manage fuel to the finish.
"I let Max have a win," he joked. "I let him go, let him have a nice race.
"No, I just braked too late," he added, with an expletive on the live television feed that could land the Briton in trouble with the governing FIA.
"It was not my best performance out there, but when the guy wins by 20 seconds, it's because he has just done a better job and they're a bit quicker."
Reuters/RNZ
Follow the action here:
