Max Verstappen says the Turn 1 moment eventually helped him secure the win in F1 Las Vegas GP, as Laurent Mekies admits George Russell did push them early on.
It ended up being a good start for Red Bull’s Verstappen when he managed to keep his car well in F1 Las Vegas GP to eventually take the lead into Turn 1 after McLaren’s Lando Norris went too hot and wide to drop back to third, behind Mercedes’ George Russell.
The Dutchman had to just keep it together in front and the Turn 1 moment eventually helped him secure the win at the end. “Yeah, well, I mean, it helped, of course, to get into the lead in Turn 1,” said Verstappen. “I mean, that’s what you should do to cover off the inside.
“But I think it’s very easy to get caught out with where you have to brake also, because normally in the start, you leave the grid and then you look in the mirror. But here, it’s almost like you don’t have a lot of time to look in the mirror because you immediately have to brake again.
“And it’s quite slippery anyway. So yeah, I guess that’s what happened,” summed up Verstappen, who relayed the rest of the grand prix which includes the push from Russell in the first stint. That was the only time when the Dutchman felt some resistance. He didn’t as much against late push from Norris either.
“I do think in the first stint, we were all finding our feet a bit with how much to push or not, how much we had to manage, because I do think we were all quite close up until the pit stops,” continued Verstappen. “So we were just trying to get a good balance, because we didn’t really get to have a good understanding on Thursday. But yeah, it felt better than expected, I would say, already on that compound.
“And then, when we got onto the hard compound, I think already because we did quite a decent first stint, it made the second stint a little bit easier. But even there, you have to also make sure that you don’t overcook it with the tyre. But yeah, we did well. Good communication with the pit wall as well.
“So yeah, actually very enjoyable, very nice, relaxed. So it was great,” summed up Verstappen. Just after the race, he was still a bit behind Norris and Oscar Piastri, but the McLaren disqualification brought him much closer to the Brit as he is now only 24 behind the Brit. Additionally, he is now tied at 366 points with the Australian in a remarkable turnaround.
Verstappen is still taking it one at a time and enjoying the situation. He is happy with the consistency of results, especially in the second half. “Yeah, just trying to enjoy, have a good time, and when you can win, you try to win,” he said. “It’s [enjoying race wins] because they don’t come as easy as ’23. So in ’23, it was more like ticking boxes.
“Now it’s not like that, and we come from a very tough period, already last year. This year, it’s been annoying at some stages as well. Everyone, of course, was not happy with the performances. And then, yeah, to still have this kind of end to the season for us is amazing. So you need to enjoy that because it’s a big motivational boost for everyone. And that’s why—it works the same for me.
“We have been more consistent on the podium, let’s say like that. Some races we’ve not been in contention for the win, but from, I would say, the middle of ’24 until the middle of ’25, we were more probably off the podium than on. And now, at least, we are always fighting for a second or a third place, but at least on the podium, and that’s already, for us, I think a very good step forward.
“I think that should have been the case from the start, of course, if you want to really fight for a title. But yeah, unfortunately, we didn’t get it right in the beginning, but at least now it’s more consistent and sometimes, yeah, it’s good enough then to win,” summed up Verstappen. Team boss Mekies concurred with the Dutchman in terms of challenge from Russell in the grand prix.
There was praise again from Mekies for Verstappen for his high class show. “Well, Lap 1, Turn 1, you just never get it wrong, no?,” he said to media. “So, that was a typical, typical Max. He made it, got a good start, got Lando. You guys can judge it better than I do, but he just never gets it wrong. So, that’s what it’s in. From that point, in the early phase of the race, actually, George was able to put more pressure than what we would have thought on us.
“So, George was properly putting pressure on us, that lasted maybe five or ten laps, and then he started to, I think, to drop, perhaps with graining or with something else. So, the race started to become a bit more in control at that stage when George was a touch out of our DRS. Then there was another critical moment where George pitted, whether or not to cover him.
“I guess that was a bit tricky at that stage because it was not clear how fast he would go with a fresh set of hard tyres. We decided to stay out. Max was able to keep pushing and effectively to match George’s pace. Nonetheless, as you have seen, eight laps later when we pitted, it was still very, very close between the two, so there was little to separate them. And then on the hard again, I think we had more confidence on the hard because we saw the set of medium, we saw that the tyres were in good condition when we took them off the car and Max could push more.
“I think he had probably even more pace than what we have seen in the car. There was a couple of times in the second stint where we have asked him to increase the pace when Lando was pushing and every time it was necessary he has increased the pace. So, I think all together it was a masterclass from him, no question.
“On a race weekend where nobody had the proper preparation because the practice sessions were all disturbed by something or something else, to be that strong on Sunday, tyre degradation, executions, race pace, I think it’s a big well done to Max for nailing it again and to everyone back in Milton Keynes and the racetracks because today there was a lot more than a normal race. There was really this number of factors that we knew were going to be new for the race day.
“In terms of driving and what he does, I think he’s as good or better than everything we have seen. There are many, many examples this year. Now we know we have suffered in the first part of the season. The guys have been doing an amazing job in managing to turn around the car, and now that he’s able to fight again for the win, he does masterclass after masterclass, so that’s what it is.
“We do what we always say we are doing, we take it race by race, a win is a win. It’s easy to forget how difficult it is to win. You need to get everything right, and that’s how we look at it. We look at every single race. You cannot imagine a more different situation in Qatar compared to Vegas. Now everything is the opposite of Vegas, so we will reset and try to make the weekend again,” summed up Mekies.
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-formula-1-las-vegas-gp-verstappen-seizes-lead-as-norris-runs-wide-in-dramatic-start.1849555190074067783
Here’s Lando Norris on race start
Here’s how F1 Las Vegas GP panned out
