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BRILLIANT STRATEGY: RED BULL'S VERY SMART MAX VERSTAPPEN MOVE WORRIES MCLAREN TEAM

Lando Norris can mathematically eliminate Max Verstappen from the 2025 F1 title fight at the Las Vegas GP. The McLaren driver leads by 49 points, with Verstappen needing a strong result to keep his championship hopes alive.

Brilliant Strategy: Red Bull's Very Smart Max Verstappen Move Worries McLaren Team
Red Bull’s Smart Tactic Could Halt Vegas Success - Photo Credit: Getty Images

Red Bull might have played a blinder for their star, but Lando Norris can theoretically eliminate Max Verstappen from the 2025 Formula One drivers' championship match at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

With 49 points separating the top three drivers in the drivers' standings, the 2025 Formula One season continues this weekend in Sin City with the 22nd of 24 rounds. With 390 points, Norris is ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, surpassing his McLaren colleague Oscar Piastri, who is at 366 points.

Verstappen, a Red Bull racer, is presently 49 points behind Norris and can only afford to fall to a 58-point deficit following the Las Vegas Grand Prix to have a chance of winning the drivers' championship again. Over the course of the Abu Dhabi GP, Qatar GP, and Lusail Sprint, 58 points will be awarded.

In the five rounds leading up to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last time around, Verstappen had closed the gap to the top of the F1 drivers' championship. Verstappen finished P4 and P3 in Brazil's F1 Sprint and Grand Prix, respectively, while Norris gained 13 points.

With the help of Red Bull's new engine and other setup adjustments, Verstappen moved from the pits to the podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Coronel is now certain that the power unit will have the strength to help Verstappen win the Las Vegas Grand Prix a second time.

"I think they were very savvy to try for the utmost, the best of the worst situation, in Brazil," Coronel told RacingNews365. And I believe this is much more true now, as the goal in Las Vegas is to have as much engine power and as little downforce as possible.

He went on: "You see, those McLarens are not particularly famed for their straight-line speed, but rather for their downforce. Thus, in my opinion, Red Bull consistently has the highest peak speed, along with Williams.

Mercedes and Ferrari have also been performing well in that area, so we should not disregard them. However, it is really rather simple. I am placing my entire stake on Max.

The high-speed track and cool Las Vegas GP conditions have never been suitable for McLaren


According to Coronel, Verstappen will be among the favourites to win big in Sin City in 2025 after winning the first Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023. In a one-two for Mercedes, George Russell won the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix, which also happened to be Lewis Hamilton's final podium finish for Ferrari in 2025.

Since McLaren's vehicle has never been suited to the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, the team has historically had trouble in Sin City. Given the combination of tyre problems in the chilly desert at night and the aerodynamic requirements for a high-speed circuit, the Woking team is predicted to have difficulties in 2025 as well.

The Dutchman began his comeback in the drivers' championship clash when Verstappen overtook Norris to win the Italian Grand Prix around the fast-paced Monza. Verstappen would have probably been on par with Norris if Red Bull had installed the same setup that he used for qualifying in Brazil.

In order to compete at or close to the front in the 2025 race, Norris and Piastri will be hoping McLaren can apply the lessons they learned in Las Vegas in 2023 and 2024. Piastri finished P10 in the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix after Norris crashed, and they were more than forty-three seconds behind the winner in P6 and P7 in 2024.

At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Max Verstappen's new engine from Brazil might change everything.

However, Tim Coronel is "far more" certain that Red Bull's decision to install a new engine in Verstappen's vehicle in Brazil was a sham that might have cost McLaren drivers Piastri and Norris the race in Las Vegas. Verstappen qualified in P16, but Red Bull used the chance to swap out his engine.

LANDO NORRIS SINGLE: F1 CHAMPION CONFIRMS SPLIT FROM MAGUI CORCEIRO IN LEAKED VIDEO

F1 heartbreak: Analyse Lando Norris's split from Magui Corceiro, the "single man" leak, and their on-off relationship history.

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TikTok video captures Lando Norris confirming his breakup in Bahrain

Looks like Formula One world champion Lando Norris and his supermodel girlfriend, Magui Corceiro, have split up. The two started dating in 2023 and had a pretty on-and-off thing. She was right there with him when he won the title in Abu Dhabi – definitely an emotional night for both of them.

But now, it seems like it’s over. According to the Sun, a TikTok video caught Norris telling Carlos Sainz Jr that he’s “a single man". The audio’s not great, but you can hear Sainz asking if he and Magui are okay, and Lando just says, “No,” then adds that he’s single. This happened during pre-season testing in Bahrain while the drivers were getting their photos taken.

Magui, who’s also an actress from Portugal, used to date footballer Joao Felix before Lando. She and Norris broke up in 2024 and got back together, but it looks like they’ve called it quits again. People close to them say there’ve been signs for a while; things changed after Lando’s big championship win. The most obvious clue? Magui wasn’t at Lando’s big thank-you party in Bahrain, even though everyone else was there. Naturally, that got people talking.

Back in December, Magui broke down in tears after Norris won the world championship. She gave an interview to TV Guia, saying how happy they both were and how, in that moment, she forgot about the cameras. It all seemed pretty solid then.

Magui’s got a huge social following – around 800,000 fans on TikTok – and she’s done everything from acting in Portuguese dramas to modelling for brands like Intimissimi and Alo Yoga. She was even on Portugal’s Dancing with the Stars in 2020 and co-founded the eco swimwear brand Missus. She’s graced Vogue Portugal, too.

Norris himself talked about Magui in Vogue, saying they met a few years ago but only got together more recently. He called her “down to earth” and said he can just be himself around her. Apparently, he kept trying to get her into golf, but she hated it.

Neither of them has officially announced the breakup, but at this point, it looks like they’ve gone their separate ways.

DISASTER WARNING: OSCAR PIASTRI FEARS 2026 RACE STARTS COULD LEAD TO MULTI-CAR GRID ACCIDENTS

Oscar Piastri warns of chaos at the 2026 start! Discover why the new rules are a "recipe for disaster" and how McLaren found "warp speed."

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Piastri warns that clean launches now depend more on chance than skill

Oscar Piastri thinks there’s a lot of luck involved in getting a good start these days. Pre-season testing in Bahrain really made it clear that these new 2026 F1 rules have turned race starts into a much bigger headache.

He’s spoken up about this before, especially since so many teams and drivers are running into fresh problems under the new regs. The big one? F1 dropped the MGU-H from the engine formula, and suddenly, starts just aren’t as smooth. It’s a mess.

After last week’s first official test in Bahrain, Piastri didn’t sugarcoat it. He called the 2026 start a “recipe for disaster” because of how wildly different every driver’s launch is. Even the FIA and F1 noticed, so they decided to test out a longer starting procedure during the second test.

Here’s what they did: during the second test, they delayed the starting lights, giving drivers more time to spool up their turbos. Ferrari’s 2026 engine features a smaller turbo, allowing its drivers to maintain lower revs for longer periods. Others? They’re sitting there for up to ten seconds, just waiting.

Piastri says the new procedures and the extra week of testing in Bahrain helped a bit; things aren’t quite as all over the place now. But he’s honest: there’s still a ton of luck involved if you want to get a clean launch and avoid turbo lag or wheelspin.

Holding high revs to prime the turbo, now that the MGU-H is gone, is just one of the traps drivers can fall into. Piastri figures it’s going to take a while before all 22 drivers on the grid are nailing their starts every time.

He summed it up at the press conference in Bahrain: “Mine yesterday wasn’t so bad. I was last, but I also overtook four cars. There’s still a lot of luck involved, and we’re learning what makes a good start and what makes a bad one.

“There are a few pitfalls you can run into that cause problems. Managing the energy and the whole procedure – that’s one thing.

“The way we start is just totally different from last year. It’s trickier across the board. Some drivers are handling it; some just aren’t.”

On the other hand, McLaren looked like they were getting the hang of it by the last day of testing. Jolyon Palmer, watching from the sidelines, was impressed by Piastri’s practice start but even more blown away by Lando Norris.

Palmer thought McLaren had cracked the code. On Friday, Piastri shot off the line in the morning, but Norris outdid everyone in the final session. Palmer joked that Norris hit “warp speed".

He said on the F1 broadcast, “Warp speed, see you mate! That’s a brilliant start from Lando. McLaren is there. I’ve seen it all day. Oscar got a great start. In the pit lane, it looks good.

“I’d love to see that next to the Ferrari, honestly, because it’s really impressive. Their start is much better than Red Bull’s. I’d say it’s even better than Mercedes.”

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