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WILL LANDO NORRIS EXTEND LEAD: LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX DECIDES FATE

Lando Norris leads the F1 championship by 34 points over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri heading to Las Vegas. With Max Verstappen 59 points back, the title fight is now an intra-team McLaren battle.

Will Lando Norris Extend Lead: Las Vegas Grand Prix Decides Fate
Norris Holds Best Hand as F1 Bets On Vegas

As the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix approaches, it appears like the fight for Formula 1's drivers' championship has reverted to a two-horse race due to Lando Norris' dominance in Mexico and Brazil.

At a time when Oscar Piastri was the driver to catch, Max Verstappen appeared to be back in the spotlight due to McLaren's difficulties between the Dutch and Mexico City Grand Prix and Red Bull's comeback under Laurent Mekies.

However, the Australian's poor performance—he has not finished on the podium since his victory at Zandvoort—as well as Norris' recent genius have propelled the Briton into a 34-point lead over Piastri, with Verstappen trailing by 59 points with just three races and a sprint remaining.

And while one DNF for Norris may push the Dutchman straight back into a more threatening position, his already limited title aspirations now seem far-fetched.

Therefore, Norris and Piastri, as well as whether the latter can regain the form that propelled him into a 34-point lead of his own in the Netherlands, will be the main focus for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

With a respectable sprint qualifying result in Brazil, Piastri appeared to have put his recent struggles behind him. However, an accident in the sprint placed him back once again, and a contentious penalty eliminated him from the podium chase in the actual grand prix.

With time running out, Piastri's chances of winning the championship are stacked against him in F1's third trip to Sin City, making this weekend appear like a must-win for him.

However, the Woking-based team needs to significantly improve its performance from the same event last season, so it might be a case of putting all its chips on red only to have the ball land on a black segment.

A year earlier, Norris led McLaren, but he only finished sixth, more than 40 seconds behind race winner George Russell and behind Mercedes, Ferrari, and Verstappen.

Piastri finished eighth, although ten seconds later, since the crew found it difficult to adjust to the particular circumstances of the course.

The circuit is always changing because the roads in Paradise are open to the public during the day and closed in the evening and at night for Formula One practices.

Can Mercedes add some flair to the Las Vegas scene?


Compared to other races, the late-night action in the Mojave Desert presents a distinct challenge because of the exceptionally low temperatures, which complement Mercedes' good form.

As part of a minor rearrangement, the sessions will begin two hours earlier than they did the previous two years, which could benefit the team. This could result in somewhat higher conditions. It will not be evident until vehicles start racing how much of a difference this will truly make.

Even though his racer's instinct would prefer to be closer to the finish line, Norris would be content with a repeat of last year's performance.

A sixth-place finish would guarantee a 42-point lead over Verstappen going into the Qatar sprint weekend, but the distance to Piastri would be widened. Norris is not under much pressure in that regard.

Given the circumstances and Mercedes's performance here last season, it is difficult to ignore the aforementioned points. Both drivers have been doing well lately; Kimi Antonelli was particularly excellent in stopping a charging Verstappen to secure his second podium of the season and a career-best finish in Brazil.

One of the closest similarities to the Las Vegas Strip Circuit on the Formula One calendar is Canada, where the Italian rookie's first of three top finishes took place. Could this give Antonelli a chance to win for the first time?

Ferrari's performance in the second half of the season has been so inconsistent that it is difficult to predict a successful weekend for the team, but it is also impossible to rule out the Scuderia. All of this makes the race for second place in the constructors' championship an intriguing subplot to the McLaren battle for drivers' championship supremacy.

Twenty-two points is the difference between Mercedes and Ferrari, with Verstappen nearly single-handedly moving Red Bull ahead of the Scuderia. The Silver Arrows may make significant progress toward securing the runner-up position in this weekend's race.

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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