The World Championship fight continues to heat up to a stunning conclusion between Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, while the battle for P2 in the constructors' championship between Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari will see yet more changes.

Who will hold their cards close to their chest? Who will put all their money on red? Let's preview the Las Vegas Grand Prix!

Lando Norris is the man on form coming into the Sin City, with a commanding win at the Mexico City Grand Prix backed up by a calm and composed drive at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Thanks to back-to-back wins, a 24-point gap has now opened up between him and teammate Oscar Piastri, who is spluttering into Vegas with two P5 finishes in succession, including a DNF during the sprint race at Interlagos.

Confidence will be at an all-time high for Norris compared to his Australian counterpart, and a third win on the spin would put the Brit in the driving seat to avenge his 2024 disappointment.

However, the cooler temperatures that will decend on the Nevada desert nights always throw a spanner in the works for McLaren and their temperature gaguing, and Max Verstappen will be right on the tail of the papaya-coloured cars.

The four-time world champion arrives in the United States off the back a stunning recovery drive at the Brazil GP, finishing P3 after starting from the pitlane, and a performance like that, along with a bit of Vegas luck, will be needed to try and overturn the 49-point deficit currently between himself and Norris before the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

But after already slicing the gap from 104 points to just 49, nobody will want to bet against the Dutchman before he is officially out of the running, and plenty of magic can be made in the City of Lights.

With McLaren sealing their second team title in as many years at the Singapore Grand Prix, the fight for P2 in the constructors' championship is also finely poised.

After a positive weekend in Brazil, Mercedes sits in the driving seat for that second-place finish, and they have always found joy around the Las Vegas Street Circuit.

The German team sealed a one-two finish last time out, with George Russell finishing on the top step of the podium, and he is primed to do the same again as he continues a superb 2025 season, sitting P4 in the drivers' standings with two wins and eight podiums to his name.

He will also have some help from teammate Kimi Antonelli, who will come into this race weekend with a spring in his step after an impressive P2 finish at Interlagos, proving his immense talent.

Red Bull come next in the standings, 32 points behind Mercedes, and the Austrian team will have to rely on Yuki Tsunoda to have any chance of making up that ground.

The Japanese driver looked to be finding his feet after the summer break, but coming over the finish line last in Sao Paulo highlights the struggles the Red Bull driver has been having, and little improvement has been shown.

Ferrari's deficit to Mercedes grew to 36 points after a disastrous double-DNF Grand Prix in Brazil, summing up the dreadful 2025 had by the Scuderia.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both have the talent to close that gap before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but it will be a question of whether their troublesome SF-25 will allow them to do so, starting in Las Vegas.

To find out which team and machine will have the edge at the Las Vegas Street Circuit, here's F1 Tech writer Francesco Bianchi!

The Las Vegas Strip Circuit is one of the most unique tracks on the whole calendar, not only for the layout, but also for the conditions. The circuit, in fact, is characterised by very long straights and slow speed chicanes, with just two proper high speed corners (Turns 3-4 and last corner).

This means that teams usually adopt a very similar set-up to Baku or Monza, looking for the maximum top speed instead of downforce: very skinny rear wings and trimmed front wings are used, together with higher engine modes to have a competitive top speed and the end of the straights.

The stop-and-go nature of the track, however, put a lot of stress on the rear tyres due to the frequent traction phases, while the fronts tend to cool down on the long straights. This aspect makes tyre management extremely difficult in Las Vegas: due to the cold temperatures (since the race is held at 8 pm, in the desert), the front tyres never enter their working window throughout the lap and start graining after a few laps, especially the soft compound.

Graining, in fact, appears when the bulk of the tyre is too cold, while the surface gets hotter through the cornering phase. This causes the rubber to slip away after a few laps, ruining the outer surface of the compound and consequently reducing grip. This phenomenon has a huge impact on performance, especially on high fuel loads, as it can cause significant lap time loss.

To try and prevent this issue, Pirelli will bring the soft C5, the medium C4 and the hard C3 this weekend: these softer compounds are easier to warm up in cold conditions and, thanks to the great grip provided by the C5, it’ll be possible for drivers to complete more laps on the same set also during qualifying, due to the low level of abrasiveness of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

Trying now to analyse the teams’ performance for the weekend, Red Bull and Mercedes should have an advantage over competitors for the upcoming weekend.

As Red Bull is concerned, in fact, they’ve already demonstrated to be particularly quick on low downforce layouts, like in Monza and Baku. The RB21, in fact, has an optimal efficiency with the low downforce rear wing, which provides a very good top speed and an optimal grip out of slow-speed corners.

As already done in Baku, the team could decide to adopt a slightly higher downforce front wing to make the car more pointy, in line with Verstappen’s requests in terms of driving style. This choice could translate into more grip on the front axle and thus less graining in the race distance. All these elements should make the RB21 ‘the favourite’ around the Las Vegas Circuit, as the conditions and the layout could exploit the car’s strength.

For Mercedes, the W16 has already proven to have two big strengths this season: phenomenal traction and a perfect balance in cool conditions. When the temperature is cold, in fact, the car enters its working window, exploiting its full potential, without worrying about the rear tyre overheating.

As it happened in Las Vegas last year, in fact, the cool temperatures reduced overheating on the rear axle, allowing Russell and Hamilton to conquer a phenomenal one-two for the team with little effort.

Moreover, the great performance in the slow-speed corners and in traction should also give both Russell and Antonelli an advantage in qualifying, as they could gain precious time in those areas over their competitors and reach higher top speeds thanks to the better corner exit.

As a consequence, it’ll be particularly interesting to see the possible battle between Red Bull and Mercedes this weekend, as they could all fight for the victory on a track where overtaking is possible.

On the other hand, it should be a very difficult weekend for both McLaren and Ferrari, but for two different reasons.

On McLaren’s side, the Las Vegas Strip Circuit doesn’t match any of the MCL39’s strengths. The very long straights and the very few slow speed corners deny the Woking car to express its superiority in terms of downforce and tyre temperature management, two aspects that usually emerge on more traditional circuits.

Moreover, the very low level of downforce required for this race makes it also difficult for McLaren’s engineers to find the right working window for their car: as already happened in Baku, in fact, the MCL39 showed off a poor performance, due to the cold weather and the very smooth and low-grip asphalt.

As a consequence, this should be one of the toughest races of the year for the Papaya duo, as it already happened last year (neither Norris nor Piastri were able to get into the top-5 in 2024).

For Ferrari, the track that lies in the Sin City could exploit some of the SF-25’s weaknesses: the lack of mechanical grip in the slow-speed corners could mean that the car has no strengths on this track.

Related to this issue, having no grip means that it’ll be extremely difficult for drivers to warm up and keep the tyres within the correct working window, especially on the front axle during qualifying. This issue should be even exaggerated by the cool temperatures usually experienced in Las Vegas.

As a consequence, the conditions and the track layout could clearly disadvantage Ferrari and McLaren over Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, but it’ll be extremely interesting to see how the performance unveils over the weekend that’s about to start, hoping to enjoy another great weekend of racing!