F1 News Today: Lewis Hamilton LAST as 'unacceptable' penalty slammed at Las Vegas GP

Lewis Hamilton, Hungary GP, Ferrari, 2025, Generic — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Today

F1 News Today: Lewis Hamilton LAST as 'unacceptable' penalty slammed at Las Vegas GP

All the latest F1 news heading into the Las Vegas weekend.

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Saturday 22 November 2025 15:47

Lewis Hamilton qualified in LAST position for tomorrow's Las Vegas Grand Prix, in treacherous conditions.

It's the first time in Hamilton's career that he has qualified last based off pure pace, and he exited Q1 before conditions dried out later in the session, allowing for medium tyre running.

Meanwhile, Lando Norris took a masterful pole position on Friday night in Las Vegas to put himself in prime position to extend his world championship lead.

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Oscar Piastri penalty labelled 'unacceptable' at Las Vegas Grand Prix

During media rounds at this weekend's Las Vegas GP, Williams star and Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Carlos Sainz also spoke out against Piastri's potentially championship-altering penalty.

The Spanish driver discussed his opinion that the stewards are over-penalising the sport in general, punishing he and his rivals for what many drivers would consider to be a racing incident.

Sainz said: "I think we need urgently a catch-up and try and solve it...because for me the fact that Oscar got a penalty there in Brazil is unacceptable, honestly, for the category that we are in and being the pinnacle of motorsport."

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McLaren deal with bizarre issue after shock P19 & P20 finish

McLaren had an odd end to a session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Friday, with their cars in the garage and their mechanics donning rubber gloves.

With the track rapidly drying in a damp final practice session, most teams were out setting increasingly quick times on dry tyres - except the papaya pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Norris came in with seven minutes left of the session, with his mechanics all quickly putting on elbow-length rubber gloves before touching his car, suggesting an electrical fault on the number four machine, while Piastri also had to finish his session early.

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We shared a McLaren conspiracy theory, and Oscar Piastri reposted it

Amid the hectic Las Vegas GP weekend, McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri got fans talking on social media, after his Instagram account reposted a GPFans graphic that highlighted a conspiracy theory within the team.

We uploaded a post earlier this month about Bernie Ecclestone's recent quotes where the ex-F1 CEO claimed McLaren 'preferred' Lando Norris to his team-mate Piastri because he was British.

Though the repost no longer appears on the Aussie star's account, fans were quick to screenshot the proof that the account had reposted it, and now the debate over whether McLaren do favour one driver over the other has taken over F1 social media once again.

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LEGO join 2026 grid as new driver signing announced at Las Vegas GP

LEGO have announced that they will be joining the 2026 F1 Academy grid, confirming Esmee Kosterman as their driver.

The news was delivered in spectacular fashion with the livery for next season's car unveiled at this weekend's Las Vegas GP, in front of the sphere, which adopted a LEGO-style face which donned an F1 Academy helmet!

Kosterman competed as a wildcard driver at her home race in Zandvoort earlier this year but next year will mark her first full-time campaign in F1 Academy. Oh, and to celebrate? An F1 Academy LEGO set is now available to pre-order as well.

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McLaren's disastrous Las Vegas GP record offers Max Verstappen glimmer of hope

McLaren may be leading the drivers' championship in 2025 but as this year's edition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix rolls around, the papaya F1 team's awful record at the track has resurfaced.

This is only the third race in F1 history on the Las Vegas Street Circuit, meaning that McLaren's record in Nevada is short yet disastrous.

There have only been two previous Las Vegas GP's and McLaren have failed to finish in the top five with both their drivers on either of those past occasions.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri currently hold first and second position in the drivers' standings, but if their previous results in Vegas are anything to go by, Max Verstappen may be able to hold onto his title chance for another week.

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Felipe Massa handed major court update over Lewis Hamilton 2008 F1 title battle

A judge has ruled that ex-Ferrari driver Felipe Massa can continue with taking parts of his case to trial in a legal battle over the 2008 drivers' championship.

Massa famously lost to Lewis Hamilton that season, and has argued that he missed out on the championship because of the points he lost at the Singapore Grand Prix, when 'Crashgate' occurred.

'Crashgate' refers to the scandal which was uncovered long after the 2008 season, where Nelson Piquet Jr was found to have deliberately crashed his Renault to trigger a safety car and manipulate the race result.

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Why is the Las Vegas Grand Prix taking place on a Saturday?

The F1 calendar welcomes the Las Vegas GP once again this weekend, but you may be a little confused about what time the on-track action is actually taking place!

Since its inaugural event in 2023, the Las Vegas GP has been a night race, and this year lights out will happen at 8pm local time (PST) on November 22.

And before you rush to check your calendars, yes, the full-length Las Vegas race is taking place on a Saturday for those in that time zone, which will hopefully target as many prime time viewers around the globe as possible. If you're in the UK however, it'll be a late night (or very early morning) for you!

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Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

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