Penalties in Vegas Reignite F1 Title Fight—and ESPN’s Final Stretch

A postrace penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix has revived the Formula One drivers’ championship battle with two races left in the season—and in ESPN’s domestic media rights deal.

In F1’s final U.S. race on ESPN, Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas GP late Saturday night over championship leader Lando Norris, who finished second. Verstappen originally cut into Norris’s lead by 7 points, but hours after the finish, Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri were disqualified after both their McLaren cars were found in violation of technical regulations.

Before the Las Vegas race weekend, Verstappen was trailing Norris by 49 points and would have been mathematically eliminated if Norris outscored him by at least nine points. He now trails Norris by 24 points and is also tied with Piastri for second in the standings.

Drivers’ championship standings:

• Lando Norris: 390
• Oscar Piastri: 366
• Max Verstappen: 366

There are just two more full races (Qatar and Abu Dhabi) and one sprint race (Qatar) remaining on the calendar. A race winner is awarded 25 points, while a sprint race winner takes home 8 points, meaning a maximum of 58 points can still be scored by a single driver. 

Verstappen, who is chasing his fifth consecutive drivers’ championship, which would tie F1 legend Michael Schumacher for the racing series’s longest world title streak, can take the championship lead if he replicates the results of Las Vegas in Qatar. 

When It Was This Close Before

It’s the first time since the controversial finish in 2021 that the drivers’ championship has yet to be clinched before the final two races. That bodes well for ESPN’s viewership for the last two races. The 2025 season is averaging 1.3 million viewers through 21 races, up 17% compared to last year. (Las Vegas GP viewership numbers have yet to be released.)

ESPN viewership plateaued in the previous two seasons, but has benefited this year from Nielsen’s new Big Data + Panel measurement and a close world championship battle. 
A strong finish would be a parting gift for ESPN and F1’s partnership, which started in 2018 in a deal that was originally worth about $5 million per year. F1 is set to move to Apple TV next year in a deal worth a reported $700 million over five years.