Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Live in Las Vegas

Terrible start for both the McLarens. Oscar Piastri has lost a couple of places as well, he's down to seventh place.

That was so aggressive from Lando Norris that it put him out of shape going into Turn One. He went so wide and I'm sure Max Verstappen will call it karma.

The 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix is under way!

Lando Norris pivots his McLaren ever so slightly towards his left to cover off Max Verstappen and he makes an aggressive move to try and thwart him into the first corner but it goes wrong!

Norris goes off track and Verstappen takes first place it goes from bad to worse. He then loses further ground and cedes position to George Russell and drops to third!

Rosanna Tennant
5 Live F1 reporter in Las Vegas

The grandstands are absolutely packed out, the excitement is really building.

Yuki Tsunoda has changed his power unit and starts from the pitlane. That lifts Lewis Hamilton into starting from 19th. Can he make up some ground if the race stays dry?

Ferrari certainly looked in decent shape in practice when conditions were dry and favourable.

Top 10 are all starting on the medium tyre this evening.

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Live in Las Vegas

Lewis Hamilton has looked good all weekend up until qualifying and he said that he just couldn't get the tyres working and in that temperature window.

He did say that his brakes were glazed and there are several reasons for that, but clearly he was desperately trying to get the tyres up to temperature while using the brakes.

These are usually the conditions that he thrives in, but not yesterday.

BBC Sounds

Early morning plans but still want to follow along? Remember you can also take Radio 5 Live’s commentary of the Las Vegas Grand Prix with you and listen on the go with the BBC Sounds app.

Or if you want to listen via your smart speaker, just ask your device to "Play 5 Live".

McLaren's Oscar Piastri speaking to Sky Sports: "Looking forward to it. Should be an interesting race, there's a lot of unknowns."

Image source, Getty Images

Pole-sitter Lando Norris speaking to Sky Sports: "I'm feeling good and I always feel ready to go after the drivers' parade. I'm excited, it's a big race and a lot of question marks going into the race.

"We feel prepared and ready to go, so I'm excited."

On there being potential rain: "I really hope not, it makes things tricky. I've not seen the latest forecast to be honest, from what I know at the minute it's mainly going to be dry with some small clouds around.

"On this kind of track the tiniest bit of rain will make a big difference. It will make it interesting for you guys, it's insanely stressful for us but that's what it's all about."

On strategy: "My mind is on driving, it's not going to be easy because there could be a lot of graining and many things that make my life hard today.

"Things we're prepared for but it will certainly make it a bigger challenge. We've always been pretty much free to do whatever we want.

"I'm sure Oscar [Piastri] will be pushing, I'm sure George [Russell], Max [Verstappen] will be quick. Many challenges but I've got the clear track so as long as I focus and do what I do then I should be fine."

Ian Fergusson
BBC weather forecaster

With just under 10 minutes to lights out, air temperature is 17C and the track 18.5C. Humidity is ~40%; a light wind, primarily from the northwest. Dry; no showers currently in the vicinity. FIA official risk of rain is 10%.

Alice Powell
British racing driver on BBC Radio 5 Live in Las Vegas

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar Piastri [starting from fifth] has got work to do, he needs to claw his way up to the back and in front of Lando Norris to give himself any hope of getting his first world championship.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Harry Benjamin and Alice Powell are in place to take you through tonight's action on BBC Radio 5 Live.

They'll be joined by BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

You can listen along at the top of this page.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Las Vegas

Image source, Getty Images

After Friday’s wet qualifying the risk of rain for the race has not entirely evaporated.

The forecast puts the risk at 20%. In a dry race, the medium and hard tyres are expected to be the focus - the soft is too vulnerable to graining, when the surface tears and reduces grip.

That could well be an issue on the other tyres, too, as it was last year. On wear, the race is a one-stop strategy. But if the tyres grain, that could push it to a two-stop, and it could also push the race towards Mercedes.

Last year, George Russell dominated because his was the only car that did not grain its tyres. This year, the Mercedes again looks less vulnerable to the phenomenon than their rivals.

The race tends to finish in pace order because overtaking is relatively easy. A pit stop costs about 21 seconds, or 12 under a safety car.

Has Lando Norris all but wrapped up the title already?

Or will Max Verstappen beat him to the punch at Turn One to keep the title fight alive?

And what of Oscar Piastri? Can Norris' McLaren team-mate, and title rival, force his way back into the mix after a torrid spell?

Let us know how you see the wider picture pan out as a result of this race using the yellow 'get involved' button above.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Las Vegas

Image source, Getty Images

The conflict in Lando Norris' mind as he closes on his first world title was clear after he took pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Norris expertly navigated the treacherous wet conditions on a track almost devoid of grip to take pole position from Red Bull's Max Verstappen by a margin of 0.323 seconds - a gap that could have been significantly larger had the Briton not had a major wobble through the chicane at the end of the Strip on his fastest lap.

Norris goes into the race 24 points ahead of McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, who starts fifth, and 49 clear of Verstappen. All year, as the championship has unfolded, he has insisted he is taking the season one race at a time, and not changing his approach.

But in the post-qualifying news conference, it seemed he was already weighing the question of risk versus reward, with Verstappen, renowned for his aggressive approach to starts, alongside him with much less to lose.

Norris said: "I'm here to win. I'm not here to not take risks. I still want to go out and win. So I'll be making sure I can do everything that I can.

"But it's still one step at a time - get a good start, good opening lap, that kind of thing - and just go from there."

BBC Weather

The track action in Las Vegas takes place at night, so conditions in the Nevada desert will be cool. Thursday's first and second practice sessions were largely unaffected by light rain while Friday's qualifying sessions were plagued by heavy rain.

Temperatures for the grand prix, which starts at 20:00 local time, will be around 14C.

The race should be dry, however there is a chance of light rain and a gentle breeze.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Las Vegas

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton said it "can't get much worse than that" after qualifying last for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion's performance was the first time he has been last on pure pace in his 19-year Formula 1 career.

Hamilton lacked pace throughout in the wet, conditions in which he has scored some of his greatest victories, and ended up 2.301 seconds slower than team-mate Charles Leclerc in the first session.

It is another low for Hamilton in a first season at Ferrari that he described as "a nightmare" after he retired from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix two weeks ago.

Hamilton is yet to stand on the podium for Ferrari, although he did win the sprint race in China in March.

"I don't really have words for it," he said.

"It's obviously not good enough. I just couldn't get temperature into the tyres, had a lot of understeer and I think one of my front brakes was glazed so I was really struggling to stop it in the corners.

"It's very annoying, of course, because in P3 the car was feeling awesome and I thought it was going to be a great day and it turned out to be the worst. It can't get much worse than that."

Image source, Reuters

Torrential rain fell during a torrid qualifying session for the drivers on Friday but Lando Norris showed nerves of steel to take pole with an incredible lap where he set three purple sectors.

"That was stressful, stressful as hell," Norris said of his stunning pole lap.

"I didn't know no-one else would get a lap after me. The first two sectors were good. As soon as you hit the kerb a little bit wrong it's tricky, it snapped one way and then the other but good enough for pole.

"No-one's driven here in the wet before. After Q1, every corner you felt like you could crash every corner. One lap at a time. It was a tricky one."

Here's the standings in the constructors' championship coming into the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Title winners McLaren top the standings of course but the big story after Sao Paulo was Ferrari dropping from second to fourth.

With Lewis Hamilton starting from the back of the pack and Charles Leclerc starting ninth, they'll have their work cut out if they are to keep the pressure on Mercedes and Red Bull.

Pole sitter Lando Norris sits at the top of the drivers' tree as things stand.

Headed into the final three races, he holds a 24-point lead on Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris took a giant leap towards sealing the 2025 drivers' title courtesy of an absolutely monster lap which put him on pole position for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen, who still has an outside chance of retaining his title and sealing a fifth consecutive championship, starts in second.

Norris' McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri will start in fifth as the title battle continues in the entertainment capital of the world.

We've got all the build-up to the race and reaction from a hectic day yesterday.

Lights out is at 04:00 GMT.