Max Verstappen wins fourth world title as George Russell triumphs in Las Vegas Grand Prix

He vaulted up on to the back of the lead group by delaying his first stop, and passed Norris shortly after it. The seven-time champion then set about challenging the Ferraris, with Verstappen at this point second ahead of Sainz and Leclerc, having overtaken the red cars with a later pit stop.

But Hamilton, lacking straight-line speed in his Mercedes, was unable to make progress past the red cars.

Instead, Mercedes made a second pit stop on lap 27, a lap before Sainz and four laps before Leclerc, and Hamilton used his pace to emerge in second place.

He caught Verstappen with a succession of fastest laps and swept by on the straight on lap 31.

Russell followed Leclerc in on lap 32, and for a few laps after his stop Hamilton took chunks out of his team-mate’s lead, getting it down from 11.2 seconds to 7.4 in seven laps.

But it soon became clear that Russell had the race under control, and he led Hamilton to an unexpected one-two.

Behind them, the Ferraris closed back in on Verstappen after their final pit stops and both passed him in the final 10 laps.

Behind Norris, his team-mate Oscar Piastri was seventh as Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, RB’s Yjuki Tsunoda and Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez completed the top 10.