Perez podium in Vegas secures Red Bull their first F1 clean-sweep

It was more last lap disappointment for Sergio Perez but he helped Red Bull Racing secure their first-ever F1 clean sweep in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The Mexican looked on course to finish second on the streets of Sin City, completing a 1-2 finish behind team-mate Max Verstappen. But a brilliant and bold late move from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who had earlier led the race, snatched second place at the death to split the Tilbrook duo.

Perez's podium finish though, combined with Lewis Hamilton's seventh place, means the Mexican finishes second in the standings - the first time Red Bull Racing have ever secured the top two spots in the championship standings.

"I am very proud to secure the team’s first one-two in the Drivers’ Championship tonight, it’s a massive piece of history for us," said Perez. "It has been a very intense year, the highs in the year have been extremely high but the lows have been super low.

"As a driver and a human being to come back from those tough moments, is what I take the most from this season.

"Mentally it was very tough at times but we have managed to overcome all those issues and get the job done. Thanks to my team and everyone who supported me."

Verstappen claimed his 18th win of the season, and it was one he had to work harder for. After running Leclerc off the road at the first corner to take the lead, he was handed a five-second penalty which dropped him down the order after the first round of pit-stops.

Cutting back through the pack though, via a collision with Mercedes' George Russell, Verstappen passed both Perez and Leclerc in the closing stages to claim the win at a Grand Prix he openly voiced his displeasure about prior to the lights going out.

He said: "The race was exciting, fun and very hectic! We really had to work hard for it today, there was a lot of overtaking and racing which made it really fun. It was a tough start on the mediums but once we went on to the hard tyre it was better.

"The five second penalty at the start was unfortunate, I really didn't mean to push Charles off, we both braked late in to turn one and there was no grip.

"We were pushing flat out to the end and on the final lap, I tried to help Checo to give him a bit of slip stream, it’s a shame we couldn’t convert the one-two in this race but it’s great that we’ve secured the one-two in the Championship this year. Now we head to the final race in Abu Dhabi.”