Max Verstappen is Formula One's King of Las Vegas with 18th win of season
The triumph was the 53rd of the triple world champion's career, and sixth in a row, leaving the Dutch driver level with now-retired German Sebastian Vettel in third place on the sport's all-time winners' list.
The triumph was the 53rd of the triple world champion's career, and sixth in a row, and came after a five-second penalty for forcing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc off track at the start and then a later collision with Mercedes' George Russell.
It was also Red Bull's 20th win in 21 races, another record for a single season, and completed a sweep of three U.S. wins in 2023 for their Dutch driver, who was also dominant in Miami and Austin.
"It was a tough one," said Verstappen, whose race suit further revved up the Sin City hype with flourishes in homage to the signature jumpsuit of the late "King of Rock and Roll", Elvis Presley.
"I tried to go for it at the start, I think we both braked quite late and then I just ran out of grip and we ended up a bit wide so the stewards gave me a penalty for that.
"That put us a little bit on the back foot, I had to pass quite a few cars ... It was definitely a lot of fun."
Leclerc, who had started on pole position, denied Red Bull a seventh one-two finish of the season by passing Mexican Sergio Perez on the last lap to seize back second place in a race full of incident.
SAFETY CARS
Esteban Ocon was fourth for Alpine with Lance Stroll fifth for Aston Martin and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz sixth.
Mercedes seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh, ahead of a demoted Russell, Alonso and McLaren's Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, who took a bonus point for fastest lap.
While Red Bull won both titles long ago, Ferrari closed the gap to second-placed Mercedes to four points with one race remaining in Abu Dhabi.
The lack of grip was evident from the start as cars accelerated past the floodlit casinos and hotels and down the Strip.
As Verstappen forced Leclerc wide to take the lead, without giving the place back, Alonso spun and was hit twice by Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas with Perez also involved.
The Mexican pitted for a new front wing as the virtual safety car was deployed but McLaren's Lando Norris then brought out the full safety car when he crashed on lap three.
Norris was taken to the University Medical Centre for further precautionary investigations.
When racing resumed on lap seven, stewards handed Verstappen a five second penalty but he shrugged off the decision. "Yeah, that's fine, send them my regards," he told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
Leclerc retook the lead on lap 16, with Verstappen pitting and serving the penalty with a 7.7 second stop that dropped him to ninth.
Perez took over at the front on lap 22 when Leclerc pitted, with the Mexican also helped by the safety car being deployed again on lap 27 to recover debris from the clash between Verstappen and Russell, who was given a five second penalty.