Max Verstappen clinches fourth F1 championship as George Russell wins Las Vegas GP

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LAS VEGAS — George Russell may have won the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton beside him on the podium for a Mercedes 1-2 finish. But all eyes were on Max Verstappen. For the fourth time in as many seasons, the Dutchman was crowned Formula One world champion.

It wasn’t an easy slam dunk like the previous two titles, though Verstappen wrapped up the feat with two grands prix and a sprint race left in the season. In previous years, he won races by a significant margin, like a 33-second gap when he won the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. At the start of the 2024 season, it looked as if Verstappen would dominate once again. He won the Japanese Grand Prix by 19.3 seconds, and after that race, Mercedes’ Toto Wolff reckoned, “No one is going to catch Max this year.”

Wolff added, “His driving and the car are just spectacular. You can see the way he manages the tires. Basically, this season now is (about being) best of the rest. That’s the fact, that is all.”

But that’s not how the season evolved.

Verstappen’s resilience pays off

Verstappen had to battle more later in the year, failing to win a grand prix in 10-race weekends. There were times when he crossed the line, such as when the racing rules debate flared, but other times, he put on a masterclass, like the Brazil victory that was arguably one of his strongest wins.

The Ferrari and Mercedes duos challenged him at times, taking a total of eight combined wins this season. It’s the first time since 2012 that seven different drivers have won a race. But Verstappen’s closest rival was McLaren’s Lando Norris.

The Briton threatened Verstappen quite early on, taking his first F1 victory at Miami in May. But different developments across the season raised doubts about whether Norris could catch Verstappen in the title battle — like when the pair collided in Austria, Norris’ streak of poor starts, team strategy calls, and unusual conditions like Brazil, where McLaren gambled in the wet. Some questioned whether the team took too long to enact team orders. McLaren finally publicly confirmed the team orders in September.

Singapore seemed like a turning point in the championship, with Norris putting on a dominant performance as he won the race by 20.945 seconds. The points gap to Verstappen narrowed to 52 points. It wasn’t a 100 percent clean race, the McLaren driver admitting afterward that he had “a few too many close calls,” but the victory wasn’t in doubt.

The U.S. Grand Prix saw Verstappen and Norris battle once again, going wheel-to-wheel and avoiding contact but not a penalty. Norris got dinged with a five-second penalty for overtaking off of the race track and lost third place as a result. The gap extended to 57 points. Afterward, Norris said, “It’s a momentum killer.” McLaren did submit a right of review, which was denied.

Norris and Verstappen clashed again in Mexico, and this time, the Dutchman was dinged. And São Paulo was a decisive moment. Red Bull may have stumbled with its car development, which allowed McLaren to soar past it in the constructor standings, but Verstappen managed to drive around the difficulties. He only won nine grands prix this season, by the time he wrapped up the drivers’ world championship.

A championship decider under the lights

Coming into the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, Norris seemed to accept his first F1 title fight may end in defeat would happen Saturday evening. Verstappen, though, cautioned against whether it was definite the title would come this weekend.

“At the moment, it’s difficult to tell because if you look at the last few races in the dry, we didn’t have the pace. It’s not that because we won in the rain in Brazil, suddenly everything is fixed and everything is looking great,” the Dutchman said. “Of course, it gave us a good position in the championship, but I also have to be realistic that we are still not the quickest.”

Aside from Oscar Piastri being in the incorrect starting position, lining up outside of the grid box and receiving a five-second penalty, the start to the race was relatively clean. Charles Leclerc navigated past Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz early, putting pressure on George Russell. The two came close over the subsequent laps as the Ferrari driver tried to lunge past, but Leclerc never could execute the move. Sainz, though, seemed to have the stronger pace, and it appeared that Leclerc let his teammate pass.

The driver championship contenders, meanwhile, had different starts to the Las Vegas GP. Verstappen began closing on Leclerc while Norris didn’t advance much. Around when all the first pit stops happened, Verstappen seemed set to win the drivers’ championship, sitting fourth on lap 14 while Norris was seventh. That would put the Dutchman 67 points ahead. By lap 21, Verstappen reached second place while Norris sat sixth, putting the Red Bull driver’s lead at 72 points if the results stayed as they were.

Mercedes’ pace was undeniable, but Ferrari wasn’t helped by being delayed when Sainz wanted to pit. Lewis Hamilton continued navigating through the pack, eventually slipping past Verstappen for second. Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s race engineer, said over the radio, “Don’t lose sight of our aim today, yeah?” The Dutchman replied, “Yeah, yeah, I’m doing my race.”

The gap between Norris and Verstappen was at around 16 seconds by lap 36, and the rest was history. A Mercedes 1-2 prevented Ferrari from taking a significant chunk out of McLaren’s championship lead, but the Prancing Horse duo still finished ahead of Norris and Piastri. With a sprint race and two grands prix to go, the constructors’ championship isn’t wrapped up just yet.

Here’s how the top 10 finished.

1. George Russell (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Lando Norris (McLaren)
7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
8. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
9. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
10. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

Top photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)