Max Verstappen takes the fourth F1 championship while George Russell wins the Las Vegas GP

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Max Verstappen takes the fourth F1 championship while George Russell wins the Las Vegas GP

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LAS VEGAS — George Russell may have won the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton joining 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 1 world champion.

It was not an easy slam dunk like the previous two titles, although Verstappen completed the feat with two more Grands Prix and a sprint race in the season. In previous years he has won races by a significant margin, such as a 33-second lead when he won the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. At the start of the 2024 season, it looked like Verstappen would dominate again. He won the Japanese Grand Prix by 19.3 seconds, and after that race Mercedes’ Toto Wolff thought: “No one is going to overtake Max this year.”

Wolff added: “His driving and the car are just spectacular. You can see how he handles the tires. In short, this season is now about being the best of the rest. That’s the fact, that’s all.”

But that’s not how the season evolved.

Verstappen’s resilience pays off

Verstappen had to fight more later in the year, as he failed to win a Grand Prix in ten race weekends. There were times when he crossed the line, such as when the race rules debate flared up, but other times he delivered a masterclass, such as the victory in Brazil, which was perhaps one of his strongest victories.

The duo of Ferrari and Mercedes challenged him at times and achieved a total of eight combined victories this season. It is the first time since 2012 that seven different drivers have won a race. But Verstappen’s biggest rival was Lando Norris of McLaren.

The Briton threatened Verstappen early on and took his first F1 victory in Miami in May. But several developments throughout the season cast doubt on whether Norris could overtake Verstappen in the title race – such as when the pair collided in Austria, Norris’ string of poor starts, team strategy calls and unusual circumstances such as Brazil, where McLaren gambled in the wet conditions. . Some wondered if the team was taking too long to issue team orders. McLaren finally publicly confirmed the team orders in September.

Singapore looked to be a turning point in the championship, with Norris putting in a dominant performance as he won the race by 20.945 seconds. The points difference with Verstappen narrowed to 52 points. It was not a 100 percent clean race, with the McLaren driver admitting afterwards that he had had “a few too many close calls”, but victory was not in doubt.

At the US Grand Prix, Verstappen and Norris clashed again, going wheel-to-wheel and avoiding contact, but no penalty. Norris received a five-second time penalty for overtaking outside the circuit and therefore lost third place. The gap grew to 57 points. Afterwards, Norris said, “It’s a momentum killer.” McLaren did submit a right of review, but it was rejected.

Norris and Verstappen clashed again in Mexico, and this time the Dutchman was proven wrong. And São Paulo was a defining moment. Red Bull may have stumbled with the development of its car, allowing McLaren to fly past it in the constructors’ standings, but Verstappen managed to sidestep the difficulties. He won just nine Grand Prix this season, by the time he wrapped up the World Drivers’ Championship.

Max Verstappen during the F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada (Clive Mason/Getty Images)

A championship decider under the lights

Going into the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, Norris appeared to accept that his first F1 title fight could end in defeat on Saturday evening. However, Verstappen warned whether it was certain that the title would come this weekend.

“It’s hard to say at the moment because if you look at the last few dry races we didn’t have the pace. “It’s not like just because we won in the rain in Brazil that suddenly everything is fine and everything looks great,” the Dutchman said. “It has of course given us a good position in the championship, but I also have to be realistic that we are still not the fastest.”

Apart from the fact that Oscar Piastri found himself in the wrong starting position, lined up outside the grid box and received a five-second time penalty, the start of the race was relatively clean. Charles Leclerc navigated past Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz early on, putting pressure on George Russell. The two came close in the following laps as the Ferrari driver tried to get past, but Leclerc was never able to execute the move. However, Sainz seemed to have the stronger pace and it looked like Leclerc was letting his teammate pass.

The drivers’ championship contenders, meanwhile, had several starts during the Las Vegas GP. Verstappen started to close in on Leclerc while Norris didn’t make much progress. Around the time all the first pit stops took place, Verstappen looked set to win the Drivers’ Championship, where he finished fourth on lap 14, while Norris was seventh. That would give the Dutchman a lead of 67 points. On lap 21, Verstappen moved into second place while Norris sat sixth, bringing the Red Bull driver’s lead to 72 points if the results remained as they were.

Mercedes’ pace was undeniable, but Ferrari did not benefit from being delayed when Sainz wanted to pit. Lewis Hamilton continued to navigate the pack and eventually slipped past Verstappen for second place. Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s racing engineer, said on the radio: “Don’t lose sight of our goal today, yes?” The Dutchman replied: “Yes, yes, I’m doing my race.”

The gap between Norris and Verstappen was around 16 seconds on lap 36, and the rest was history. A 1-2 from Mercedes prevented Ferrari from gaining a significant share of McLaren’s championship lead, but the Prancing Horse duo still finished ahead of Norris and Piastri. With one sprint race and two Grands Prix to go, the constructors’ championship has not yet been completed.

Here’s how the top 10 finished.