CNN
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Max Verstappen has the chance to add to one of the most entertaining Formula One seasons in recent memory by becoming a four-time World Drivers’ Champion at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
McLaren’s Lando Norris emerged as Verstappen’s closest challenger and has hunted the Dutchman for much of the season, though the British driver’s title dreams are close to fading entirely.
Mercedes driver George Russell qualified on pole position for the race and will have Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz alongside him on the grid in P2.
Pierre Gasly took a surprise P3 for Alpine, with Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc starting fourth. Verstappen will have the upper hand on Norris at the race start, qualifying P5 ahead of the Brit, who will start just behind him in P6.
How to watch the Las Vegas Grand Prix
The 22nd race of the 2024 season gets underway at 10 p.m. PT on Saturday/1 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Fans in the US can keep up with all the action on ESPN. International broadcasters can be found here.
How Verstappen can become champion
Norris entered the weekend 62 points behind Verstappen, meaning that all Verstappen needs to do is finish in front of Norris in Sin City and the title will be his for the fourth consecutive season.
Norris needs to outscore Verstappen by at least three points to extend his challenge to next week’s penultimate race in Qatar.
If both fail to score points, Verstappen will be crowned champion.
Four in a row?
When Verstappen won seven of the opening ten races this year, it looked as though he would ease to the title essentially unopposed for the third straight season. After a titanic battle with Lewis Hamilton for the championship in 2021, the Red Bull driver swept to the title in 2022 before winning 19 out of 22 races the following year to win the championship by an almost 300-point margin.
However, he has only won one Grand Prix since Round 10 in Spain, as the pendulum swung in McLaren’s favor.
Red Bull’s dominance that it had established over the past couple of seasons quickly evaporated as the chasing pack reeled in the Austrian team. The McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri, Ferrari’s Sainz and Leclerc and the Mercedes duo of Russell and Hamilton have all won at least one race this campaign.
Forced into unfamiliar territory, Verstappen has been made to play catchup for much of the year but has shown the characteristics that have made him a multi-time champion. In a testament to the Dutchman’s ability, the gap between him and Norris is wider than it was after Round 9 in Miami – where Norris took his first career victory – despite Red Bull not having the fastest car over the course of the season.
Verstappen is fresh off the back of one of the best wins of his career, going from P17 to the top step of the podium in a rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix.
“I just want to focus on the weekend and try to have a good performance,” the 27-year-old said ahead of the race weekend. “Brazil was a very welcome victory for us after a while, but this is again very different.
“I’m just looking forward to the weekend. Three races left, you’re getting close to the end of the season and it’s looking good in the championship but we still need to score a lot of points so we’ll just focus on that.
“Once we are doing that then you get closer to the end result. Of course, the target is to win the championship.”
Verstappen is aiming to become the sixth driver ever to win at least four titles.
The mood is slightly less upbeat in the McLaren camp, with the championship on the brink of slipping through Norris’ fingers. Despite the recent disappointment, the Brit has said he now knows he has “what it takes.”
“I think it’s the first time in the last six years of F1 when we’ve (McLaren) had a chance to fight at the front,” said Norris. “This is our, and my, first opportunity to do so, and my first opportunity to see where I stand.
“I’m confident to say I have what I think I need to fight for a championship. It doesn’t mean I’m complete, it doesn’t mean I’m perfect. When you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him.”
The Constructors’ Championship is still firmly up for grabs. Only 49 points separate first-placed McLaren from Red Bull in third, with Ferrari lurking in second.