LAS VEGAS – Max Verstappen hopes that what happens in Vegas will not just stay in Vegas, but will go down in history.

The Red Bull racer could clinch the Formula 1 world championship here on Saturday evening and join the elite club of four-time champions, joining only Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Alain Prost and Juan Manuel Fangio.

27-year-old Verstappen from the Netherlands can secure the trophy by finishing the 50-lap race ahead of his only rival in the championship, Lando Norris. Verstappen goes into the weekend with a 62-point lead over McLaren’s Norris. Norris needs to beat Verstappen by at least three points to keep his title hopes alive, even if they would be slim anyway.

With three races left in the season, there is no other driver who is mathematically in contention for the championship.

“Things are looking a little better in the championship now. But we will see this weekend,” Verstappen told reporters in Las Vegas. “We have high hopes of being competitive, but of course I don’t know how competitive.”

And there is a three-way battle for the Constructors’ Championship, with McLaren 36 points ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull a further 13 points behind.

McLaren is hoping to secure its first Constructors’ Championship since 1998, when Finnish driver Mika Häkkinen won the Drivers’ Championship with the now papaya-colored team. Ferrari, which holds the record for most championships with 16, has not returned the trophy to Maranello since 2008.

The Woking-based team has benefited from both drivers, Norris and Oscar Piastri, winning two races each this season, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have each won three and two races respectively. Verstappen accounts for 72% of Red Bull’s points, with teammate Sergio Perez taking just four podium finishes and no wins.

Verstappen started the year as the clear frontrunner after winning a record number of 19 races last year. But after occupying the top step of the podium in seven of the first ten races, Red Bull lost its lead over other teams and would go ten Grand Prix races without a win.

Verstappen’s long-awaited victory came three weeks ago on a rainy weekend in Brazil after starting 17th on the grid, a heroic and desperately sought victory that ranks among his greatest stages. He received a five-place grid penalty for taking a new engine part, but he finished the race 19 seconds ahead of second place Esteban Ocon of Alpine.

Norris finished sixth that race, which he felt was a blow to his title hopes.

“I think post-Brazil was a difficult period for me because realistically that was the first moment where I thought, ‘It’s difficult to reach first position now.’ We were in such good shape little by little,” Norris told reporters in Las Vegas. “It’s hard to get big points on Max because he hasn’t had any bad races, but I’ve had a tough week because things just didn’t go the way we wanted. My kind of real championship battle was slimmed down by the largest margin of almost the entire year.

The lights and glamor of Vegas serve as an almost Hollywood-esque focal point for the 2025 season, which will see at least four rookie drivers added to the grid.

The so-called crazy season started when seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton made the surprise announcement that he would be leaving Mercedes for Ferrari’s Rosso Corsa.

Next year, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, 18, will replace Hamilton, 39, at the Silver Arrows, while Antonelli’s Formula 2 teammate Oliver Bearman will join Haas, the only American team on the grid. Current Formula 2 Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto will drive for Kick Sauber, which will become Audi in 2026. Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan has been promoted to a full-time seat at the Enstone-based team.

And Liam Lawson, who replaced Daniel Ricciardo in a rare midseason change, is looking to secure a spot with his current team, RB, next year.

“Scoring points and driving strong races. That’s the best way to secure a spot next year,” Lawson told NBC News ahead of the race. “And to be honest, that is the goal: to be active full-time in Formula 1 again, of course. It feels like I’m just getting started.”

Lawson, 22, reflected on the challenges for young drivers getting into the sport as older drivers stay longer.

“There are quite a few experienced guys who have been racing for quite a long time. And it’s definitely harder for younger drivers to step in,” he said. ‘But at the same time, I think teams may now trust us a little more than in previous years. There was a period where the grid didn’t really change. And now quite a lot is changing, and that is exciting.”