Max Verstappen took his fourth consecutive Formula 1 world title in a Las Vegas Grand Prix, with George Russell capping an unexpectedly dominant weekend for Mercedes to hold off teammate Lewis Hamilton’s comeback for the race win.

Verstappen joined the exclusive ranks of four-time world champions by meeting the minimum requirement of finishing one place ahead of Lando Norris to secure the 2024 drivers’ crown with two rounds to spare.

Russell, meanwhile, pulled away in the distance of the race itself to end Mercedes’ four-month wait for another F1 victory.

Russell led away from pole at the start, and although he came under early pressure from Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and then withstood a late attack from Hamilton, who had started tenth, the race leader did not make any progress throughout the fifty laps misstep and claimed his lead. second victory of the year and Mercedes’ first since July’s Belgian GP, ​​when his teammate inherited victory after being disqualified for technical reasons.

Hamilton finished seven seconds behind and was ultimately forced to rue his two mistakes in the final stages of qualifying on Saturday, leaving him on the fifth row of the grid for the weekend. Mercedes clearly had the fastest car on the spectacular illuminated Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

Verstappen had risen to second from fifth on the grid in the first stint of the race to position himself for championship glory, but his Red Bull was less competitive in the long second stint on hard tires and he was ultimately knocked off the podium places shuffled.

After being overtaken by Hamilton shortly after their respective stops, a relatively compliant Verstappen, who clearly had the wider title picture in mind, was then overtaken by the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

But with Norris’ McLaren not up to speed and a further ten seconds behind, there was no real threat of Verstappen losing further ground and falling out of a title-winning position in the closing laps.

While Norris was driving in a sort of no man’s land in sixth place, he made a late pit stop for new tires to take the bonus point for the fastest lap of the race – which, although it had no bearing on the outcome of the drivers’ title race, could be useful for McLaren’s now sole challenge, in an attempt to seal the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Ferrari.

With Oscar Piastri only seventh in the sister car, McLaren’s lead over Ferrari has been cut to 24 points with two race weekends remaining in the Middle East – first in Qatar next week and then in Abu Dhabi on December 6 and 8 Dhabi.

Constructors’ title holders Red Bull also remain mathematically in the hunt, but with 54 points back their two-year reign as champions will end as early as next Sunday unless they reduce their deficit in Qatar by at least 10 points.

Nico Hulkenberg rode strongly to finish in eighth place, moving Haas back to sixth in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Alpine after their rivals’ unexpected double podium in Brazil, while Yuki Tsunoda finished ninth for RB, ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, which had started 15th.

Long live Las Vegas for Mercedes: Russell controls, Hamilton attacks

Mercedes’ 2024 car has proven wildly inconsistent throughout the season, but when put into the narrow operating window in which it thrives it can be particularly impressive.

Las Vegas turned out to be one of those rare and, from the team’s perspective, puzzling weekends.

After storming to a brilliant pole in qualifying under the lights of Sin City, Russell successfully avoided the potential pitfalls of the first lap of racing as Leclerc jumped from fourth on the grid to second, ahead of Sainz and Alpine qualifier Pierre Gasly.

At the start of the fourth lap, the Ferrari put pressure on the McLaren race leader, with a change in lead seemingly inevitable.

But Leclerc’s early burst seemed to cost the life of his car’s tires and he quickly fell back, with teammate Sainz first regaining second place and then Verstappen also third.

While Leclerc and Norris, who were also struggling on his medium tyres, were soon heading for pit stops after just ten laps, Verstappen was second on lap 11 when he passed Sainz.

But this was relatively unimportant to the fast Russell, who continued to pull away from the front at a stage of the race that effectively gave him victory.

Hamilton also showed strong pace in the other W15 and after picking off the cars in the bottom of the top 10, he had put himself at the back of the podium-chasing pack by the time he retired on lap 13.

Hamilton passed Norris shortly afterwards on his fresh tires, followed the Ferraris and then undercut them by pitting earlier at the second stops. He then passed Verstappen for second at the start of the third stint.

At that point in the race Hamilton was around ten seconds behind Russell and although he impressively and ruthlessly tried to capitalize on his teammate’s advantage to come back around seven seconds over the final ten laps, the race leader seemed to be that. he controlled his pace and ultimately rode to a well-deserved victory.

Formula 1’s season-ending triple-header continues next weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the last two F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month membership – No contract, cancel anytime