Lando Norris (L) and Max Verstappen. Photo: photosport
Even if he cannot win the Formula 1 title in Las Vegas this weekend, McLaren's Lando Norris could end Max Verstappen's reign on the same floodlit Strip where the Red Bull driver celebrated a fourth successive crown last year.
If Verstappen falls too far behind the Briton after the Saturday night spectacular then McLaren, already constructors' champions for a second year in a row, will be assured of both titles in the same season for the first time since 1998.
The Dutch driver is third overall and 49 points adrift of championship leader Norris, who makes his career 150th race start on Saturday, with 58 points remaining to be won in the last two rounds after Las Vegas.
Norris needs to stretch his lead over Verstappen by nine points to ensure the final races of the triple header - Qatar and Abu Dhabi - become a straight title duel between him and second-placed teammate Oscar Piastri, who is 24 points behind.
Australian Piastri could equally take back the overall lead if he wins and Norris fails to score.
Vegas could be a big challenge for McLaren
The only problem is McLaren do not expect it to be one of their stronger races, with Mercedes and Ferrari likely in the mix as well as Red Bull.
McLaren have won 14 of 21 so far and Norris is chasing his third win in a row, after Mexico and Brazil. He has now beaten his Australian teammate in the last six races.
Another win would be a huge step towards a first title for the 26-year-old but Verstappen showed, in coming from the pitlane to third at Interlagos, that you dismiss him at your peril.
Last year's winner George Russell has a milestone of his own to celebrate, like Norris making his 150th start, while rookie Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli is fresh from his best result yet of second in Brazil.
Max Verstappen at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Photo: Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire / PHOTOSPORT
Mercedes are second overall but still battling Ferrari and Red Bull for the runner-up slot and taking nothing for granted.
Ferrari have something to prove after a grim double retirement in Brazil led to the Italian team's chairman John Elkann suggesting drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton should talk less and focus on driving.
Formula 1 statistics for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, round 22 of the 24-race season:
Lap distance: 6.201km. Total distance: 309.958km (50 laps)
2024 pole position: George Russell (Britain) Mercedes one minute, 32.312 seconds.
2024 winner: Russell
Race fastest lap: Lando Norris (Britain) McLaren 1:34.876 (2024)
Start time: 5pm Sunday (NZ time)/2000 local Saturday
Las Vegas
Las Vegas held two championship races in the Caesars Palace parking lot in 1981 and 1982, both title-deciding season-enders going under the name of the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, before the Nevada city returned to the calendar in 2023.
The 17-turn track is the second longest on the calendar and includes the famed Strip and central landmarks. Average speeds are around 240kph, with cars hitting more than 350kph and conditions cold at night, making tyre warm-up tricky.
Almost 80 percent of the lap is at full throttle.
The race is the third of the year in the United States after Miami and Austin and the third edition of the current Las Vegas GP.
Two current drivers have won in Vegas so far: Max Verstappen (2023) and Russell (2024)
Verstappen secured his fourth title in a row at last year's race.
Drivers' championship
McLaren's Lando Norris leads teammate Oscar Piastri by 24 points. Norris has beaten the Australian in the last six races. Red Bull's Verstappen is third and 49 points off the lead with 58 to be won after Las Vegas. The four-times champion could be mathematically out of the reckoning after Saturday, ending a reign that started in 2021.
Mercedes driver George Russell celebrates his Las Vegas Grand Prix win, 2024. Photo: Jeff Speer/Icon Sportswire / PHOTOSPORT
Constructors' title
McLaren clinched the team's 10th constructors' championship, and second in a row, in Singapore last month.
Mercedes are a distant second, 32 clear of Red Bull who are four ahead of Ferrari.
Wins
Piastri and Norris have both won seven times this season, Verstappen five and Russell twice.
Norris is chasing a third win in a row, which would be a career first.
Ferrari's seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton has not won since his career 105th victory, with Mercedes, in Belgium on July 28, 2024.
Ferrari have not won since October 27 last year and are the only top four team without a win.
Verstappen has won 68 grands prix and is third on the all-time list after Michael Schumacher on 91.
McLaren have won 14 of 21 races.
Pole position
Verstappen has been on pole seven times this season, Norris six, Piastri five, Russell twice and Charles Leclerc once.
The last seven races have been won from pole, and 15 of 21. The Formula 1 record is eight in a row won from pole, in the 1976 season.
Norris has been on the podium 17 times in 21 races, the most of any driver, and Piastri 14.
Piastri has now been absent from the podium in five successive races.
Verstappen has been on the podium for seven races in a row.
Leclerc has been second twice. The Monegasque has seven podiums for the season. Hamilton has yet to stand on the podium for Ferrari since he joined in January.
Nine drivers from seven teams have been on the podium in 2025.
Verstappen's third place in Brazil was his 124th career podium. He is third on the all-time list.
Alpine rookie Franco Colapinto is the only driver on the grid yet to score this year.
Milestone
Norris and Russell are both starting the 150th grand prix of their careers.
The race is also the 150th Grand Prix for the technical partnership between Honda and Red Bull.
-Reuters
