Max Verstappen is about to win his fourth Formula One championship, on his way to becoming just the sixth driver to win four F1 titles.
Max Verstappen who may become a four-time World Champion this weekend will be joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Lewis Hamilton as drivers who have won at least four, should he succeed. Can rival Lando Norris defend, and win his first championship and how will he approach the race?
Despite the fact that the F1 championship is still up in the air, Max Verstappen has increased his chances following an incredible performance in Brazil. He leads his championship contender Lando Norris by precisely 62 points with just three races remaining.
Verstappen is in a strong position to win the title in the next Grand Prix in Las Vegas. With two races remaining one of which is a sprint weekend, Norris may not have enough points to make up the gap to fight for the crown.
Is Red Bull Dominance in trouble?
With seven wins in ten Grand Prix races in the first half of 2024, it appeared like Red Bull driver Max Verstappen would easily win another title. Red Bull is no longer the dominant team, though, as McLaren made significant improvements to its MCL38, which is now the fastest package on the Formula 1 grid.
After the Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen and Lando Norris were separated by just 47 points. After a long winless streak, Verstappen bounced back to the top step of the podium by winning the Brazil Grand Prix and increasing his lead over Norris to 62 points.
Can Lando Norris stop Max Verstappen from winning his 4th title?
Norris needs to outscore Verstappen by at least three points in order to prevent him from winning the title on the Las Vegas strip.
Norris would win the title in Abu Dhabi if he scored every point that was available throughout the final three race weekends and Verstappen did not score again. The Brit’s chances of winning the title before the season finale have been eliminated.
But Verstappen not scoring a point is unlikely. Given that Australia 2024 was the only race where the Red Bull driver did not score a point. As it is likely that the Dutchman will score points, Verstappen would still need to place seventh or worse in every race including the sprint for Norris to be the champion, even if the Brit were to win every race with the quickest lap.
How many points does Verstappen need to win the title?
Max Verstappen has 393 points, with Norris 331 points behind him. Going into Vegas, Norris has a narrow margin of error to compete for his first-world crown. If the McLaren driver wants to make his dream come true, he’ll need to hit the ground running in Vegas.
There are just 60 points still to be earned after Las Vegas: 26 in Abu Dhabi (P1 + fastest lap) and 34 in Qatar (P1 + fastest lap + sprint win). To maintain his hopes of winning the championship, Norris must catch up to Verstappen by at least three points. In that scenario, he is 59 points behind Verstappen following Las Vegas.
The championship is over if Norris is 60 points behind following Las Vegas. Max will win the championship since he has more victories than Norris, even if Norris ends up finishing the season on par with Verstappen.
What will happen to the Constructors’ Championship?
Can Red Bull win the Constructors’ Championship as well? With 544 points, Red Bull Racing is in third place in the championship before the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Ferrari has 557 points, while McLaren leads with 593.
In theory, Red Bull Racing still has a chance to turn things around. Considering the performance of McLaren and Ferrari, Red Bull will need to perform a miracle in order to win both trophies. It will be a difficult fight, but nothing is impossible.
As the F1 season races toward its thrilling finale, every point counts. With Verstappen’s dominance in sight and Norris pushing to defy the odds, the next few races will be nothing short of a spectacle. Will we witness a historic fourth title for Verstappen, or can Norris pull off the impossible? The ultimate showdown awaits.
