By Alan Baldwin
(Reuters) – Max Verstappen will be Formula One world champion for the fourth year in a row if he beats Lando Norris in Las Vegas this weekend.
McLaren’s Norris must score three points more than his Red Bull rival — requiring at least a top eight finish even if Verstappen draws a blank — to delay the inevitable for one more week and continue the title ‘battle’ to Qatar.
Verstappen has a 62-point lead with 60 to be won after Las Vegas, meaning the Dutch driver can lose two points to Norris and still secure the title on wins given he has eight to the Briton’s three.
The reigning champion won on the gaudy, floodlit Strip last season, despite a five-second penalty and later collision, to complete a U.S. triple, while Norris hit the wall on lap three and retired.
“This is the final push for everyone,” said Verstappen, who would be only the sixth driver to win at least four titles, going into the season’s last run of three races on successive weekends.
“We performed well here last year and it is a really fast circuit, with long straights and a lot of opportunities to overtake and go racing.”
Norris, sixth in Brazil on Nov. 3 despite starting on pole position in a race won by Verstappen from 17th on the grid, also has the constructors’ championship to think about with McLaren 36 points clear of Ferrari at the top.
That battle, with McLaren chasing a first constructors’ championship since 1998 and Ferrari their first since 2008, could go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi with Red Bull not out of the running either.
The defending champions are 49 points behind McLaren after ending a 10-race losing streak.
Verstappen’s Mexican team mate Sergio Perez, who had appeared to be in danger of not seeing out the season after his home race in October, is still searching for form but looks safe for the last three.
“It’s a track I enjoy, I like the street circuit experience, with the walls in tight,” said Perez, who was third in Vegas last season.
“While it’s a spectacle of a race, for everyone attending and watching back home, it’s one where I know I need to perform and maximise this car and my own performance.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was on pole in Las Vegas last year, finishing second, and is also in a battle with Norris for second overall, with the Briton 24 points ahead.
The mid-table battle is also intense, with Alpine rocketing from ninth to sixth with a double podium finish in Brazil but only three points clear of Haas and five ahead of RB.
Formula One will have a new race director at a critical point in the championship with Portugal’s Rui Marques taking over for the first time after the sudden and surprising departure of German Neils Wittich.
Last year’s race in Las Vegas was the single largest sporting event in the city’s history, producing an economic impact of nearly $1.5 billion, according to organisers.
More than 10,000 general admission tickets have been added this time, community engagement made more of a focus and a Ferrari support race featuring for the first time.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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