Verstappen captures 4th F1 championship after Mercedes sweep of Las Vegas Grand Prix

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Asked how he planned to celebrate his fourth consecutive Formula 1 championship, Max Verstappen did a quick scan of the room searching for a drop of alcohol.

“Well, I ran out of beer, so I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe another one, and then maybe I switch to something else. I don’t need to drive anymore, so we don’t do the drink and drive. I don’t need to do that.”

Actually, Verstappen can do anything he wants after finishing fifth on Saturday night in the Las Vegas Grand Prix to beat Lando Norris of McLaren for the title with two F1 races remaining this season.

The Red Bull driver is now a king of Las Vegas, a year after he arrived in Sin City extremely negative about the extravagant race on the famed Strip. He won and completely changed his tune last November as the Dutchman even sang “Viva Las Vegas” as he crossed the finish line.

Now he used the street circuit to become only the sixth driver in F1 history to win at least four titles. Verstappen needed only to finish ahead of Norris to win the title. He started fifth but was already up to second by the 10th lap and Norris never challenged.

He ended the race up 63 points over Norris with two events remaining this season — a position Verstappen said he never expected to be in even though he’s the son of a former F1 driver. His father, Jos, was even once teammates with Michael Schumacher, one of the best in F1 history.

Despite being surrounded by greatness, Verstappen insisted he never expected his own career to be so successful.

“When you’re growing up racing some legendary drivers, it’s very impressive that I can even be on the podium, whenever it is,” he said. “Maybe win a championship? It’s already hard enough to win one, and then of course, then you also need a bit of luck to be in the right team situation to maybe win more. Luckily, we did that.”

The team celebrated their champion as soon as the race ended.

“Max Verstappen you are a four-time world champion,” team principal Christian Horner said on the radio. “That is a phenomenal, phenomenal achievement. You can be incredibly proud of yourself as we are.”

Verstappen sounded unusually emotional on the radio.

“Oh My God, what a season. Four times. Thank you, thank you guys,” he said. “We gave it all.”

The race was won, meanwhile, by George Russell who was followed by Lewis Hamilton in the first 1-2 sweep for the Mercedes drivers since 2022. Hamilton came from 10th on the grid — two weeks after a demoralizing race in Brazil — to capture his podium finish.

The duo crossed the finish line under a checkered flag waved by actor Sylvester Stallone.

Carlos Sainz Jr. finished third for Ferrari as the constructor championship remains a tight battle between leader McLaren and Ferrari. Charles Leclerc, his teammate, was fourth. Red Bull had won the title that pays roughly $150 million in prize money the last two seasons but has slipped to third in the standings.

That championship battle appears headed to next month’s season finale in Abu Dhabi. McLaren has a 24-point lead over Ferrari heading into this weekend’s race in Qatar after Norris and Oscar Piastri finished sixth and seventh in Las Vegas.

“Max deserved to win it. He drove a better season than I did, he deserved it more than anyone else,” Norris said. “Max just doesn’t have a weakness. When he’s got the best car, he dominates and when he’s not got the best car, he’s still just there always.”

Verstappen, meanwhile, made easy work of Norris after a season where the McLaren driver pushed him harder than he’d been challenged since Verstappen’s first title in 2021.

“To stand here as a four-time world champion is something I never thought would be possible,” Verstappen told actor Terry Crews, who moderated the podium news conference held in front of the Bellagio’s famed fountains.

“It was a very challenging season and I had to be calm. I think this season taught me a lot of lessons and we handled it well as a team, so that of course makes it a very special and beautiful season.”

Verstappen, who is 27, won 19 races last year. He opened this season on a tear but a long winless streak from June until Brazil two weeks ago has him on only eight wins, his fewest since 2020.

Verstappen asked at the Bellagio what time it was, noting he was in Las Vegas and “I’m very thirsty.” He had a champagne celebration awaiting him.

Race-winner Russell said he’d be skipping his scheduled flight home to celebrate the victory with actor Crews. He also twice had to sit down on the podium to wipe champagne out of his eyes.

Verstappen matched former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel as four-time champions for the team.

This was the second year of the race after its debut was a bit of a disaster with locals livid for months over ongoing construction, as well as traffic detours and delays, the inability to access many local businesses and outrageous price gouging by the tourism industry as well as LVGP ticketing. Then, a loose valve cover nearly destroyed Sainz’s Ferrari minutes into the first practice.

It caused an hours-long delay for repairs, fans were kicked out of the circuit, and F1 ran practice until 4 a.m. — when it legally had to reopen the streets to the public.

This year has been far less hectic, in part because all of the infrastructure headaches were dealt with a year ago, but also that last year’s race was spectacular. Despite all its speed bumps, the actual running of the race was one of the best of the F1 season.

Russell started on pole ahead of Sainz, who wanted redemption after the valve-cover fiasco last year. He had to serve a penalty because his car was damaged in the incident.

“I was hoping Vegas had something to offer me after last year, but I will take a podium,” Sainz said. “I was looking at every manhole, avoiding them this time.”

The race is the final stop in the United States for F1, which has exploded in American popularity the last five years. The trio of races in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas are more than any other country.

Next week, F1 is expected to announce it will expand the grid to 11 teams to make room for an American outfit backed by General Motors’ Cadillac brand. The announcement of the American team did not come during the weekend to avoid taking attention away from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which is the showpiece event of the Liberty Media portfolio.

The race drew 306,000 fans over three days.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing