CNN
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Max Verstappen claimed his fourth consecutive Formula 1 drivers’ world championship at the breathless Las Vegas Grand Prix, where George Russell took victory for Mercedes.

Verstappen started the weekend knowing that to win the title he just had to finish ahead of his championship rival Lando Norris. The reigning champion secured the lead in qualifying and started the race in fifth place, ahead of the McLaren driver in P6.

The two drivers were side by side on the first lap, but the Red Bull driver maintained his lead and never looked back. He came home and finished the race in fifth place, followed by Norris in sixth, making his championship lead officially unassailable with only two races left in the season.

Verstappen joins Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel as the only drivers in F1 history to win at least four drivers’ titles, further making him one of the greatest drivers of all time.

“What a season. Four times. Thank you, boys,” said the Dutchman over the radio to his team after the checkered flag. “Thank you everyone. I mean, it was a little more difficult than last year, but we did it and gave it our all.”

After a titanic battle with Hamilton for the championship in 2021, Verstappen took the title in 2022 before winning 19 of 22 races the following year and securing the championship by a margin of almost 300 points.

Having won seven of the first ten races, it looked like he would be in contention for another title, but Red Bull’s pace and trademark dominance faded as their pursuers, particularly McLaren, caught up.

Verstappen only won one of the next 12 races, but secured enough points to maintain his lead over Norris over the course of the season.

“It’s been a long season and of course we got off to a great start, it was almost like a cruise, but then we had a tough run,” he said after the race. “But as a team we stuck together, continued to work on improvements and achieved victory. Incredibly proud of everyone for what they have done for me.

“Of course I think I still prefer last season; I enjoyed it a lot, but I think this season definitely taught me a lot again. I’m very proud of how we mastered this as a team. In a way that of course makes it a very special and wonderful time of year.”

It was a disappointing race for Norris, who put up a valiant challenge for much of the season but ultimately couldn’t unseat the seemingly indomitable Dutchman.

“Congratulations to Max, I’m disappointed to be eliminated but Max deserved the win,” said Norris. “He had a better season than me, he deserved it more than anyone else, Max simply has no weakness.”

“When he has the best car, he dominates, and when he doesn’t have the best car, he’s just always there, always there to make your life hard and difficult.”

Russell qualified on pole position for the Grand Prix and, apart from a brief skirmish with Charles Leclerc at the start of the race, was in full control for most of the race.

It is the third win of Russell’s career and second of the season, having finished first in Austria earlier this year. The Brit explained his plans to celebrate in Sin City after the race.

“I was planning on flying in a few hours, but I definitely won’t be taking that flight!” he laughed. “I will enjoy this evening with my entire team.”

His teammate Hamilton made up for the disappointing qualifying by storming through the field and moving from tenth on the grid to P2 to give Mercedes a one-two finish. With Hamilton’s record-breaking 202nd podium finish, he has now been on the podium at 36 different tracks, according to Sky Sports.

“It was a dream weekend,” said Russell. “I don’t know how we could be so fast, but I’m riding this wave right now. To get the win here, the pole position, a dominant weekend, also a one-two with Lewis… we couldn’t have chosen a better place to do it.”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took third place, closely followed by his teammate Charles Leclerc. The pair swapped places several times and also fought a duel with Verstappen in a race full of overtaking.

In the constructors’ championship, Ferrari narrowed the gap to McLaren to just 24 points, while Red Bull are 53 points behind, meaning everything is still to be seen in the final two races in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.