LAS VEGAS — With a fourth consecutive Formula 1 championship within his grasp, Max Verstappen returns to the United States as the defending winner of the Grand Prix of Las Vegas.
The 27-year-old Red Bull driver outlasted Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez to claim a crash-filled event last November.
Repeating the victory would give Verstappen a fourth straight title. If he does not win, he can still clinch the title in Vegas if Lando Norris does not outscore him by three points or more.
After a long dryspell during the second half of the season, Verstappen won the Brazilian Grand Prix, the most recent Formula 1 event.
“It looks a bit better now in the championship but we’ll see this weekend,” Verstappen said during media availability in Las Vegas. “We have good hopes to be competitive but I don’t know how competitive. I do feel that even in Brazil in the dry, we were quite decent finally again in race pace.
“This, of course, is a completely different track, completely different temperatures. I just hope that we can continue that momentum a little bit. There’s plenty to race for still – even in the constructors’ I think there is a chance so we’ll see what we can do.”
Red Bull enters Vegas, the first of three races to end the season, 49 points behind McLaren in the constructor’s battle.
