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Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton… and now Max Verstappen: the list of F1 drivers with four or more World Championships is not a long one, but now includes the Dutch driver, after he closed out his fourth straight title in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
On a weekend where the Red Bull RB20 was far from the fastest car, Verstappen did what he needed to do to see off the challenge of his last remaining title rival, Lando Norris, finishing P5 to Norris’s P6 to take title number four – Norris having needed to outscore Verstappen by three points heading into the race to keep his title hopes alive.
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Reflecting on his fourth title-winning season – which started off with seven victories in the first 10 races, before a 10-race drought between his Spanish and Sao Paulo wins – Verstappen said: “It’s been a long season and of course we started off amazing, it was almost like cruising, but then we had a tough run.
“But as a team, we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and we pulled off the win. Incredibly proud of everyone, what they have done for me… So at the moment I’m just feeling very relieved, in a way, but also proud.”
Asked if he’d ever thought that becoming a four-time champion was possible when he’d entered the sport aged 17, Verstappen laughed: “Definitely not! I was just happy to be there and dreaming of potential victories or standing on the podium, you know – the normal things that are already very difficult to achieve.
“Then we just got onto that run after of course a tough few years, so we kept trying and then we just hit the ground running with the new concept [in 2022] and like I said, to be standing here a four-time world champion is just incredible.”
LIVE COVERAGE: Follow all the action from the Las Vegas GP as Russell wins while Verstappen seals fourth world title
Pushed on how this title ranked against his other triumphs, Verstappen admitted that he had preferred the ease with which he won the 2023 title – a year in which he claimed 19 out of 22 races – saying: “For sure it was a very challenging season. I think also as a person, at times it’s very challenging. I had to be calm.
“I think in a way, of course, I still prefer last season; I enjoyed it a lot, but I think this season, definitely again taught me a lot of lessons. I’m very proud of how we handled it also as a team. So in a way of course that makes it also very, very special, and a beautiful season.”
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Verstappen will now turn his attention to trying to help Red Bull secure a third straight constructors’ title in the remaining two Grands Prix of 2024, the third-placed team now 53 points adrift of leaders McLaren.
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