Max Verstappen won a thrilling championship battle in 2021 by dethroning Lewis Hamilton and dominated the sport in 2022 and 2023, grabbing two more titles. However, it is his 2024 championship win that is turning the most number of heads in the paddock, and it all boils down to the fact that this year, he has driven a much slower car for a change.
The Dutchman hasn’t had the fastest challenger since round 10 of the Championship in May, yet he has built an unassailable 61-point lead over title rival Lando Norris—thanks to his seven wins in the first 10 races—which mathematically secured his victory with two weekends remaining. Astonishingly, he has won just once in the last 12 races.
Jenson Button, however, put Verstappen‘s glory in the ‘normal’ category. “This year, it was more of a fight [for Verstappen]. And it’s what you normally get in Formula One, you know, it’s not straightforward,” the 2009 World Champion said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
For all intents and purposes, Button was not undermining Verstappen’s achievements. Rather, he credited the Red Bull driver for his dominant 2023 performance. Button ascribed his title to the competitiveness of his rivals, which were aplenty this season.
That said, the former McLaren driver did concede that Verstappen had to dig deeper than ever before to triumph. With the third or fourth fastest car on occasion, the 27-year-old had to raise his mental game, according to Button. So, it may not have been as ‘normal’ for Verstappen as the ex-McLaren driver himself claimed.
How Verstappen has matured as a driver in 2024
Circling back to Verstappen’s previous two title wins, Button highlighted how the 27-year-old had to change his mindset and drive to win this season. He used to overtake cars comfortably and win without breaking a sweat — something that changed in 2024 thanks to the RB20’s handling woes.
After Verstappen realized that he wouldn’t get to spray champagne from the top step of every podium, his target became keeping the mathematical advantage over Norris. This meant Verstappen had to morph his driving still on the track to ensure he got just enough out of the races to have his title defense stay alive.
Still buzzing… Never thought this would have been possible pic.twitter.com/RuCVDEqtmy
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) November 25, 2024
“I think we’ve seen Max have to go through a very different way of driving you know. It’s about collecting points, it’s not about fighting for that victory and that overtaking move that gets the win,” Button explained.
Verstappen demonstrated this mentality during the Las Vegas GP. Needing to finish ahead of Norris to win the championship, he drove a perfect race—finishing P5, just ahead of the McLaren driver, to clinch the title.
