After a hard-fought season riddled with off-track controversies, an underperforming Red Bull car, and a surprising challenge for the crown by Lando Norris, Max Verstappen became a four-time World Champion, thanks to his perseverance. He secured the title with two more races remaining after a P5 finish in Las Vegas last weekend, following which Christian Horner rightly placed his driver as one of the best in the sport’s history.
BBC reporter Harry Benjamin even dubbed Verstappen‘s 2024 Championship win his best yet. Upon hearing this statement, the immediate comparison that comes to mind is 2021 when the Dutchman had an epic duel with Lewis Hamilton. Benjamin, however, had his reasons. “To fight back in all that adversity and to stay cool, calm, and collected, that’s what makes this his best world championship yet,” he said.
Now, even Verstappen agrees. On the F1 Nation podcast, he said, “Because most of this season…70% of this season we did not have the fastest car, but actually we still extended our lead, so. That is definitely something I’m really proud of. “
MAX VERSTAPPEN IS THE 2024 F1 WORLD CHAMPION!
A brilliant fourth title in-a-row! Incredible!!!#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/kiBpPmV86H
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 24, 2024
This is why the 27-year-old ranks his latest title victory above his utterly dominant 2023 season as well. He won 19 out of 22 races last year but had the fastest car under his belt for the entirety of that year. This season, however, that wasn’t the case.
Verstappen only won one of the last twelve races. Still, he managed to keep his closest challenger Norris at bay and finally took the chequered flag as Champion once again last weekend.
How Verstappen pulled off a championship in the fourth-fastest car
Verstappen struggled comprehensively with the handling of the RB20 since the Spanish GP in May. Plus, the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes, all got better and they began competing for wins, leaving him scrambling for points with an outside sniff of the podium.
Thankfully, Verstappen had a good start to the season. The RB20 was not so woeful in the first 10 races, where Verstappen capitalized, winning seven. It allowed him to build a lead which he has been able to hold on to since.
That said, while he may have fended off an attack from the likes of Norris, 2025 is going to be a tricky affair. Red Bull are set to carry forward the concept of the RB20 onto the RB21 and it could leave them off on the back foot — something that Verstappen would be pretty wary of.
