Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has said Max Verstappen winning a fourth successive Formula 1 World Championship “absolutely cement[s] his position amongst the greats in the sport.”
Verstappen headed to the Las Vegas Grand Prix with one hand on the F1 Drivers’ title, knowing that if he finished ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, the job was done.
Coming home in fifth place was all that was needed and Verstappen joins Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton in the elite club of drivers to win four titles in a row.
Horner spoke of Verstappen’s glowing achievement post-race and told select media including Motorsport Week that “I think this one is a very special victory because obviously there have been challenges this year,” referring to a 10 race winless run between Spain and Brazil.
“But I think that Max scored more than double the amount of race wins than any other driver,” he added.
“He’s won it with two races to go. He’s been head and shoulders the best driver on the grid in Formula 1, and I think what he’s really done this year is absolutely cement his position amongst the greats in the sport. And I think that both statistically and on the way that he’s driven, that’s unquestionable.”
2024 ‘toughest’ of Verstappen’s titles, says Horner
After a 2021 maiden title went down to the wire with Lewis Hamilton, titles two and three for Verstappen were won with relative ease as Red Bull brought a dominant car to thwart the rest of the F1 field.
That changed in 2024 after a dominant start to the campaign, but from Norris’ maiden victory in Miami, Verstappen and Red Bull had multiple challengers.
Multiple victories for McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes made Verstappen’s task of winning a fourth title far harder than Horner and Red Bull initially would have expected coming into the campaign.
“I think this was, together with 2021, the toughest,” Horner said.
“This one, we started the season very strongly. But by Miami, it was clear that McLaren had made a significant step.
“But Max, when you look back at the season as a whole, and you think back to the races he won in Imola and Barcelona and Montreal, that were all very tough, closely fought races.
“Through the summer months, when we were struggling a bit with the car, he was still second in Silverstone, second in Zandvoort.
“He was still picking up big podiums and results and behind the scenes, was putting a massive amount of effort in, with the engineers and designers and on the simulator, more than any of the previous years.
“I think he’s been outstanding this year. Not only what he’s done in the cockpit, and I think he’s inspired within the cockpit, but out of the cockpit as well.
“The way he’s conducted himself, the way he’s worked with the engineers, and all the technical staff, has been phenomenal.”
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