Max Verstappen shuts out the noise to show nice guys finish last
Max Verstappen has won his fourth world title and it was one of his hardest yet.
Were you expecting anything different?
Max Verstappen has won a fourth world title, shutting out the noise in a season in which Red Bull have looked their most vulnerable since 2021.
Max Verstappen is a four-time F1 World Champion
The feat takes him level with Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel and if those two drivers are met with universal adoration, Verstappen remains the great marmite figure of F1. While the hundreds of thousands of orange-capped fans in the stands at Zandvoort would take a bullet for him, there is an equal amount waiting to tear down his latest achievement.
With a dominant season like no other, 2023 was a celebration of the Dutchman. 2024 then has seen some of his most divisive characteristics return. Clashes with Lando Norris in Austria and Austin were rightly criticised from across the paddock but for some, it was the ‘same old Max’ returning.
To many, Max Verstappen is a cheat, a dirty racer, not as good as this driver or that driver, a foul-mouthed hot head, someone who has only won titles because of Abu Dhabi 2021 or Red Bull’s catering or Adrian Newey. But the reality is the same now as it always has been – Verstappen does not care what you think.
But is that stubbornness not what defines the best of the best? Show me any dominant champion and I will point to that ruthless streak. To the part of them that would rather crash out then see someone else get their hands on the trophy. Michael Schumacher had it. Ayrton Senna had it. Niki Lauda had it. Lewis Hamilton had it.
To understand Verstappen, you have to understand his upbringing. The Dutchman was bred to be a racer. His dad had him driving endless lap after lap in the pouring rain all for one goal – to win. He also comes from a nation of straight-shooters. His no-bulls**t approach to press conferences could not be more Dutch and to some, that rubs them up the wrong way. But it is this kind of steely resistance that has allowed Verstappen to win again in 2024.
The season started with Red Bull seemingly tearing itself apart as an internal investigation into Christian Horner put him on one side and Helmut Marko on the over, demanding that all must choose a side. With the matter squared away and the wounds healed as much as they can be, Verstappen also had to deal with a staff exodus including Adrian Newey and a car that was not performing.
Monaco was a sign that the RB20 was a pale imitation of the RB19 and for the first time in a long time, Red Bull looked distinctly catchable.
Others around needed no second invitation. From Austria to Mexico, Verstappen went on a 10-race winless run, an unthinkable statistic going into the season. But even during this barren run, Verstappen was lifting the car to places where it perhaps did not deserve to be.
Compare his form to Sergio Perez’s and while the Mexican has struggled to get anything out of the RB20, Verstappen has dragged it kicking and screaming to points in every race bar Australia.
The true quality of the RB20 may actually lie somewhere in between Verstappen’s and Perez’s average placements but Verstappen’s performances this season have been the biggest argument in the man v machine debate for many a year.
The key quality of Verstappen that Norris and McLaren failed to match was maximising the points when you are on top. The Dutchman’s four wins out of the opening five races gave him a 34-point lead over everyone but Perez. That gap is ultimately what has kept Verstappen ahead even when Red Bull were at their weakest.
Verstappen has also been Mr. Consistent in a car that was everything but. Only four drivers have completed more laps this year. While Lewis Hamilton this season has demonstrated how a difficult car can result in poor results, Verstappen has shown the skill to take it in his stride.
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But with a figure like Verstappen, it is easy for many to look past his talents and instead focus on the pantomime villain that is often portrayed. Off the track, he is one of the easier drivers to talk to as it feels like a real conversation but when that helmet goes on, the ruthless driver that is now a four-time World Champion is there.
Verstappen is a cold-blooded operator, willing to go to the very edge of the line and sometimes slip over in the pursuit of an edge but ultimately this style and never say die attitude has got him where he is today. It got him through the karting laps in the rain, it got him through being left at an Italian gas station by an irate Jos, it got him through his first F1 seasons and now it has taken him to a fourth world title.
When Verstappen hangs up his helmet for the final time, he may well undergo a Vettel like reputation change but even if that unlikely scenario does not play out, he will not lose a minute’s sleep over it. Verstappen’s goal was and always will be to win, no matter how he goes about it.
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