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Why title No. 4 could be Verstappen’s best yet

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Dominance doesn’t always breed a true appreciation of what someone has achieved, but Max Verstappen’s latest drivers’ title has got to be viewed as something special.

Verstappen could already claim a place among the very best in Formula 1 history, but his fourth world championship moves him into even greater company, joining Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton with four or more titles.

Of those, only Prost did not win four in a row, showing how the best drivers have managed to capitalize when they have machinery capable of putting them in the fight. But where Verstappen’s success really stands out this year is within the context of Red Bull’s season.

Currently third in the constructors’ championship — and looking increasingly likely to stay there — is set to create a scenario where Verstappen becomes just the third driver in history to win a drivers’ championship when driving for a team that finishes outside the top two positions.

Of the two previous occasions, 1982 was a remarkable year that delivered Keke Rosberg a championship with just one victory. On that occasion, his Williams team finished fourth overall but was just 16 points adrift of champions Ferrari, with 15 per weekend on offer.

One season later, Nelson Piquet took the crown driving for Brabham, when his team ended up third in the constructors’, 17 points behind Ferrari.

Even if Red Bull gains a position over the final two rounds, only 11 times has a driver won the title when their team hasn’t taken the constructors’ crown, so it’s a rare achievement that should not be overlooked.

But I don’t mind admitting that it was easy to do so in the early part of the year. The familiarity of Verstappen winning races meant there wasn’t always the same scrutiny over each victory as there can be with hindsight now.

Take Imola, for example, where Verstappen won his fifth race from the first seven rounds. He was denied the chance to succeed in Melbourne due to a reliability issue, so you could view it as five wins from six finishes, with the only blemish being his second place behind Lando Norris in Miami.

We weren’t used to consistent McLaren challenges at that point, but each race pays the same 25 points for finishing first and Imola was an important one. After an impressive pole lap, Verstappen was cruising in the first part of the race, but then Norris came back at him as the McLaren proved itself to be a stronger car on the hard compound tire.

Verstappen was unflappable and just managed to keep Norris at bay to take the win, but had Norris got the better of him on that occasion then entering this weekend the gap between the two would have been 48 points instead of 62. Or 30 points prior to his stunning drive to win in Interlagos.

History would never play out identically, of course, but there were more occasions were Verstappen either held Norris off — think Canada, Spain or Circuit of The Americas — or ensured he did not give up significant points to the McLaren when he didn’t have the car to win.

Zandvoort and Singapore spring to mind where Norris and McLaren were in a different league to Verstappen and Red Bull, but second place in each of those races helped protect a championship advantage that then ensured Norris could not afford a result such as Brazil.

It’s a very different way of winning a championship compared to the previous three, where Verstappen never faced multiple threats on a consistent basis. This year there have been times he’s had to navigate McLaren, Ferrari and even Mercedes offering stern challenges, and he’s turned that into an opportunity to defend his lead more often than losing significant points.

A year ago, Verstappen celebrated a third title in a row after a Sprint race in Qatar, in one of the must underwhelming championship finishes imaginable. He couldn’t even celebrate in style with a grand prix to tackle the next day, and there wasn’t ever a serious challenger to his throne.

This time, the setting could not be more different.

In Las Vegas on a Saturday night, the stage was set for a party. Verstappen knew that simply beating Norris would be enough, and he also knew that he didn’t have the car to win the race.

For all of his aggressive tendencies, Verstappen sometimes doesn’t get enough credit for the way he approaches races that he can’t triumph in. Think back to Zandvoort or Singapore, when he offered little fight against Norris because of the McLaren’s far superior pace on those tracks. He finished second at both, maximizing his own return and not doing anything to jeopardize that.

Again on Saturday night, he played it safe at times knowing what would be enough. Norris was behind him and not able to pose a threat, so when Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz closed in, his defense was restrained at best.

Even Charles Leclerc’s later dive to the inside of Turn 14 was not met with Verstappen offering to cover that line, even though he’s shown on multiple occasions in the past that he loves to take control of the apex and be able to dictate what happens to the car on his outside.

Verstappen spoke of his relief that the championship was secure when he crossed the line, such has been the difficulties Red Bull has faced this season. But it was Red Bull’s Helmut Marko who offered an insightful take on what makes this title in particular one that elevates him beyond where he stood before.

“He’s for sure one of the greatest, because it’s always difficult to compare between periods,” Marko told me. “But don’t forget he’s 27 years old, and he developed unbelievably. He uses his head if necessary, he showed who is the master of the game in Brazil, and he’s also a leader now.

“We had some troubles in the team, which is known, and he was part of the solution and sticking together, saying, ‘Hello, let’s work together and win the title.’

“That’s what made it even more difficult. After the first races we thought, ‘Ah fine, it keeps going like ’23, and then all of a sudden… We woke up too late, because the weaknesses of the car were not shown up because of his brilliance.”

Las Vegas was a microcosm of almost all of Marko’s points, as Verstappen used his head to get the job done and secure a title that just two weeks ago looked to be in real jeopardy.

It might have been Red Bull that woke up too late this season, but with a beer in hand as he faced the media in the early hours of Sunday morning, it’ll be Verstappen who is likely to be tardy getting up in Las Vegas. And he’s more than earned it.

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