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As Max Verstappen clinched his fourth drivers’ world title in Las Vegas, plaudits were quick to pour in from his team, his fans and the media. But perhaps the most meaningful compliments came from his fellow drivers – the people he has gone wheel-to-wheel with across 22 races so far this season.
Some know what it takes to win a world championship, some have tried to challenge the Dutchman but been unable to sustain a championship bid in the face of such stern opposition. Others dream of being in his shoes – but as F1 racers, they all know how hard it is to win in the sport, let alone with the consistency Verstappen has managed.
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“Congratulations must go to Max too who claimed the title today. He’s done a fantastic job all year and is a deserving champion,” said Lewis Hamilton, one of Verstappen’s rivals and a fellow multiple world champion.
“He is a deserving champion, has driven at an incredible level all year, and is the man we will all be chasing in 2025,” added George Russell, who won in Las Vegas but has yet to challenge for the championship.
“Big congratulations to Max. He deserves this championship title, he has had an amazing season and always maximised his results which has paid off for him. It gives us motivation to be even stronger next year and hopefully we can put him under some more pressure then,” said Charles Leclerc, who challenged Verstappen for the title in 2022.
“I think he’s driven for years now at an incredibly high level, and I think this year he has dominated whenever he had a dominant car and then he didn’t do mistakes and maximised the points that he could get with less performing car, just did whatever he had to do in every race, so congrats, he clearly deserves it,” added Carlos Sainz.
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One man who knows just how hard Verstappen has had to work to win the title with a car that wasn’t always the class of the field is Sergio Perez. The Dutchman’s team mate has had a harder time of it in 2024, unable to get the best from a difficult car in the way Verstappen can.
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“Congratulations to Max, I think he has had the best season I have ever seen from a driver, because a lot of the time we did not have the best car and Max made the difference a lot of weekends. The way he pushed the team forwards, he was just a pure force and I think this has been the best year from him in the four we have been together.
“He has been tremendous, well done to him for all the success he has had, he deserves it.”
Lando Norris was Verstappen’s main rival this year, taking the championship fight to Race 22 of 24 with a string of strong performances. But he knew what the difference was – Verstappen’s ability to extract the maximum, week in, week out.
“A big congratulations to Max on winning the Drivers’ Championship, he deserved it. He drove better than everyone over the course of the year, and rarely makes a mistake, so congrats to him for delivering once again,” said Norris.
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“Congratulations to Max for four World Titles, what an achievement, he fully deserves it after all the tough fights this year. Very well deserved to him and the whole team,” added Liam Lawson, who is part of the Red Bull family, while Yuki Tsunoda said Verstappen had had “an impressive year.”
“It’s quite the place to do it,” finished Valtteri Bottas, as the fireworks went off over Las Vegas in celebration of Verstappen’s fourth drivers’ crown.
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