Max Verstappen’s fourth title puts him on path to F1’s greatest ever – this is what he is missing

Red Bull driver is the complete package and is well on his way to greatest-of-all-time status

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Is Max Verstappen the greatest F1 driver of all time? It is a question which can legitimately be asked in the wake of his fourth consecutive world title, which he delivered beneath the blinking neon lights of Sin City here on Saturday night. Needing to beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by at least two points to be sure of securing the crown, Verstappen comfortably finished ahead of the Briton at the Las Vegas Grand Prix to seal the title. In this gamblers’ paradise, it was always foolish to bet against him.
So, is he the greatest of all time? Not yet. At least not for my money. Longevity counts in sport. The motivation to keep coming back, particularly following setbacks. As does reinventing yourself. Moving teams and building another dynasty away from Red Bull may be the final frontier for Verstappen. But you would have to say the 27-year-old is well on his way to greatest-of-all-time status.
Verstappen’s fourth title showed another dimension to a racer who has vanishingly few flaws. An overly-aggressive, uncompromising streak, which sometimes strays into ungentlemanly conduct? Yes, possibly. But Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher would be in most F1 fans’ top fives and they were hardly saints. Verstappen has never gone as far as they did.
He really is the complete package. If 2021 showed a blisteringly quick young racer unafraid to go toe-to-toe with the most successful driver of all time, and 2022 and 2023 showed a calmer, more mature driver, one who had complete mastery of his car and his team-mate, 2024 showed Verstappen could block out the noise and extract the maximum from himself, even when controversy was raging all about him, and even when he did not have the quickest car.
This has surely been his most complete season to date. It is easy to forget just how febrile the atmosphere was in Bahrain at the season-opener in March, when the allegations surrounding Christian Horner were at fever pitch.
The poisonous fallout which ensued between the Red Bull team principal and Verstappen’s father, Jos, and mentor, Helmut Marko, would have derailed many drivers. But not Verstappen. He won four of the season’s first five races, capitalising on what was then the quickest car in the field.
Even after Lando Norris took his maiden F1 win in Miami, and McLaren caught and then passed Red Bull in terms of pace, the Dutchman kept on winning races he had no right to. Further victories at Imola, Montreal and Barcelona established a huge lead which then allowed him to drive the way he did in the second half of the year.
Some might look at Verstappen’s results from Austria onwards and think they look middling. An average finishing position of fourth in the 10 races leading up to Sao Paulo does not look that impressive on paper. But look at where his team-mate finished in those races. Verstappen was extracting the absolute maximum from a misbehaving car, and very often beating faster ones.
He had the luxury of that big lead, of course. But Verstappen was cute with how he used that advantage. He knew any collision between himself and Norris would favour him and he exploited that mercilessly. In Austin and Mexico he arguably overstepped the mark. And if there is a criticism of Verstappen, this is surely it; that he can be unsporting. But some would argue he was only exploiting the regulations as they are written.
Certainly, the way Verstappen reacted to the criticism – taking on his detractors, slamming “biased people” in the paddock, not backing down an inch, before going on to win arguably the greatest race of his career in Brazil – showed elite mentality.
“He has earned this world championship,” admitted Johnny Herbert, who had been one of Verstappen’s fiercest critics the previous week in Mexico, as well as one of the stewards, after Verstappen came back from 17th on the grid to win in Sao Paulo. “That was a stunning drive. The conditions were tricky on a demanding track, and he dealt with it supremely. The question for me again is, why did he do what he did in Mexico when he showed in Brazil he didn’t need to?
“[But] it was brilliant to see what he did. It is showing that maturity is coming, and his sheer speed is unbelievable.”
Verstappen’s victory in Brazil – his first since Barcelona in June – was the icing on the cake of another extraordinary season for a driver who continues to divide fans, but who has shown time and again that he could not give a fig for what you or I think.
It is part of what makes him so great. Again, you go back to the start of the year, the clouds over Red Bull, the factions within the team, the lobbying from outside, the courting of Max by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. We have not even mentioned the mid-season departure of Adrian Newey and all the uncertainty over the team’s future. Verstappen knuckled down and did not put a foot wrong. He was bulletproof; the rock around which Red Bull rallied.
Compare and contrast with Norris. The McLaren driver has been super-quick at times this year. And when he is locked in – as he was in Zandvoort and Singapore for instance – Norris has shown he absolutely has what it takes. But he has also thrown away points with silly mistakes, has not been assertive enough with his team on occasion, and shown a vulnerability and even deference to his rival which has raised eyebrows. Norris’s honesty is commendable but can you imagine Verstappen ever uttering something like the Briton did after the United States race? “Max is the best in the world in this style of defence and attacking,” Norris said. “So, I have to be at his level and, at the moment, I am not quite at the level I need to be at. It’s a shame to say, but it’s probably the truth. At the same time, it’s a chance for me to learn and progress.”
Verstappen would never consider anyone to be better than he is. And many would agree with him.
The Dutchman was already being spoken about as a possible greatest of all time this time last year. Former driver Gerhard Berger for one. The Austrian noted how Verstappen’s love of sim-racing had added another string to his bow. “Verstappen still drives virtual races on the simulator in his free time,” Berger told AutoMotorSport. “Sometimes three a day. So, he is always busy with this topic. He thinks through where you can overtake and where you can’t. Neither Senna, Schumacher nor Hamilton had this tool. It’s just noticeable that Max is always in the right place. At the start, in the first corner, in a duel. I can’t think of anything that could be done better than him. That’s why Max Verstappen is probably the best we’ve ever seen in Formula One.”
Bernie Ecclestone agreed with him. “I used to say Alain Prost,” admitted the sport’s former ringmaster after Verstappen won his 19th race of the 2023 season in Abu Dhabi 12 months ago. “Now I would say Max. He’s the greatest. He doesn’t muck around, he gets right on the programme. In my list, he is above Lewis Hamilton.”
In my list, that is still a few spots too high. There are drivers past and present who have either won in more style, come back from greater depths, delivered in more dangerous machines, or simply won more. Statistically, Hamilton is still miles ahead. He has moved teams and built a legend; transcending the sport in a way Verstappen never will. If Hamilton wins an eighth world title wearing red, in his forties, there will be no debate to be had. But at this rate, Verstappen is fast catching up.
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