Max Verstappen claimed that he would have won his fourth world title "much earlier" had he been driving for McLaren instead of Red Bull. (More Motorsport News)
Verstappen clinched this year's championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last Sunday, finishing fifth, a place ahead of title rival Lando Norris, which was all he needed to do.
He joined Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel on four world titles, with only Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton (both seven) and Juan Manuel Fangio (five) winning more.
Verstappen has won eight races this season, the latest of which came in a stunning wet-weather performance at Interlagos to all but end Norris' hopes of challenging him.
Should he fail to win another race, he will be the F1 champion with the fewest victories in a season since 2012, when Vettel only needed five race victories to triumph.
But his season did not come without its struggles, despite winning seven of the first 10 races of the season.바카라 웹사이트
Prior to his win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, he had gone nine races바카라 웹사이트without a pole position and 10 without a win, his worst streak since the penultimate round in 2020, when he went 17 qualifying rounds without a pole and 11 consecutive races without a victory.바카라 웹사이트
He said after clinching the crown on Sunday that he was "very proud" of retaining the championship as "for 70 per cent of the season we didn't have the fastest car, but actually we still extended our lead".
This was seemingly on his mind after McLaren's chief executive, Zak Brown,바카라 웹사이트stopped to congratulate the Dutchman on his title win midway through an interview.바카라 웹사이트
The Dutchman quipped바카라 웹사이트"like you said, before I could only win it in the fastest car. This year has been a little bit different!", in apparent reference to comments made by Brown earlier this year.바카라 웹사이트
Brown said in an interview with바카라 웹사이트F1's Beyond the Grid podcast back in May that Verstappen "would not be able to win바카라 웹사이트the world championship today in any other car other than the Red Bull."
But speaking later on to Dutch media as his title celebrations continued, Verstappen was quoted by바카라 웹사이트De Telegraaf as saying: "Things like that only motivate me.
"If people are critical and think that I can only win in the best car, then I prove the opposite," Verstappen said.바카라 웹사이트
"If I don't get credit for this now, then I don't know what else I can do. Would I have become champion in the McLaren? Yes! And much earlier too."
Up next for Verstappen is the Qatar Grand Prix, where he has the chance to make even more history in the competition.바카라 웹사이트
Should he finish fourth or higher, he will바카라 웹사이트become only the third driver in Formula 1 history to break the 3000 points barrier (2989.50 currently), something only Hamilton (4847.50) and바카라 웹사이트Vettel (3098) have achieved.
