LAS VEGAS, Nov 24 — Max Verstappen joined a select group of Formula One greats with his fourth title in Las Vegas on Saturday but stretching the run to five in a row next year could be an even bigger, and more thrilling, battle.

Just six drivers have won four championships and only Michael Schumacher managed five in succession with Ferrari from 2000 to 2004.

Only two of them – Verstappen and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel from 2010-2013 – have won their first four consecutively.

Verstappen has led the standings since May 2022, this month smashing Schumacher’s record of 896 days on top, and the Red Bull driver will stay there until at least March 16 when the 2025 season starts in Australia.

That campaign will be eagerly awaited with former champions McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes already scrapping for wins on a regular basis and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton soon to switch from Mercedes to Ferrari.

Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali congratulated Verstappen as fireworks exploded over the Vegas Strip.

“He is a true great of this sport and has so much more to look forward to in his impressive career,” he said.

“This season has been thrilling and 2025 looks set to be even closer.”

Verstappen started 2024 with pole position in the first seven races, winning seven of the opening 10, but then went 10 races without a win as Red Bull’s dominance disappeared.

“If we win the title again this year, it will be mainly down to Max,” Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said after Verstappen ended the drought by sweeping from 17th to first in a rainswept and chaotic Brazilian race this month.

“With his exceptional driving skills, he covered up the phases in which the car really wasn’t good.”

The 27-year-old has 62 wins, still far behind Hamilton’s 105, but the 2024 points gap – 63 after Vegas – reflected consistency more than any speed advantage.

Seven different drivers have each won more than once this season but Verstappen banked the points early and then defended his lead.

Open question

Ultimately, numbers and statistics are not what drives him and how much longer he stays is an open question, but Verstappen has a contract to the end of 2028.

“Now that I’ve won championships and races, for me, my goals are completed in Formula One,” he told Reuters in a recent interview.

“I don’t care about winning eight titles or beating the win record. I know that I can do that but you need in a way luck as well, for a long time that you are at the right team.

“Yes, I can continue until I’m 40-years-old, but I don’t want to.

“When I’m 80-years-old I want to look back and say, ‘Yes, I had a good time in racing, I did everything I needed to do, and I loved my life and I lived my life.’ That’s what I want to do.”

In 2021, Verstappen and Hamilton went down to the wire in Abu Dhabi, the Dutch driver coming out on top after then-race director Michael Masi controversially changed the usual safety car procedure.

The following year saw Red Bull take both titles, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc unable to sustain a challenge that started strongly.

“I think the most special will always be 2023,” said Verstappen, who won 19 of 22 races in that record season.

Verstappen produced plenty of debate about his driving style this year, with former champion Damon Hill comparing him to cartoon racing villain ‘Dick Dastardly’, but so too did Schumacher and Ayrton Senna back in the day.

He had a standoff with the governing FIA about swearing, his father Jos fell out with Red Bull’s Christian Horner over denied and dismissed allegations of improper behaviour by the boss, but amid all the team turmoil, with star designer Adrian Newey departing also, Verstappen showed his resilience.

Any comparison to struggling Mexican team mate Sergio Perez became embarrassing.

“He’s been in a class of his own this year. He’s been absolutely outstanding,” said Horner as he donned a sweatshirt with the A in Max replaced by a 4.

“He kept overdelivering, kept getting the results and performances. He deserves this fourth world championship. It puts him among the elite of the sport.” — Reuters