Footage of Max Verstappen’s first radio message after winning his fourth F1 Drivers’ Championship has emerged.
Verstappen secured an unassailable 63 point-lead over nearest rival Lando Norris on Saturday as he finished fifth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, behind Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and race winner George Russell.
It was an emotional moment for the 27-year-old, who has followed in the footsteps of Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton by becoming the sixth driver in the sport’s history to win at least four world titles.
And moments after crossing the line in Vegas, a teary-eyed Verstappen paid tribute to the Red Bull team.
“Oh my god, man!” he said. “What a season. Four times. Thank you, guys. Thank you to everyone. It was a little bit more difficult than last year, but we pulled through, and we gave it our all. I never thought this was possible, but thanks to you guys, it is, so thanks again.”
Verstappen, who went through a 10-race drought between wins in Spain and Sao Paulo, sounded more relieved than anything in his post-race interview.
“It’s been a long season and of course we started off amazing, it was almost like cruising, but then we had a tough run,” he said.
“But as a team, we kept it together, we kept working on improvements and we pulled off the win. Incredibly proud of everyone, what they have done for me… So at the moment I’m just feeling very relieved, in a way, but also proud.”
When asked if he’d ever thought that becoming a four-time champion was possible when he’d started his racing career, aged 17, Verstappen smiled: “Definitely not! I was just happy to be there and dreaming of potential victories or standing on the podium, you know – the normal things that are already very difficult to achieve.
“Then we just got onto that run after of course a tough few years, so we kept trying and then we just hit the ground running with the new concept [in 2022] and like I said, to be standing here a four-time world champion is just incredible.”
He added: “For sure it was a very challenging season. I think also as a person, at times it’s very challenging. I had to be calm.
“I think in a way, of course, I still prefer last season; I enjoyed it a lot, but I think this season, definitely again taught me a lot of lessons. I’m very proud of how we handled it also as a team. So in a way of course that makes it also very, very special, and a beautiful season.”