Max Verstappen should be considered as one of F1’s all-time greats, according to Christian Horner.
The Dutchman wrapped up a fourth world championship in Qatar, despite a difficult second-half to the season that saw him struggling with an uncompetitive car – and facing a strong challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc. But Verstappen had enough to seal the championship with two rounds to spare, moving him into an exclusive club of just six drivers to have won four or more world titles.
And Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says that the achievement marks Verstappen out as one of the sport’s greats – even eclipsing the legacy of Ayrton Senna, who won three titles before tragically losing his life in an accident at Imola in 1994. Horner told TalkSport: “I think he really is one of the greats when you talk about him in the company he is now with, with the likes of Prost, he’s now exceeded what Ayrton Senna has achieved. Very few have gone on to achieve more.
“Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and [Juan Manuel] Fangio [have won more]. So he’s an incredible talent, he’s still evolving and getting better. I think this year was arguably his strongest year because we didn’t have the strongest car. For elements of the season we were on the back foot and he’s delivered incredibly consistently and really punched above his weight. It was an incredible season.
“The developments that we were bringing to the car weren’t bringing the performance that we wanted and Max was having to drive the wheels off it to stay in contention. At the back of the year we were able to get some more performance in the car and some big wins.
“In Brazil, Max was outstanding and then more recently in Qatar. We started the season really well, we came out of the blocks and won seven out of the first 10 races. But the opposition started coming back at us from late spring, McLaren then Ferrari and Mercedes. It was a tough few summer months for us.”
Horner also defended Verstappen over criticism he has faced for X-rated radio outbursts during races, that saw him fined by the FIA, continuing: “Our sport is a little bit different because it’s so open to the media. Everything they say in the car, as soon as they open the radio, is broadcast to billions of people. I’m sure football players say things on the field that they don’t want broadcast. In our industry part of the benefit is the access, but these guys are not robots and of course emotions can run high. Occasionally emotion boils over, that’s only natural.”