Max Verstappen said there was a sense of “relief” crossing the line in the Las Vegas Grand Prix knowing he had claimed his fourth World Championship.
The Red Bull driver finished fifth in the race to secure the 2024 Drivers’ Championship and become only the sixth driver in Formula One history to win four titles.
Speaking to The Roar after the race, Verstappen said relief was the main emotion he experienced when crossing the line.
“Every championship has actually been very different in emotions,” he told The Roar in Las Vegas. “It will never top the emotions of the first one because that is what you set out to do and that’s your ultimate dream and goal to win one. So that was mass celebration.”
(Photo by Getty Images)
“But then you know, the season has been very different to the second one and last year’s one. And that’s, I think, very beautiful because if they’re all fairly similar, that’s not as exciting.
“Honestly, when I crossed the line, I was just very relieved. I was like, it’s over.
“It’s been a tough run of races.”
Verstappen set the foundations for his championship early in the season, winning seven of the opening ten rounds.
However, the next ten races saw a different story for the Dutchman, going winless between the Spanish Grand Prix in June to the São Paulo Grand Prix earlier this month.
It was at the São Paulo Grand Prix where he put in a drive he said “was one of my best”, winning the race from 17th on the grid and setting himself up to claim his fourth World Championship in Las Vegas over the weekend.
“I’m very happy that it rained in Brazil!” he told The Roar after the race in reference to his win three weeks ago.
Verstappen joins Juan Manuel Fangio, Alain Prost, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton as the only drivers to have won four World Championships.
This article was originally written for The Roar. You can read the published version here
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