- Max Verstappen celebrated his fourth consecutive world title on top of his car
- Verstappen cruised to a fourth consecutive title by finishing fifth on Saturday
- The Dutchman needed only to finish ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren to win
Lando Norris was gracious in defeat as he congratulated Max Verstappen on his fourth F1 title after the Dutchman sealed it at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday.
Red Bull’s Verstappen finished fifth in the race with Norris sixth, with fastest lap, leaving the gap between the pair an insurmountable 63 points with two races remaining.
Norris and Verstappen are good friends off the track and the McLaren driver made it clear that there are no hard feelings after running him close this season.
Norris, two years younger than 27-year-old Verstappen, posted a photo of himself and his title rival from their younger years in go-karting.
‘Congrats on the 4th title in a row mate, awesome drive this year’ he wrote. ‘Was fun fighting you for it. Feels like yesterday we took this pic in karting.’
Norris admitted it hurt to see his slim hopes of winning the championship end but said it was long lost before Sunday’s race.
Lando Norris shared this photo of himself and Max Verstappen after Sunday’s race in Vegas
‘I think Max drove too well. Red Bull and the team did too good of a job for us. And it was just lost in the first six races,’ Norris told Sky Sports television as Verstappen celebrated his fourth title in a row.
‘It fluctuated a bit but we could just never claw it back from there. We put up a good fight and I look forward to next year being in there from the beginning.’
‘He drove an incredible season, when he had the quickest car he dominated, when he didn´t he was still there, always on my heels.
‘He made my life tough, he made his tough at times I’m sure, but he drove a better season and of course big congrats to him,’ he added.
‘You have to drive better when you get to that point and I feel like I have. Really since Zandvoort I feel like I have done close to a perfect job,’ he added.
‘As much as we liked to believe we were ready, we weren’t and we paid the price a little bit. But also it was us there fighting Max, no-one else.’
McLaren still lead the constructors’ standings but their advantage was reduced to 24 points by Ferrari.
Team boss Andrea Stella joined in the congratulations for Verstappen.
Red Bull’s Verstappen finished one place above Norris, sealing his fourth F1 world title
‘We are proud that we were challenging him this season, we just lost a bit too many points at the start of the season but then we were there with Verstappen’s pace,’ he added.
‘The constructors’ championship is open and now our focus will be there.’
