“They can keep criticizing me, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I won without having the best car. If I don’t get credit for that now, I don’t know what else I can do.” At three in the morning in Las Vegas, after beers and gin-tonics, Max Verstappen let loose at the end of a Formula 1 championship that seemed locked up after five races but saw him go on a ten-race winless streak, ending dramatically in the Brazilian Grand Prix with a rain-soaked charge from 17th to victory, his 62nd career win.
“Would I have won in 2024 with McLaren? Yes, and much earlier too,” Max Verstappen pointed out at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which was held earlier today at the 6.2-kilometre Las Vegas Strip Circuit in Nevada, as reported by *De Telegraaf*. “In 2021, I would have won with Mercedes. In 2022 maybe with Ferrari, but it would have been harder because it was too fragile,” he continued, analyzing the titles he believes he could have won without driving for Red Bull. He acknowledged that beating the RB19 with another car in 2023 would have been “a bit difficult.”
When asked if any of his colleagues could have won with the RB20 in 2024, Max Verstappen replied: “I would have wished them ‘good luck.’ We had a rather tough period after a great start. I’m proud of how we managed to overcome it as a team. As a person, it’s important to stay calm and not shout around that everything is terrible. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have been as good at this. With time, you learn, and having titles already in the bag helps put things in perspective. I never lost hope.” – the Dutch driver said.
