Max Verstappen takes a dig at McLaren boss while hugging him - “Like you said before, I could only win in the fastest car!”

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took a dig at McLaren CEO Zak Brown as they embraced after the driver's championship win. Verstappen reminded the latter of a comment he had made earlier in the season about the former. The Dutchman became only the sixth driver in F1 history to win four world championships after he finished P5 at the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Heading into the race, Verstappen needed to finish ahead of his title rival at McLaren driver Lando Norris to take his fourth consecutive world championship with the Austrian team. He did so comfortably as the British driver finished in P6 but managed to take the fastest lap on the last lap of the race.

While appearing on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Brown had made some eye-catching remarks regarding Max Verstappen's abilities earlier in the year. He had said (via Crash.net),

“I think there are six, seven drivers on the grid that will be world champions in the Red Bull. As great as Max is, and he's one of the best ever. I don't think Max wins the world championship today in any other car, other than the Red Bull.”

On Saturday night, the Red Bull driver was quick to remind the American of his comments while hugging him during his interview with Sky Sports on Saturday night. The 27-year-old said,

“You pushed us all the way! Like you said, before I could only win it in the fastest car but this year is a little different.”

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Max Verstappen comments on his fourth successive world championship

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said he did not envision himself winning four successive driver's championships when he entered the sport at the age of 17.

Asked whether he thought the achievement possible at the start of his career in 2015 in a post-race interview, the Dutch driver said (via F1.com)

“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 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."

Max Verstappen is the fourth driver to win four successive championships and only the second, following Sebastian Vettel, to win his first four titles in a row.